There’s more to livestock feeds than meets the eye. Apparently, in studies conducted by different parties, a significant portion of grains fed to livestock is never absorbed by the animals, and the meat produced by livestock for human consumption does not necessarily “reflect” the potential nutrient content of the grains originally fed to the animals.
This finding was cited in the World Health Organization Commission on Health and Environment (in its report “Environmental Effects of Intensive Agricultural Production; Report of Panel in Food and Agriculture,” 1992), and in Pennington JA’s Nutrient Content chapters on meats, poultry and milk yogurt, milk beverages and milk beverage mixes (Bowes and Church’s “Food Values of Portions Commonly Used,” 1989).
Nutrients lost by cycling grains through livestock include the following: protein (85-90 percent); carbohydrates (up to 100 percent) and fiber (100 percent).
Some have referred to the process of feeding grain to livestock and then humans, in turn, eating the flesh of those animals as “cycling grain through livestock.” Most of the grain’s nutrients are lost in this cycle.
“Through this process, we can end up with as little as 15 percent of the protein that was originally in the grain. These losses are epitomized by the intensive animal-raising practices such as indoor factory farms for pigs and poultry,” said preventive healthcare expert Neil Nedley, MD, author of “Proof Positive: How to Reliably Combat Disease and Achieve Optimal Health through Nutrition and Lifestyle.”
Nedley said that not only does this reflect a loss of protein for human consumption but also exacts serious environmental effects by accumulating animal manure.
John Robbins, author of “The Food Revolution” book, said, “The production of modern meat in factory farms and feedlots has enormous health, humanitarian and environmental costs.”
Worldwatch Institute said: “Loss of species and climate change exemplify how current methods of rearing animals around the world take a large toll on nature. Overgrown and resource-intensive, animal agriculture is out of alignment with the Earth’s ecosystem.”