by Stephanie Briggs

Created on: February 12, 2009   Last Updated: February 13, 2009

A while back, I asked our waiter in a steak house whether the beef they served was grass-fed. "Oh, no!" he said proudly. "Everything we serve is grain-fed. The very best!"

I retorted that grain-fed meat is nutritionally inferior to grass-fed meat, at which point my date kicked me under the table. I have to acknowledge that putting waiters on the spot is probably a poor teaching technique. But, teaching is needed. The public needs to know how eating grain-fed meat is affecting their health.

The most talked about nutritional benefit of grass-fed meat in comparison to grain-fed meat is its more favorable ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids. It is conjectured that human life evolved with a diet that provided omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids in a ratio of about 1:1 or maybe 2:1. The meat of grass-fed cattle has been shown to contain omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids in a ratio between 3:1 and 4:1, while the ratio in the meat of grain (corn)-fed cattle exceeds 20:1. The omega-6:omega-3 ratio of the overall, unsupplemented, western diet is estimated to be about 17:1.

"So what?" you may say. "Does it matter?" It does matter. Intake of excessive amounts of omega-6s in relation to omega-3s contributes significantly to many diseases, including cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, inflammatory diseases, and autoimmune diseases. Omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids are constituents of every cell membrane, and an improper balance of these fatty acids can affect membrane permeability in both directions - what gets into the cell and what gets out. Both families of fatty acids are also involved in the formation of prostaglandins and leukotrienes, some of which promote inflammation and some of which temper it.

Having the proper balance of these families of essential fatty acids determines whether inflammation runs rampant or is held in check. In practical terms that means, is your body going to respond with appropriate inflammation to protect you when you're wounded, or is inflammation going to be giving you chronic muscle and joint pain or contributing to heart disease or diabetes or any of the other "modern" diseases, most of which are now thought to be caused by chronic inflammation?

With even just these two roles - modulating membrane permeability and regulating inflammation - is it any wonder that an imbalance in these two families of fatty acids can be involved in so many diseases?

Another, not insignificant, factor in the grain-fed vs grass-fed debate is the fact that ruminant

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