Grass Fed vs Grain Fed Meat and Milk – Pasture Raised Vs Feedlot | Which Meat Is Better?

There’s a lot of commotion about pasture raised or 100% grass fed red meat being nutritionally superior to feed lot or grain fed red meat. And yet, a counterpoint claims the difference is only marginal. Well, I’ve always assumed there’s probably not a big difference, but a 2021 review article published in the journal Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, suggests that pasture raised beef and milk contain a surprisingly high concentration of a range of plant nutrients. It’s an interesting review and they clearly drew from a large range of research on the topic.

We know of course that milk and meat are not generally considered to be significant sources of phytochemicals (or the huge range of plant compounds). Well, the authors state and I quote ‘Emerging data indicate that when livestock are eating a diverse array of plants on pasture, additional health-promoting phytonutrients—terpenoids, phenols, carotenoids, and antioxidants—become concentrated in their meat and milk. Several phytochemicals found in grass-fed meat and milk are in quantities comparable to those found in plant foods known to have anti-inflammatory, anti-carcinogenic, and cardioprotective effects.’ They add that ‘phytochemicals are further reduced or absent in meat and milk of grain-fed animals.’

The authors believe the plant nutrient differences between pasture raised and feedlot meet are underappreciated because the focus is usually on the differences in fatty acids like omega 3’s and CLA (or conjugated linoleic acid). They think there should be more focus on these plant nutrients and that future studies should clarify critical relationships between soil health, plant diversity, and the health of livestock and humans.

They even go part way to explain why they think pasture raised meat is so much higher in nutrients. They suggest the co-evolution of plants and grazing animals has led to plants being more productive when grazed in accordance with age old ecological principles. The plant selection by grazing animals impacts the phytochemical richness of meat and dairy products, with greater botanical diversity resulting in both a wider variety and higher concentrations of health-promoting phytonutrients in meat and milk. The increased phytochemical richness of productive vegetation has potential to improve the health of animals and upscale these nutrients to also benefit human health, they say.

The ethical pros and cons of pasture raising beef or eating animals in any form for that matter, are always going to be contentious and probably irreconcilable. But if regenerative agriculture and pasture raising beef can help move animal food production in a better ethical and environmental direction while delivering superior nutrient density, then it’ll most likely be a change for the better. Of course, this kind of change may only be economically feasible for a privileged portion of the global population, for now at any rate, but that’s another issue altogether and until this change occurs, standard beef and milk remains a valuable source of nutrition.

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Research Sources:
Van Vliet, Stephan, Frederick D. Provenza, and Scott L. Kronberg. "Health-promoting phytonutrients are higher in grass-fed meat and milk." Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems (2021): 299.

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