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Abstract
Many try to eat sustainably but reliable information is lacking, and environmental impact often prioritises over nutritional quality. Here we consider beneficial fatty acid profiles in steaks from 4 UK systems: non-organic, organic, certified pasture-fed and conservation cattle.Most individual fatty acids and ratios considered beneficial for health (individual and total omega 3, vaccenic acid and CLA) followed a gradient, against assumed intensity of production. Ratios for linoleic acid: α-linolenic acid, omega-6:omega-3 and SFA:PUFA in pasture-fed sirloins were only 27%, 55% and 70% (respectively) of those in non-organic beef. Intramuscular fat from pasture-fed meat had twice as much omega-3 and 1.9x the long chain omega-3 concentrations compared with non-organic meat, with a ratio of omega-6:omega-3 only 38% of that in non-organic meat.Meat from 100% pasture-fed and conservation grazing offer public good, matching dietary guidelines better than meat from mainstream systems and qualifying as a source of long chain omega-3 fatty acids.
Highlights
Food choice is influenced by a desire to be sustainable, possibly considering a wide range of aspects, either in isolation or in combination (Verain et al, 2012; Stampa et al, 2020)
The ratio of saturated fatty acids (SFA):PUFA, supply of oleic acid (OA, c9 C18:1) and MUFA showed similar values for non-organic and organic steak purchased at the supermarkets
Sampling meat from cattle slaughtered in late summer would be a good follow-on to assess seasonality in meat quality from extensive production and assess its likely impact on consumer health. These findings reinforce the concept that the nutritional quality of beef is enhanced by extensive production systems
Summary
Food choice is influenced by a desire to be sustainable, possibly considering a wide range of aspects, either in isolation or in combination (Verain et al, 2012; Stampa et al, 2020). Since metabolism of n-3 and n-6 share common enzyme systems, the widespread excess in dietary n-6 ( linoleic acid (LA, c9,12 C18:2)) impairs elongation and desaturation of α-linolenic acid (ALA, c9,12,15 C18:3) necessary for its conversion to eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA, c112,5,18 C20:5 n-3), docosapentaenoic acid (DPA, C22:5 n-3) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, C22:6 n-3) (Simopoulos, 2002; Griffin, 2008) These long chain n-3 (LC n3) have anti-inflammatory properties and a deficiency contributes to a wide range of health conditions, linked around mental health, cognitive development and deterioration, as well as coronary heart disease (Dyall, 2015; Calder, 2018). A sensible approach for public health would be to identify foods which supply more of these pre-formed LC n-3 and an appropriate balance of LA and ALA, to enhance their endogenous synthesis
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