Posted on July 8, 2010 - by Russell

Longhorn Beef in Healthy Diet

“Heart Surgeon Claims”

By Steve Cubbage

            The man is a heart surgeon and cattleman.  Dr. Joe Graham is at home on the range at a time when doctors and cattlemen aren’t exactly on the same side of the fence when it comes to the subject of beef. 
            Graham is a cardiovascular surgeon at St. Johns Medical Center and he raises Longhorns on his ranch outside of Joplin, MO.
            “I know that at first glance it might look hypocritical for a heart surgeon to be raising beef.  But those pointing the finger at beef don’t know all the facts,” says Graham.  He believes that the beef industry has been unfairly targeted as the scapegoat for Americans’ health problems.
            “Having dealt with cardiovascular patients during my training as a surgeon I knew that heart disease wasn’t caused by just one thing you eat.  It became obvious to me that this country’s dietary problems are not much what people eat, but that people simply eat too much,” notes Graham.
            The doctor is vehemently anti-fat – in cattle and even more so in humans. 
            “I don’t know anyone in the medical profession who isn’t,” he says.  “The problem in this country isn’t a red meat problem rather a volume problem – too much food in every category – we’re just too blooming fat.  Nobody likes to be called obese, but, the sorry fact is that obesity in this country is just rampant – and it’s killing us.
            “Food is just too cheap.  It is so cheap that farmers are going broke.  Fast food joints line the streets and highways.  It’s two for one and all you can eat.  We are a nation of people crowded into the feedlots and encouraged by every advertisement and every inducement to walk into a restaurant and gorge ourselves.”
            As a cardiovascular surgeon, Graham feels he can use his position to reeducate people about the place of beef in their diet.  “I knew if I was going to raise cattle I had better choose the type of cattle that would send the right kind of message to people about the place of beef in their diet.
            That’s why he chose Longhorns.  “Lean beef is good for you and that’s what the Longhorn produces,” says Graham.
            Groomed by the evolutionary forces of Mother Nature, the Longhorn breed is not as high in saturated fat as other breeds.   According to Graham, Longhorn meat, on average, contains 10 percent less saturated fat than that of other cattle.  “That puts lean Longhorn beef on par with the skinned boneless white meat of chicken.  And that fact may come as a surprise to many dieticians,” he says.
            Old habits die hard – even for well-educated doctors and dieticians.  “Red meat was labeled as one of the bad guys several years ago because of the medical community’s zeal to reduce fat in the American diet,” says Graham. “Lean beef is good for you – and the key word is lean.  A heart patient can eat steak every meal if it is in the right proportions.  Beef is nutrient rich – containing several of the B vitamins and dense in such dietary essentials as iron and protein.  So you see, beef is one of the good guys.”
            While many Americans need to work on losing weight, Graham feels cattlemen, packers and retailers need to work on raising, feeding, butchering and supplying beef in a form that’s leaner and healthier.  “If the beef industry doesn’t start providing what people want, and need, the market will go to the birds.”
            The first step toward leaner beef begins at conception. “Bigger isn’t always better when it comes to breeding cattle.  Just because it fits the box doesn’t mean it’s the best product for the consumer,” emphasizes Graham.
            Enter the Texas Longhorn.  “There is a genetic treasure in the Longhorn breed yet to be discovered by the cattle industry,” believes Graham.

Source: 1997 TLBAA Breeders Handbook, article first printed in December 1989.