There is no such thing as hormone free beef. Conventionally produced beef with hormone (estrogen) implants contains about 1.9 nano-grams of estrogen per 3 oz serving of beef. Even organic ‘hormone free’ beef contains 1.6 nano-grams of estrogen per 3-oz serving.
This is just over a difference of ½ of a nano-gram. These amounts are enough to provide improved feed efficiency in beef production, but too little to have any response in the human body.
In contrast, a 3-oz serving of soybean oil contains 168,000,000 nano-grams of estrogen. The average human produces about 136,000 nano-grams of estrogen on a daily basis.
These claims are is just another example of a marketing strategy for ‘natural’ and ‘organic’ production.
It is also an example of food fears born out of politics and rhetoric vs. science.
SOURCES: Sources: Food and Drug Administration; Hoffman and Evers; Scanga et al.; FSIS-USDA; Dr. Harlan Ritchie, Michigan State University
Thanks for commenting on one of my pet peeves! This along with "vegetarian fed chicken" that implies it is somehow closer to nature, and the assumption that local = organic top my list. Good blog!
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