Healthy barbecue. Sort of.
By Owen Morris in Blog-B-Q
Tuesday, Mar. 24 2009 @ 12:30PM
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| Flickr: Ttstam |
Is it true? Can barbecue actually be healthy for you? Yes and no. New research shows that the fat in a certain cut of barbecue may be the good monounsaturated type.
The research is by a team at Texas A&M, and thus the focus is on Texas-style barbecue and the famous Texas brisket. According to "meat scientist" Dr. Stephen Smith, brisket contains "tiny reservoirs of healthy monounsaturated fatty acids" with cornfed steer fat containing 50 percent oleic acid, a monounsaturated acid that's good for the human body. (The healthiest oils, like olive oil, are around 70 percent oleic acid but can be as low as 50 percent oleic acid, making brisket nearly as good as olive oil.)
Smith and his colleagues have concluded that the brisket is "the most healthful area of the carcass."
Quick fat lesson: Monounsaturated fat is the best kind of fat for you. Besides olive oil, it's found in nuts, avocados and a host of other good foods. But most red meat contains saturated fat that, according to the American Heart Association, is the "main dietary cause of high blood cholesterol."
Before there's a big run on brisket: The research showed that these good fats are only in steers that ate a corn-based diet. The longer the cow ate corn, the more oleic acid that was found in the cow's bones. The oleic acid didn't show up in grass- or hay-fed cows.
Brisket is best identified with Texas barbecue, but the Midwest puts it to good use. Along with porks, ribs and chicken, brisket is one of the four main meat categories of the Kansas City Barbecue Society.
The brisket may not be healthy in the truest sense, but for people worried about cholesterol levels, it's nice to know that a sandwich or two won't shoot cholesterol sky-high.
Quick fat lesson: Monounsaturated fat is the best kind of fat for you. Besides olive oil, it's found in nuts, avocados and a host of other good foods. But most red meat contains saturated fat that, according to the American Heart Association, is the "main dietary cause of high blood cholesterol."
Before there's a big run on brisket: The research showed that these good fats are only in steers that ate a corn-based diet. The longer the cow ate corn, the more oleic acid that was found in the cow's bones. The oleic acid didn't show up in grass- or hay-fed cows.
Brisket is best identified with Texas barbecue, but the Midwest puts it to good use. Along with porks, ribs and chicken, brisket is one of the four main meat categories of the Kansas City Barbecue Society.
The brisket may not be healthy in the truest sense, but for people worried about cholesterol levels, it's nice to know that a sandwich or two won't shoot cholesterol sky-high.
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