We hope to provide you with many little-known facts about hormones in beef in this section. All plants and animals produce hormones. For example, some vegetables are a much greater source of estrogen than beef. You will learn that a serving of cabbage has 1000 times as much estrogen than a serving of beef from a steer that has received an estrogen implant. We explain the truths about growth promotant issues. You will find the reasons are quite different than you might expect. The real issues surrounding the EU (European Union) ban of U.S. beef are discussed.

BACKGROUND

   All plants and animals produce hormones. They are essential for life and control many aspects of metabolism, growth and sex related characteristics. When hormones are in the correct balance, people have a better chance for good health and longevity. When nature's balance is altered or interrupted, some side effects can occur. Humans produce over 100 substances which are various types of hormones, among them natural steroids and eiconosoids. Some of these act as messengers to cell receptors. If not functioning correctly, the wrong message can be sent to the cells. Two major groups of natural anabolic steroids are estrogens and androgens. Males and females (both in humans and animals) produce both types. In a female, estrogens predominate and in a male, androgens predominate. The best known androgen is testosterone. An example of an estrogen is estradiol. Many man-made chemicals have molecular structures that are similar to natural hormones. They may be so close in molecular structure that they can mimic natural hormones or interrupt the natural production and balance. For example, there are 65 man-made chemicals that are listed by the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency), World Wildlife Federation, or the Center for Disease Control. Many of these chemicals are used as pesticides, but affect our endocrine (hormone) system and brain function. We cover this in the pesticide section of this site.

NATURAL HORMONES IN CATTLE

   Cattle, like people, and to a certain extent plants, produce estrogens and androgens. However, because a 1200 lb. beef animal is much larger than something small, like a potato or soybean, the proportion in beef is hundreds and thousands of times smaller.

   Take soy, for example. The average American consumes 65 lbs. of soybean oil per year. Most of it is consumed in fast foods, snack foods, protein supplements and baby formula. Soy contains a phytoestrogen (phytoestrogen is plant estrogen) in the genestein group of estrogens. One pound of soybean oil contains an average of 6,800,000 milligrams of estrogen. Compare this to one pound of steer beef that has received a growth promoting hormone which has an average of 8 nanograms of estrogen. One pound of a non-implanted steer beef has only 6 nanograms of estrogen. Remember, a milligram is a thousandth of a gram and a nanogram is a billionth of a gram. Populations that consume more soy than the U.S. population have a lower rate of cancer. However, we need to look at two other things when considering the "Big Picture". First, soy is used in oriental cooking in other countries in a different manner than it is used in the United States. Usually, it is used for only a few minutes for stir frying on low heat. In this country, soy oil is used for frying at a very high heat. Frying creates carcinogens which offsets some of the anti-carcinogen effort of the phytoestyogen geneteins.

   At 65 lbs per capita, we consume an average of 442 grams of estrogen per year from soy bean oil alone. Compare this to a little over half a gram in one year's consumption of beef. A woman in menopause that is not taking estrogen therapy might benefit from the estrogen in soy. A pregnant female is already producing huge amounts of estrogen naturally may not need more. A person who has had estrogenic cancer should consider the amounts and types of environmental estrogen exposure. Phytoestrogens are considered natural environmental estrogens.

   As we age, our endocrine system produces less and less hormones. The main sex hormones estrogen and testosterone are examples. We now know that women who receive estrogen therapy live, on average, two years longer than women who do not take estrogen during menopause. Even though women taking estrogen have a slightly higher (1 out of 1,000) risk of breast cancer, their risk of heart attack is 50% lower. The risk of Alzheimer's disease and osteosporosis is 30% lower, resulting in the 2 year longer life span. Source: "The Superhormone Promise" by William Regelson, M.D. and Carol Colman.

   I honestly believe that if you really look at the the "Big Picture", you'll find that extra lean Maverick Ranch Natural Beef is one of the safest, most beneficial foods there is. We go the extra mile to ensure this for you because we care about you, our customers.

   A 3 1/2 oz portion of steer beef has only 1.3 nanograms of estrogen. A steer that has received an estrogen implant only has 1.9 nanograms of estrogen per 4 oz serving. Compare this to a potato that has 245 nanograms of estrogen. If we compare soybean oil to beef fat, the soybean oil has over 1,000,000 times as much estrogen in the same amount of sample. For your reference, a nanogram is one-billionth of a gram which is analogous to one blade of grass in an entire football field. When we change nature, we can affect hormone balances in plants and animals.

   For example, a noncastrated bull produces 1000 times more testosterone and estrogen than a steer (castrated animal). As a bull grows normally, the hormone balance provides normal male characteristics such as converting feed energy to muscle instead of fat. Additionally, a bull is very aggressive by nature because of the higher hormone levels. This aggressiveness leads to stress, and stress causes higher levels of cholesterol in the beef. Bulls often become so aggressive that they can be dangerous to be around, whereas steers are more docile.

