Red meat, regardless of feeding regimen, is nutrient dense and regarded as an important source of essential amino acids, vitamins A, B 6 , B 12 , D, E, and minerals, including iron, zinc and selenium [17, 18]. Along with these important nutrients, meat consumers also ingest a number of fats which are an important source of energy and facilitate the absorption of fat-soluble vitamins including A, D, E and K. According to the ADA, animal fats contribute approximately 60% of the SFA in the American diet, most of which are palmitic acid (C16:0) and stearic acid (C18:0). Stearic acid has been shown to have no net impact on serum cholesterol concentrations in humans[17, 19]. In addition, 30% of the FA content in conventionally produced beef is composed of oleic acid (C18:1) [20], a monounsaturated FA (MUFA) that elicits a cholesterol-lowering effect among other healthful attributes including a reduced risk of stroke and a significant decrease in both systolic and diastolic blood pressure in susceptible populations [21].

Be that as it may, changes in finishing diets of conventional cattle can alter the lipid profile in such a way as to improve upon this nutritional package. Although there are genetic, age related and gender differences among the various meat producing species with respect to lipid profiles and ratios, the effect of animal nutrition is quite significant [22]. Regardless of the genetic makeup, gender, age, species or geographic location, direct contrasts between grass and grain rations consistently demonstrate significant differences in the overall fatty acid profile and antioxidant content found in the lipid depots and body tissues [22–24].

Table 1 summarizes the saturated fatty acid analysis for a number of studies whose objectives were to contrast the lipid profiles of cattle fed either a grain or grass diets [25–31]. This table is limited to those studies utilizing the longissimus dorsi (loin eye), thereby standardizing the contrasts to similar cuts within the carcass and limits the comparisons to cattle between 20 and 30 months of age. Unfortunately, not all studies report data in similar units of measure (i.e., g/g of fatty acid), so direct comparisons between studies are not possible.

Table 1 Comparison of mean saturated fatty acid composition (expressed as mg/g of fatty acid or as a % of total lipid) between grass-fed and grain-fed cattle. Full size table

Table 1 reports that grass finished cattle are typically lower in total fat as compared to grain-fed contemporaries. Interestingly, there is no consistent difference in total SFA content between these two feeding regimens. Those SFA's considered to be more detrimental to serum cholesterol levels, i.e., myristic (C14:0) and palmitic (C16:0), were higher in grain-fed beef as compared to grass-fed contemporaries in 60% of the studies reviewed. Grass finished meat contains elevated concentrations of stearic acid (C18:0), the only saturated fatty acid with a net neutral impact on serum cholesterol. Thus, grass finished beef tends to produce a more favorable SFA composition although little is known of how grass-finished beef would ultimately impact serum cholesterol levels in hyper-cholesterolemic patients as compared to a grain-fed beef.

Like SFA intake, dietary cholesterol consumption has also become an important issue to consumers. Interestingly, beef's cholesterol content is similar to other meats (beef 73; pork 79; lamb 85; chicken 76; and turkey 83 mg/100 g) [32], and can therefore be used interchangeably with white meats to reduce serum cholesterol levels in hyper-cholesterolemic individuals[11, 33]. Studies have shown that breed, nutrition and sex do not affect the cholesterol concentration of bovine skeletal muscle, rather cholesterol content is highly correlated to IMF concentrations[34]. As IMF levels rise, so goes cholesterol concentrations per gram of tissue [35]. Because pasture raised beef is lower in overall fat [24–27, 30], particularly with respect to marbling or IMF [26, 36], it would seem to follow that grass-finished beef would be lower in overall cholesterol content although the data is very limited. Garcia et al (2008) report 40.3 and 45.8 grams of cholesterol/100 grams of tissue in pastured and grain-fed steers, respectively (P < 0.001) [24].

Interestingly, grain-fed beef consistently produces higher concentrations of MUFAs as compared to grass-fed beef, which include FAs such as oleic acid (C18:1 cis-9), the primary MUFA in beef. A number of epidemiological studies comparing disease rates in different countries have suggested an inverse association between MUFA intake and mortality rates to CVD [3, 21]. Even so, grass-fed beef provides a higher concentration of TVA (C18:1 t11), an important MUFA for de novo synthesis of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA: C18:2 c-9, t-11), a potent anti-carcinogen that is synthesized within the body tissues [37]. Specific information relative to the health benefits of CLA and its biochemistry will be detailed later.

The important polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) in conventional beef are linoleic acid (C18:2), alpha-linolenic acid (C18:3), described as the essential FAs, and the long-chain fatty acids including arachidonic acid (C20:4), eicosapentaenoic acid (C20:5), docosanpetaenoic acid (C22:5) and docosahexaenoic acid (C22:6) [38]. The significance of nutrition on fatty acid composition is clearly demonstrated when profiles are examined by omega 6 (n-6) and omega 3 (n-3) families. Table 2 shows no significant change to the overall concentration of n-6 FAs between feeding regimens, although grass-fed beef consistently shows a higher concentrations of n-3 FAs as compared to grain-fed contemporaries, creating a more favorable n-6:n-3 ratio. There are a number of studies that report positive effects of improved n-3 intake on CVD and other health related issues discussed in more detail in the next section.