HOUSTON -- Texas A&M University scientists have given a big
thumbs up to
barbecued beef brisket, saying the mainstay of he-man Texas cuisine
is
loaded with the same type of healthy fat found in olive or canola
oil.
The high level of monosaturated fat found in brisket -- up to 50
percent
-- comes from feeding cattle corn in a feedlot setting, AgriLife
meat
scientist Stephen Smith said. The more corn a steer eats, the
higher the
percentage of the good fat.
Olive and canola oils contain up to 80 percent monosaturated
fat.
Smith and Texas A&M graduate student Stacey Turk, who conducted
the
research for her master's thesis in animal science, contend the
discovery bodes well for other beef products in grocers' meat
counters.
Grinding brisket, or grinding parts of brisket that contain the
highest
concentration of fat, could provide a healthy alternative to
conventional ground beef, which typically is made from cuts higher
in
saturated fat, Smith said.
The key to brisket's monosaturated fat seems to be the corn-fed
finishing most American cattle receive in feedlots. The same breeds
of
cattle fed entirely on grass do not develop the health-enhancing
quality, nor is all fat in cornfed beef high in monosaturated
acids.
Smith and Turk said they believe the new findings will be a boon
to the
beef business.
But there are concerns.
With biofuel makers now in the corn market, the golden grain is
costing
feedlot operators a whopping $5 a bushel, Smith noted.
And hours after Texas A&M announced its study this week, the Pew
Charitable Trusts and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public
Health
issued a scathing report on cattle feedlots and other aspects of
modern
industrial farming.
Hitting where it really hurts, other studies have indicated that
grilling or barbecuing animal protein can generate heterocyclic
amines
linked to breast and colon cancer.
But not to worry.
Smith said Wagyu, Japanese cattle that typically spend their
entire
lives in pastures eating grass, also build up healthy levels of
monosaturated fat in marbled flesh.
Perhaps the solution is to chow down on a delectable hunk of
Wagyu.
Raw.
c.2008 Houston Chronicle