I prefer grassfed mostly for the more healthful vitamin balance and less hormones and chemicals. Plus there are probably many things we don't yet understand that are in a healthy meat from a healthy animal vs that from a sick bloated animal. But remember organic does not always mean chemical free and neither does grassfed. There are many loopholes in the 'organic' label. However, I feel that 100% grassfed animals are more likely to be healthy and less likely be sick and combine the grassfed with organic and I think overall, the meat will be more healthful. However, personally, I do not worry too much about the omega 3 ratio as, like you said, I just don't think there is enough PUFA there to make a slight ratio issue worth the bother of concern.

i completely agree. while i strive for grassfed as much as possible i always rest and eat easy knowing that as long as you don't eat any vegetable oils, nuts, and seeds you're prolly handling the n6 and n3 issue pretty well. Avoid restaurants and youre doing even better.

I have always thought that big nut and seed consumption is something that should prolly be avoided, at least for those who are not already in very good health. Its just too much of an n6 load, especially is those people are still eating sporadic veg oils, going out to eat, etc.

I would say no. While many respected paleoers on here do insist on grassfed, I've never knowingly eaten a grassfed animal (notwithstanding the fact that even conventional beef in the UK is fed grass an awful lot of the year) and feel completely comfortable with the 2g of omega 6 I get from my 500g of relatively fatty beef most days. One point of contention is that NutritionData (and the charts you link to look identical) suggest that grassfed meat is substantially less balanced than typically suggested. Indeed there's virtually no difference between the meats according to those measures. This has been dismissed as "frankly impossible" here with this source (from a purveyor of grassfed meat) suggesting that grassfed contains even more omega-3 than omega-6. In any case, if omega-6 is all you're concerned about, then conventional beef is still far better than the finest pork, chicken or turkey. Any nut or seed apart from macadamia nuts will be worse than these.

Of course, eating non-grassfed means that I don't get hardly any omega 3 from it, so I eat wild tinned salmon for the rest of my protein and/or take fish oil. Most of my omega 6 comes from the butter (2.7/100g)that makes up most of my calories, in fact. Because of the butter I don't feel I'm missing out on CLA, vitamin K2 etc either. Similarly, it would make no sense to choose grassfed on the basis of getting less SFA, while I'm getting most of my calories from butter, which contains substantially more SFA relative to both MUFA and PUFA than meat. Grassfed, being leaner and higher in PUFA might be better for Cordain type paleos therefore, but for high SFA paleos, very much less so.

One thing that might be a factor that would recommend 'quality' meat would be the avoidance of assorted other chemicals being pumped into the animal, but this would be a reason to go organic, not grassfed per se; notably I've not seen any definitive evidence or argument either way, for there being a major health issue here.

For what it's worth, a recent study (cited on Mark's Daily Apple and by others) does suggests that Grass-finished beef produced higher amounts of plasma and platelet long-chain n3 PUFAs than grain-finished beef.

I recall Dr Michael Eades of Protein Power fame (a font of paleo and nutritional knowledge: http://twitter.com/DrEades and http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/) has replied in comments of various blog posts (paraphrasing) that "....once a person removes the industrial grain/seed oils and grains/processed foods from their diet, the omega6/3 balance of grass fed or feed lot meats is just not worth thinking about.."

I have no specific post to refer you to, but have seen this sort of comment more than a few times when he replies to folks with concerns about grass fed vs. feedlot meats. No matter the source, meat is always going to trump grains, legumes, or other third world protein and fat sources.

No, there's hardly any difference. I think one of the main differences is that the level of nutrients like CLA and vitamin E is higher in grassfed than cafo. Don't stress it if you have to get regular beef.

I can't speak with authority on this either way but I did happen across this post a few days ago which refers to (but doesn't link!) a study that found large differences in Omega 3 composition between groups that ate grass-fed vs grain-fed beef.

http://chriskresser.com/blog/grass-fed-vs-conventional-meat-its-not-black-or-white/

As for myself, I usually buy grass-fed ground beef because $4/lb at Costco doesn't hurt much and grass-fed beef jerky from my local farmer's market is also the only source for simple additive free jerky that I know of. Otherwise I usually go conventional beef for steaks and ribs and such. But I will tend to get grass-fed butter (kerrygold), new zealand lamb and sometimes even grass-fed heavy cream... The stuff tastes better to me and doesn't cost so much more for the amount we use.

Over time I think there's enough difference in the fat profiles of the two to have an impact on your health.

I buy grass-FINISHED beef from a local farmer. Last time I got two of the biggest flank steaks I've ever seen, easily 4-5lbs each. They're more like roasts. It's delicious and the price is a lot less than the "grass-fed" stuff at Whole Foods. I eat a LOT of this beef. This guy's rib-eyes are the best I've ever had.

But I also travel a lot and you just can't be too picky on the road otherwise you'd starve, so I'll eat pretty much any kind of meat, especially at those Brazilian BBQ places. I know it's all corn & soy finished but it's better than industrial chicken or farmed fish.

The issue with n6 and n3 is the ratio. You need them both but in the proper balance. Grass finished ruminant meats (beef, goat etc.) are balanced.

If you want a therapeutic dose of fat then think dairy foods since they are concentrated. Whole milk is good, butter is better and cheese is almost medicinal.

The idea that you must feed grain to fatten beef is false. If you are getting lean and tough beef from your supplier then you might consider buying from a more skilled grower. There are a lot of uninformed opportunists selling range cattle that are too old and too thin so that they can cash in on the grass fed fad. But there are also those who know what they are doing and can finish cattle on pasture that are young,tender and fat.