TIME Magazine

[Sandhusker]

There is an article in the latest Time magazine on grass-fed beef.

 

[theHiredMansWife]

And it's online:

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1200759,00.html

 

[RobertMac]

The article reeks of liberal bias, but what would one expect from the drive-by media!!!!

The USDA figures are misrepresented...those figures have to be a % of total weight, not a % of per unit weight.
Fatty acid profiles are different, but to an extreme.
Omega-6 to omega-3 ratio
grainfed 4-6 to 1
grassfed 2-1 to 1
The importance...excess omega-6 in the diet is being linked to many chronic health problems(typical USA diet...20 to 1). Grassfed ratio is the same as meat from wild animals...Nature's ratio and the one our genes developed on over thousands of years. I don't see this as a major problem with grainfed beef.
CLA is real and a proven cancer fighter. It is in the meat and milk of ruminants that eat green forage and no grain.
Vitamins A and E(and others) are much higher in grassfed.
Grassfed as definite advantages over grainfed, but both are nutritionally in a class by themselves!
And thank you NCBA for throwing cold water on the hottest beef niche market and perpetuating the well established anti-beef idea that animal fats are a health problem.

 

[theHiredMansWife]

Argentinians eat beef beef beef (grassfed) and have fewer heart problems and cancer (even though they eat grilled meat) than Americans.

If I recall the stats correctly (now I'm gonna have to go look it up! lol), Argentina is both the world's number one producer of beef and the number one consumer

ETA: Upon Googling, there seems to be some disagreement whether it's us or them (and apparently Brazil is in the running, too).

 

[Jason]

You have to be careful how you determine #1 consumer.

Pounds per capita is one way, but a small populaion wouldn't consume much of the entire world's production.

Pounds per capita times population would tell the largest single market in terms of voume.

Pounds per capita times population times price per pound consumed would show the largest demand.

 

[Big Muddy rancher]

Argentinians eat beef beef beef (grassfed) and have fewer heart problems and cancer (even though they eat grilled meat) than Americans.

Less fast food, more use of LEGS for transportation in their urban centers.

Anti-beef is a silly thing. Moderation in eating, avoidance of excess carbohydrates and sugars and FAST FOOD (very high in bad fats and sugars and salts) is what should be being pushed.

So are you telling us that your kids not eating BEEF is a SILLY thing?

 

[Kathy]

Eating healthy?

I saw an ad the other day which stated that California produced over 50% of the USA's lettuce. Actually, I think the figure was much higher (but I'm not wasting time looking for the ad).

So we eat lots of California lettuce, strawberries etc. How many acres of this healthy produce has been fertilized with radio-active fertilizer? 8 states in the USA, including California, allow the use of radio-active waste water (from storage of spent nuclear rods) to be used in the manufacture of agriculture fertilizers! The solution to pollution is dilution.

The smartest thing anybody ever said to me, was

"If your so concerned Kathy, grow your own garden."

Do you plant a garden, Reader?

 

[Big Muddy rancher]

Reader wrote"Actually Consumer's Report did recent a study that shows that for many vegetables and fruits, there is NO difference healthwise between organically grown and non-organically grown. What they recommend is buy the things that pesticides get into and can't be gotten out"



I contend the same is true with BEEF. The grain fed beef is as safe as the "Organic " beef that you say you buy.

 

[Brad S]

R2,

"and missed spending time in the UK in the 80s and 90s..."

Do you know if CJD in the UK is getting worse like a bunch of ticking timebombs, or is the worst behind them?

 

[IL Rancher]

They were talking about the worse being behind them but now there is concern that a different human genotype might be suseptible to vCJD as well but have a longer incubaton period... I think someone posted something about it on here a while back. Probably Reader?

 

[mrj]

There are several pieces of evidence that the vCJD epidemic is not behind them

1) they believed that only MM genotype individuals were susceptible but there is now evidence that
-- an MV individual received a blood transfusion from a vCJD donor and her spleen was positive for PrPSc although she had not developed vCJD symptoms at the time of her death from other causes
-- there appears to be evidence that a blood transfusion from an asymptomatic individual led to vCJD and 100 individuals who donated blood and do not have signs of vCJD are banned from blood donation and must inform their doctors of their risk factor for vCJD
-- there is a biopsy bank of tonsil and appendix tissue from 12,000 individuals, of which 3 showed up positive for PrPSc. They just analyzed the genotype and found that TWO of the 3 were VV genotype which was a major shock for thme
-- there is other evidence from kuru and from the lab that shows that MM individuals have shorter incubation for TSEs than MV and VV individuals

In light of these findings, some of which are in the past several months, there is major concern about surgical and dental instruments and tissue and blood donations. That is behind the rush to find ways to cleanse medical instruments and test blood.

One of the problems is that they have been expecting a certain pathology in all cases of vCJD. What if in humans they see that pathology only in MM genotypes but in other genotypes they see a different pathology?? There is a case of a 27 year old Spaniard who just died from CJD -- lived in the UK in the 90s, very young for "classic" CJD but his pathology was not that of vCJD. What does that case mean? He had a long duration case --- also more indicative of vCJD. Mean age for vCJD is 28, mean age for CJD is I believe 55 or 65 (sorry, my memory is going ...)

reader 2, beyond all this, what is the clear, scientifically verified link between BSE, eating "contaminated beef", and vCJD?

MRJ