🥩 Grass-fed vs. grain-fed beef: Which one is better?

The type of meat you consume can significantly affect your health.

A recent review compared the nutrition content between grass-fed and grain-fed beef and found that:

• Protein quality: Both grass-fed and grain-fed meats are excellent sources of high-quality protein and essential amino acids, crucial for muscle repair and overall health.

• Omega 3: Grass-fed beef has 2-5 times more omega-3 fatty acids than grain-fed meat. A higher omega-3 index is linked to reduction in inflammation.

• Saturated fats: Grass-fed beef tend to have lower fat on average, but has a higher proportion of longer chain saturated fats (which are cholesterol neutral) and less short chain saturated fats (which can increase blood cholesterol)

• Antioxidants: Grass-fed beef has higher levels of omega-3s, CLA, and precursors of antioxidants (like vitamin E and A). All of which are generally anti-inflammatory.

• Minerals: Grass-fed beef has higher content of essential minerals like zinc and iron, which enhance muscle recovery and reduce oxidative stress after intense exercise.

🥊 Punchline

Pound for pound, grass-fed beef is nutritionally superior to grain-fed beef. If the cost of grass-fed beef is a barrier, the incorporation of healthy fats like avocados, olive oil and fatty fish can help increase intakes of omega 3, antioxidants and essential minerals.

🍝 Is couscous healthier than pasta?

Couscous is a staple food across North Africa and was integrated into French and European cuisine at the beginning of the twentieth century.

Couscous is made of granules of rolled semolina from durum wheat.

Basically, it’s made of small bits of pasta.

Couscous is processed to remove the outer part of the wheat grain (as is pasta, except wholewheat) and is smaller in size. Hence, when eaten in isolation, it can prompt a significant increase in blood sugar levels because of the high carbohydrate load (as pasta does).

But, having couscous with other foods as part of a meal can help blunt this response.

So, contrary to what most people think, couscous is not healthier than the average pasta.

It's not a "bad" food, but it's pretty devoid of nutritional value because of food processing, much like pasta.

🥊 Punchline

Couscous is made of small bits of pasta and is processed to remove the outer part of the wheat grain. This makes couscous no more and no less healthy than the average pasta.

🥓 Managing autoimmune disorders: What’s the role of a keto diet?

The keto diet is a diet that severely restricts carbohydrate-rich foods like bread, pasta, fruit and sugar, but allows unlimited fat consumption.

Without carbohydrates to use as fuel, the body breaks down fat instead, producing compounds called ketone bodies.

Ketone bodies provide energy for cells to burn and can also affect the immune system.

A new study in animals found that the keto diet prompts the gut and its microbes produce two factors that attenuated symptoms of multiple sclerosis in mice.

In detail, the increase of a particular ketone body called β-hydroxybutyrate (βHB) started a domino effect. It prompted specific gut bacteria to produce indole lactic acid (ILA), which in turn blocked the activation of certain immune cells (T helper 17), which are involved in multiple sclerosis and other autoimmune disorders.

When secreted by the gut, β-hydroxybutyrate counteracts immune system activation in mice.

If the study translates to humans, it points toward a new way of treating multiple sclerosis and other autoimmune disorders with diet changes or supplements.

Details of the keto diet used in experiment is not yet published.

🥊 Punchline

A keto diet may offer a promising new approach to treating multiple sclerosis and other autoimmune disorders by influencing gut bacteria and immune system activation through the production of specific compounds.