Re: how much PUFA are you eating?

[Guest guest]

--- Idol <paul.idol@...> wrote:

> Actually, the PUFA content of ruminant meat is pretty close to

> constant regardless of diet, and if anything, it might be slightly

> higher in pastured ruminant meat than in grain-fed meat, though I

> wonder whether that's an artifact of slaughter times, in which case

> perhaps older pastured ruminants will have slightly lower levels of

> PUFA in their fat. Regardless, absolute PUFA content isn't a good

> argument in favor of consuming pastured ruminant meat.

,

I agree, it's the " relative " PUFA content of ruminant meat and dairy,

whether fully pastured or not, that makes it attractive for keeping

long-term PUFA intake levels low. I'm guessing that the absolute

difference in PUFA levels between fully pastured and grain finished

ruminant meat is not that much, probably less than one percent, though

I haven't tried to look up the data lately. Commercial ruminant meat

is relatively low in PUFA compared to commercial pork, chicken, and

turkey, by a factor of about 2 to 6 times (around 2 to 4 percent vs

about 6 to 12 percent of total calories).

> Unfortunately, it seems virtually impossible to find chickens and

> eggs which aren't fed any grains and/or legumes. The caloric

> requirements of modern chickens are just enormous. Perhaps potatoes

> would be a workable substitute...? Has anyone tried this? Still,

> potatoes are much more expensive than grains and soy.

I liked Lana's suggestion of feeding them bugs. Of course, how you

raise the bugs that you feed the chickens might also affect the PUFA

content of the chickens and eggs