When picking out your meat, you should consider how the animals it came from were fed. Here’s why grass-fed beef is better than grain-fed beef.

The way in which animals like cattle are raised can drastically alter the quality of their meat, which is why it’s important to consider how an animal was raised and fed when choosing your beef products. As ruminants, a cow’s diet must consist of forages like hay and grass. However, many farms, particularly factory farms, opt for a grain-based diet that includes foods like corn, soybeans, and wheat because it yields higher energy levels that ready cattle for slaughter more efficiently. To show why this isn’t ideal, read this guide on why grass-fed beef is better than grain-fed beef.

Grass-Fed Is More Nutritious

Generally, grass-fed beef is considered to be more nutritious because it has less fat pound for pound than grain-fed beef. While fats are nothing to be feared in moderation, leaner grass-fed beef will help prevent you from over-indulging in calories and make it easier to maintain a healthy weight. Furthermore, the fat grass-fed beef does have boasts a different nutritional content. For example, grass-fed beef contains five times more omega-3 fatty acids than grain-fed beef, which is an essential nutrient our body needs but can’t produce naturally. Grass-fed beef is also abundant in nutrients like iron, zinc, selenium, vitamin E, vitamin B12, and vitamin B6.

Grass-Fed Presents Potential Health Benefits

Because it’s leaner and more nutritious, there are a few potential health benefits that further show that grass-fed beef is better than grain-fed beef. For example, because grass-fed beef has fewer saturated fats, your heart health may benefit, having a positive effect on your cholesterol levels. The abundance of omega-3 fatty acids is also beneficial for preventing heart disease, stroke, and autoimmune responses.

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Grass-Fed is More Ethical

Lastly, grass-fed beef generally indicates that the animals were more treated humanely. As factory farms prioritize efficiency, they typically keep cattle in unhealthy conditions and give them grain-fed diets. Grass-fed cattle are given time to roam and graze in pastures and are treated with much more care to ensure they produce the greatest quality meat possible. When you’re at the grocery store, you should look for tags and stickers that indicate whether a beef product is animal welfare certified to ensure the meat you’re eating was acquired humanely.