   When we make a steer out of a bull calf, his hormone production is lowered and the steer takes on a metabolism similar to a female. Steers put on more body fat than bulls. Twenty years ago, beef was much fatter than it is today. Steer beef used to have more fat than protein and these steers often had 2-3 inches of backfat and the meat was loaded with marbling. USDA Prime beef was very bad for your heart when eaten on a regular basis. This is the reason beef got such a bad rap when the USDA published its nutritional information.

   Compare this to the Maverick Ranch cattle of today that only average 1/4 inch of backfat and have much smaller and fewer fat cells within the red meat. There are two reasons for these changes. First, U.S. cattlemen started importing European cattle breeds of genetically leaner cattle to America in the 60's. Traditionally (prior to 1965), English breeds, which are higher in fat, dominated the market. The newly imported breeds from continental Europe dramatically changed the beef industry due to their lower internal fat content. Secondly, "hormone" implants were developed and approved by the FDA over 30 years ago.

HORMONE IMPLANTS

   The first implants were estrogenic, and in 1987, androgens were also approved by the FDA for use in cattle. Researchers found that a steer or spayed female puts on too much fat and does not deposit enough muscle (red meat). They also found that replacing a very small amount of natural hormone that had been taken away had the same effect as exercise. The metabolism is stimulated and feed energy is converted more to red meat than fat. This provides a nutritionally superior beef product and a faster gaining animal. Muscle is denser than fat and weighs about twice as much. Therefore, the cattle producer had a healthier animal that produced leaner beef and also gained weight faster.

   Consumer demand was high for a leaner, healthier beef, so use of these hormone implants became widespread. The term "growth promotant" was coined but somehow came to have a negative connotation. We want to emphasize that an implanted steer still gains weight and grows about 25% slower than a bull because the implanted steer has less than 1% of the natural male hormone levels of the bull. We've had numerous consumers call us concerned about hormone levels in beef, not realizing that 99% or more of their daily estrogen intake is from fruits, vegetables and grains.

   There is nothing wrong with estrogen from these items unless your estrogen balance is already out of balance with other hormones. When that imbalance happens, we are much more likely to have disease and premature aging. Source: Bar Diamond Laboratories

WHY THE CONTROVERSY ABOUT HORMONE IMPLANTS IN CATTLE?

   By the 1980's, a lot of natural beef companies, including ourselves, felt that natural beef was what the public wanted. In developing our natural beef program, we knew that we could provide a tasty, high quality beef by using genetically superior cattle and testing all the beef in our program for the absence of antibiotics and pesticides. About the same time, the EU banned U.S. beef in Europe, supposedly because of the added growth hormones.

   This was, in reality, a trade barrier designed to keep U.S. beef from entering Europe and putting a greater burden on European governments who subsidize cattle production in their own countries. More beef from the United States in Europe meant more cash subsidization for European cattle producers by their governments.

   European scientists have never been able to identify any harmful effects in humans from eating U.S. raised beef. The practice in Europe is to use bull beef rather than steer beef, so natural hormone levels of European beef is actually much higher than in the U.S. One TV program reported that the beef that had received growth promotants caused early maturity in children in South America. This was reported without any scientific fact to back up their story, and researchers later proved the story incorrect.

WHAT IS MAVERICK RANCH'S POSITION ON HORMONE IMPLANTS IN CATTLE?

   14 drug companies produce FDA approved implants. These are all estrogenic or androgenic compounds. In general, these are small pellets, slightly larger than a pin head, and are implanted in the middle back of the animal's ear. These implants are gradually released over a 60 to 200 day period and in effect, stimulate the animal's metabolism.

   All scientific studies prove there is zero risk to humans, and laboratory tests consistently support this finding. In 1995, several very strong androgen implants became popular. Their use tends to make steers a little more like bulls, and some of the beef becomes too lean to qualify for USDA Select or Choice grade which are the only USDA grades that Maverick Ranch accepts. Colorado State University has recently completed a study that shows that several implant strategies not only reduce USDA grade, but they make the beef so lean that it decreases tenderness and palatability.

A LABORATORY TESTING SYSTEM LIKE OURS IS THE ONLY WAY TO PRODUCE TRULY VERIFIABLE NATURAL BEEF THAT WE BELIEVE EXCEEDS EVEN ORGANIC STANDARDS.

   Some organic standards permit direct pesticide use that is necessary, but leaves no way to test and reject animals that are overdosed or have a detectable residue.

NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION

   In the past, beef has been portrayed negatively by the media and in some nutritional diets and programs. The USDA publishes Handbook 8-13 which contains nutritional data on beef. We believe that the handbook doesn't take into consideration the modern lean cattle of today. This data has only been updated a few times in the last 50 years. The current printed material is old; they have stopped printing a hard copy of the information because the volume would be too large and the information frequently changes. There is, however, current info on the web available to consumers upon request.

   Their website is www.nalusda.gov/fnic/index.html or you can phone 301-734-8491. Look at Maverick Ranch's lean nutritionals.

   Today's Maverick Ranch Natural Beef, in most of our popular cuts, has nutritional values that exceed most fish and chicken. When you consider pesticides and pathogenic bacteria, Maverick Ranch Beef is one of the safest meat products on the market.