Calgary livestock analyst Barbara Duckworth recently covered the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association convention in Phoenix, Arizona, and filed these reports.
PHOENIX, Ariz. – Nutritional research has come a long way from the 17th century when it was noticed iron filings in wine seemed to help anemic patients.
In the last 50 years the number of beneficial nutrients discovered in food has increased to 50 from 35, said nutritionists at a Jan. 28 session on human nutrition at the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association convention in Arizona.
“A lot of interest in human nutrition started when we started to discover the components of foods,” said Jennifer Leheska, nutrition research consultant for the NCBA.
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Dietitians representing beef organizations and the federal government are adding new information to the United States Department of Agriculture nutrition database. A new version is expected in 2012.
It contains nutritional information on more than 7,400 foods and uses average household weights and measures of food. U.S. researchers use it as a guideline when studying foods. It is also used to formulate new food products, develop menu plans and school lunch programs or create special diets for health conditions.
A new food guide to be released next year relies on the database so the beef industry wants to make sure its latest information is included.
A new beef assessment research project is underway with major packing plants, three universities, NCBA and the USDA. Beef samples have been collected from youthful cattle at the packing plants. Samples are reduced to a powder and then undergo various nutritional analyses. The findings will be added to the database.
For many years beef has carried the reputation of being fatty even though a lean cut contains only one more gram of fat per serving than a skinless chicken breast. People still think of beef as a fatty food and will drop it from the diet.
“Lean or fat is the biggest challenge the beef industry faces in terms of nutrition,” said Shalene McNeill, head of the NCBA nutritional research division
Beef is ranked as the top source of protein and monounsaturated fats, but it also has saturated fats and cholesterol.
“We are considered a product high in saturated fat but more than half is a good source of monounsaturated fats,” McNeill said.
Consumers want more nutritional information but they may not know how to use it to make good choices, said Stacy Bates of the Texas Beef Council.
Legislation is coming to New York, Philadelphia, Nashville, California and Washington jurisdictions that will require food labels to list total calories and fat content on menus for any restaurant with more than 50 outlets. Attributes of beef such as protein and iron are not included.
For a city like New York with eight million people, this could affect beef purchases for those pursuing a low fat diet.
“This information could have a big impact on the amount of beef purchased at these locations,” said Bates.
