— At Our Table —

Better Beef, Part 1: Inside the Van Vliet Research Methodology

Most beef research starts and ends with the meat. This study started with the soil.

Allen R. Williams, Ph.D.

Co-founder

In this post

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Why this method matters

Most "is grass-fed beef healthier?" studies sample only the meat. They measure the food and stop.

Van Vliet's team measured the full chain — the soil microbes that fed the plants, the plants the animals ate, the metabolites in the animals' fecal matter, the end-product meat, and the humans who ate it.

That's the difference between a snapshot and a system study. The data in Part 2 isn't "grass-fed beef has more X." It's why grass-fed beef has more X — traced back to the soil.

Dr. Stephan van Vliet's grass-fed beef research is among the most thorough nutrient-density studies ever conducted on meat. Unlike conventional nutrition research, which examines only the final food product, this study sampled the entire chain: soil, plants the animals were grazing, animal fecal matter, the finished beef, and human clinical trials. The data was benchmarked against typical feedlot grain-fed beef from the Beef Nutrient Density Project database. The findings — covered in detail in Part 2 — show grass-fed beef significantly outperforming feedlot beef across phytonutrients, vitamins, fatty acids, and oxidative stress markers.

The study design

Research conducted by a science team headed up by Dr. Stephan van Vliet had a goal of performing deep metabolic and nutritional profiling of grass-fed beef samples submitted by farms in various regions of the U.S. Nutritional profiling included fatty acids, amino acids, phytochemicals, vitamins, and oxidative stress markers. To fully understand the contributions of soil health parameters, plant species diversity, and the actual absorption of nutrients in the animal’s gut, researchers collected and analyzed soil, plant, and animal fecal data. Additionally, beef samples were analyzed for their complete nutritional profile. This data provided significant insight into the nutritional composition of meat and the metabolic health of the animals.

The data is benchmarked against the average values for typical feedlot grain-fed beef samples. The grain-fed beef samples were collected from feedlots in the Nutrient Density Project database.

This nutritional research trial is among the most thorough ever conducted. Most nutritional research starts and ends with the actual food products that people consume. This research examined the soil that grew the plants the animals ate, the plants themselves, the fecal matter of the animals, the end-product, and even includes human clinical trials.

Outline of data collected

Soil — Physical, chemical, and biological characteristics
Plants — Diversity, phytonutrient profile, everything the animals were observed eating
Fecal matter — Collecting samples from fresh manure patties
End product — Grass-fed beef compared to conventional feedlot beef
Human clinical trials

Key steps in the research process

Sample collection at the farm. This included soil samples, plant samples, fecal samples, and beef samples after animals were harvested.
Sample processing to prepare for analysis.
Mass spectrometry analysis of the samples using Liquid Chromatography with Tandem Mass Spectrometry.
Individual metabolite identification (actual phytonutrients).
Bioactivities and pathway analysis.
Data interpretation of amino acid metabolism, phytonutrients, fatty acid metabolism, vitamin and nucleotide metabolism, microbiome metabolism.

These key steps represent an in-depth, scientific analysis — analysis that goes far above and beyond any prior nutritional analysis ever attempted.

In part two of this series, we’ll look at even more detailed evidence from the study regarding the link between the health of our soils, our plants, our animals, and our health.

FAQ

Who is Dr. Stephan van Vliet and what does he research?: Dr. van Vliet is a researcher focused on nutrient density in regenerative-ag food systems, particularly the differences between conventionally raised and grass-fed animal products. His 2021 paper in Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems — “Health-Promoting Phytonutrients Are Higher in Grass-Fed Meat and Milk” — is a landmark study in the field. Allen has collaborated with his team on the research that informs this series.
How is this study different from other grass-fed beef research?: Most grass-fed beef research samples only the meat. This study sampled the entire chain — soil, plants, fecal matter, end-product beef, and human clinical trials. That makes it possible to trace specific compounds back to where they came from in the soil, instead of just comparing outputs without knowing the mechanism.
What is the “Nutrient Density Project database” referenced as the benchmark?: It’s a published database of nutrient profiles for conventional feedlot grain-fed beef samples, used as the comparison baseline against which the grass-fed samples in this study were measured. It’s a real-world benchmark — typical feedlot beef as it actually exists on the market.
What is mass spectrometry, and why does this study use it?: Mass spectrometry (specifically Liquid Chromatography with Tandem Mass Spectrometry, or LC-MS/MS in this study) is a laboratory method that can identify and quantify individual molecules in a sample with very high precision. It’s how the researchers were able to measure dozens of specific compounds — individual phytonutrients, vitamins, fatty acids — instead of relying on broad nutritional categories.
Where can I read the actual numbers from the study?: Part 2 of this series — Grass-Fed Beef vs Feedlot Beef: What the Lab Numbers Show — lays out the per-compound percentages across all twenty-two measured nutrients. The published paper is Van Vliet et al., 2021 in Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems.

This nutritional research trial is among the most thorough ever conducted. Most nutritional research starts and ends with the actual food products that people consume. This research examined the soil that grew the plants the animals ate, the plants themselves, the fecal matter of the animals, the end-product, and even includes human clinical trials.
Dr. Allen R. Williams, Ph.D.

The bottom line

Five layers of data, not one. Soil → plants → fecal matter → end-product meat → human clinical trials.
Benchmarked against typical feedlot beef from the Nutrient Density Project database — not a cherry-picked control group.
Mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) quantifies individual phytonutrients, vitamins, and fatty acids — not just broad categories.
Part 2 has the numbers. Twenty-two compounds tested. Grass-fed beef won every category.