BEEF WITH BENEFITS
Blood tests from people eating beef from animals fed a functional, diverse pasture mix, sown so the animals can decide what they eat, have higher levels of vitamin E and several other compounds that can be beneficial to their health.
The study was also carried out by Dr Anita Fleming and Professor Pablo Gregorini of Lincoln University’s Pastoral Livestock Production Lab and the Centre of Excellence – Designing Future Productive Landscapes.
Thirty-six, rising-two-year, mixed-sex, Angus cattle were finished over a 90-day period from October 2021 to February 2022 on three alternative pastures:
• ryegrass white clover mix
• complex multi-species sward containing 24 species typically grown in a regenerative pasture
• pasture where five species were grown in adjacent but separate strips, known as functional diversity (FD).
The plant species in the FD included perennial ryegrass, red clover, plantain, chicory and lucerne.
Beef from the animals was turned into patties and 23 people consumed them in human trials.
Anita says they were each given a pasta meal the night before to help standardise the diet and they were each randomly allocated patties from animals fed on one of the pasture diets.
Blood was taken at zero, three and five hours following the meal.
The following week the process was repeated, but they were allocated patties from animals fed from a different pasture diet.
Another week elapsed and the process was repeated again so that each person had eaten patties from each of the pasture treatments.
Measurements taken from each person included markers for cardiovascular health, cancer, kidney disease, as well as inflammation and metabolites.
Vitamin E in the form of gamma tocopherol was found at higher levels in the blood of people who consumed the FD fed beef. This form of vitamin E is known to have anti-inflammatory effects among other health benefits. It has also been associated with reduction of some cancer cells.
Other compounds were found at levels that may be of significance in people consuming patties from cattle fed the FD diet, including 3-hydroxymethylglutarate which has been associated with reducing cholesterol and treating hypercholesterolemia.
People consuming FD patties had less indoxyl sulphate, which is a uremic toxin accumulating in the plasma of chronic kidney disease patients.
Consuming FD patties increased chenodeoxycholic acid in blood samples. This acid has been related to the inhibition of cholesterol production in the liver and absorption in the intestines, helping to decrease the formation of gallstones.
Anita says the large number of beneficial metabolites found at elevated or lowered levels in those eating the patties from the FD fed cattle, indicates further research would be worthwhile.
Testing of the cattle also revealed increased levels of vitamins B and E and other metabolic markers that would indicate they too could be benefiting in terms of animal health from the diet.
Daily average growth rates of the cattle grazing the FD were greater than those grazed on the complex species mix or the perennial ryegrass white clover mix.