Why is Grassfed Better than Organic? 

 

Organic meat products are now available at most supermarkets.  When you see the organic label, you know the food is going to be free of pesticides, hormones, genetically modified organisms, and a long list of additives. You also know the farms that produced that food are eco-friendly.

But organic is not enough.  Why?

The main reason is that non-organic grassfed meat is nutritionally superior to their organic but grainfed counterparts.

This may come as a surprise to those who equate

“organic” with “more nutritious.”  The term “organic”

is simply a guarantee of what the food does not

contain.  But organic food can still be deficient in

nutrients or loaded with sugar and “bad” fat. An

organic label does not guarantee good nutrition.

The limitations of the “organic” designation are

most evident when it comes to animal products.  
Organic meat may be free of unwanted chemicals,

but it is nutritionally inferior to grassfed meat.

When a ruminant is taken off pasture and fattened on grain, it loses a number of valuable nutrients.  For example, compared with grassfed meat, grainfed meat has only one quarter as much vitamin E, one-eighth as much beta-carotene, and one-third as many omega-3 fatty acids. It doesn’t matter whether the animal is fed ordinary grain, genetically modified grain, or organic grain.  Feeding large amounts of any type of grain to a grazing animal will have this effect simply because grain has fewer of these nutrients than fresh pasture. (For references, please refer to "Pasture Perfect" or visit www.eatwild.com )

Compared with grassfed products, organic grainfed products are also relatively deficient in a cancer-fighting fat called “CLA.”  When you feed a ruminant grain --- even as little as 2 pounds a day --- its production of CLA plummets. CLA may be one of the most potent cancer-fighting substances in our diet. In animal studies, as little as one half of one percent CLA in the diet has reduced tumor burden by more than 50 percent.

There's yet another drawback with feeding grain to a ruminant --- you increase the risk of E.coli infection.

The underlying problem is that grain makes the digestive tract of a ruminant abnormally acid.  This acidic environment causes the E.coli to multiply and to become more acid-resistant.  These altered bacteria are much more likely to survive the cleansing acidity of your digestive juices and make you ill.

A final reason to choose grassfed meat over organic grainfed meat is that most grassfarmers avoid the use of  pesticides, herbicides, hormones, and antibiotics even though they are not striving for full organic certification.

What keeps most of the farmers from attaining the official designation is that they use nitrogen fertilizers on their fields or treat their animals with relatively benign medications to rid them of parasites.

"All this said, I believe that the best choice of all is buying organically certified grassfed products."

When ruminants are raised on organic pasture you have the best of both worlds— food that is free of unwanted chemicals that is also highly nutritious.  If I have to pay more for the privilege, I’m willing to do it.  But until more consumers come around to this point of view, there will be many grassfarmers who cannot afford to go 100 percent organic and stay in business. Until that time, I urge consumers to choose grassfed over organic every time!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Article Sources

http://www.americangrassfedbeef.com/grass-fed-better-than-organic.asp

http://www.burlesonbeef.com/organic-natural-or-grass-beef/