Sunday, September 26, 2010

If you proccess cow's food carotenoids are reduced

Hay: Its processed western food for cows
Way back in the beginning of my wellness quest I discovered in a dairy publication a blood test to determine if you cow had optimal levels of beta carotene. It turned out that if you feed your cow 100% on fresh grass / plants that the cow had optimal levels of beta carotene. However if you processed the cow food you reduced it carotenoid levels. It was a seminal moment for me as I saw the direct comparison between cow diet and nutrition level, and the same parallel changes occurring in the human diet. I will have to search around and see if I can find this article.

Anyway in reviewing the cow article the paper stated:
Green grass/stuff: Good for both cows and us !
Plant species, harvest methods, and season, all have significant impacts on the carotenoid content of forage. In the process of making silage, haylage or hay, as much as 80% of the carotenoid content is destroyed.      
Funny how we can objectively say that processing cow food, reduces it nutrition. And that the nutrition depends on the plants, harvesting, season etc. However we cannot have the same discussion about human food before people get up in arms about the mythical "good diet" and we can eat enough...... these people need to go study farm animals to learn the truth!

 

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