Review Article

A Contribution of Beef to Human Health: A Review of the Role of the Animal Production Systems

Table 1

Lipid content and fatty acid composition reported of beef muscle from steers (British and crossbred) finished in different and contrasting production systems.

Production systemReference
PastureSupplementationFeedlot

IMF (%)2.86 b4.09 a3.85 a [25]
4.964.52[28]
2.83[29]
0.98 b1.30 a [30]
2.80 b4.40 a[31]
2.12 b3.61 a[32]

SFA (% total FA)38.40 a37.85 a35.33 b[25]
46.6145.80[28]
43.1[29]
38.7639.27[30]
48.80 a45.10 b[31]
42.45 b43.43 a[32]

MUFA (% total FA)37.74 b40.89 a40.77 a[25]
41.6337.35[28]
30.2[29]
24.69 b34.99 a[30]
42.50 b46.20 a[31]
43.87 b47.89 a[32]

PUFA (% total FA)7.95 a, b7.50 b9.31 a[25]
5.58 b10.12 a[28]
8.73[29]
28.99 a19.06 b[30]
3.41 a2.77 b[31]

PUFA/SFA 0.21 b0.20 b0.27 a[25]
0.12 b0.23 a[28]
0.20[29]

n-6/n-31.72 c3.77 b10.38 a[25]
2.47 b5.50 a[28]
1.47[29]
1.77 b8.99 a[30]
2.78 b13.60 a[31]
1.96 b3.57 a[32]

CLA (% total FA)0.72 a0.58 b0.31 c[25]
0.33[33]

IMF: intramuscular fat; SFA: saturated fatty acid; MUFA: monounsaturated fatty acid; PUFA: polyunsaturated fatty acid; CLA: conjugated linoleic acid.
a, b, c mean values in row with different letters differ statistically ().