# Grass Fed Beef Has 3x More of This Critical Nutrient (Shocking Results) with Dr. Stephen van Vliet

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/rethink-health-with-dr-autumn-smith-783330/grass-fed-beef-has-3x-more-of-this-critical-nutrient-shocking-results-with-dr-stephen-van-vliet
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/rethink-health-with-dr-autumn-smith-783330/grass-fed-beef-has-3x-more-of-this-critical-nutrient-shocking-results-with-dr-stephen-van-vliet.md
Podcast: [ReThink Health with Dr. Autumn Smith](https://stenobird.com/podcast/rethink-health-with-dr-autumn-smith-783330)
Published: 2026-03-20T14:19:00+00:00
Episode link: https://paleovalley.libsyn.com/grass-fed-beef-has-3x-more-of-this-critical-nutrient-shocking-results-with-dr-stephen-van-vliet
Audio file: https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/paleovalley/Dr._van_Vliet_Final.mp3?dest-id=321319
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/rethink-health-with-dr-autumn-smith-783330/episodes/grass-fed-beef-has-3x-more-of-this-critical-nutrient-shocking-results-with-dr-stephen-van-vliet
Duration seconds: 4320

## Resource

We love to argue about food like it's simple— grass-fed vs. grain-fed, animal vs. plant, protein powder vs. "real food." But the truth is… we're barely scratching the surface of what food actually contains. In this episode of the ReThink Health Podcast, I sit down with Dr. Stephen Van Vliet (Utah State University), a researcher on the front lines of nutrient density, metabolomics, and regenerative agriculture. His lab is helping answer the questions most of us feel are important, but don't have clear, evidence-based answers for yet: Does food quality actually change what happens in your body? Does the way an animal is raised matter… beyond marketing labels? And what does "nutrient-dense" even mean when a food can contain thousands of compounds we don't track on a nutrition label? You'll hear why beef may contain tens of thousands of unique metabolites, how new metabolomics tools are changing what we can measure, and why "grass fed" isn't always as straightforward as people think. Dr. van Vliet also shares fascinating early findings from long-term human trials, looking at what happens when people switch from conventional to pasture-raised animal foods, including changes in omega-3 levels in the blood. It's a nuanced, science-forward conversation that skips the dogma and gets to what really matters: making food choices that support real health over the long haul. You'll learn: Why nutrition labels only tell a tiny part of the story What "nutrient density profiling" really means (and how it's measured) Why whole foods can act differently in the body than isolated protein powders The surprising reasons why some "grain-fed" samples can be more nutrient-dense than the least nutrient-dense "grass fed" samples What Dr. van Vliet's research suggests about omega-3s in pasture-ra…

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