Why do we eat salmon?
Even the most healthy plant-based dieters will admit that wild salmon is a pretty great source of omega-3 fatty acids.
And omega-3s are pretty incredible. They’re great for your eyes and your memory, just to name a few.
But even with wild salmon, nuts, and seeds as great sources, it’s still incredibly difficult to get enough of it in our diets without taking supplements.
One group of researchers wants to change that.
Because right now, it’s a little difficult to solve America’s problem with beef consumption (Americans eat four times as much beef as they do fish), this team set out to find out if they could make our beef healthier.
The study proposes enhancing beef with omega-3s, through feeding cattle food that has been fortified with these fatty acids.
Adding algae extract to food, for example, appeared to raise EPA and DPA (different omega-3s) levels in beef fed with it.
This may sound like a strange way to get your omega-3s. After all, isn’t the beef just a middleman for taking fish oil supplements?
Yes and no. After all, we can get calcium “naturally” through orange juice with added calcium, and we can get vitamins added in our sugary cereal. Why would meat be any different?
As for consumer reception, that’s where the question really lies. After all, what’s the point of fortifying beef if no one will pay a higher price for it?
In a survey done on consumers all over the country, they found that while consumers were willing to pay the highest price for beef that’s grass-fed, they found that people were willing to bay about $1.85 more for steak and $0.79 more for beef that was fed with omega-3s.
Of course, there’s no way to beat salmon, which packs a whopping 2,000 mg in a five ounce serving, but at least it helps people who aren’t changing diets to get the nutrients they need.
