A healthy guide to understanding and preparing beef

Beef is an excellent source of several essential vitamins and minerals. Here's what you know about the health benefits associated with beef and some simple techniques for reducing beef fat.

If you are concerned about hormones in the meat you eat, recent research can help put your mind at ease.

• After extensive evaluation, the World Trade Organization has concluded that the use of growth-promoting hormones does not present a risk to those consuming beef or beef products.
• Hormones occur naturally in all animals. When you compare hormone levels in cattle that have been given hormones with those that have not, the difference is indistinguishable.
• In other words, giving hormones to animals does not alter the levels found in the meat of that animal.
• The greatest source of hormones for humans comes not from the food you eat but from that which your body produces naturally. In fact, every day your body naturally produces 100,000 to 100 million times more hormones than are found in a serving of beef.

Beef may not affect your cholesterol level as much as you think.

• It contains a type of fatty acid called conjugated linoleic acid, or CLA, that has actually been shown to improve cholesterol ratios (the ratio of LDL, or "bad" cholesterol, to HDL, or "good" cholesterol), at least in animals.
• Studies on animals have also found that CLA can delay the development of atherosclerosis, and possibly even help with weight loss.

Beef's major nutritional drawback is the large amount of saturated fat in some cuts, especially in roasts and steaks.

• Studies link a diet with large amounts of meat to an increased risk of heart attacks and certain cancers.
• The key factors concerning fat are the cut, ­portion size and cooking method. Choose the leanest cuts — round or loin are good. Then, trim all visible fat from your meat.
• Reduce fat further by broiling, grilling or roasting on a rack (so fat can drip away).
• Another approach is to cook stews and soups in advance, chill them so that the congealed fat can be removed easily, and then reheat the dishes before serving. Instead of gravy or sauce, serve your meat "au jus," after skimming off all the fat.
• A quick way to remove the fat is to drop an ice cube into the cooled liquid. The fat will harden around the ice cube and can be easily removed.
• Trimming the fat can make a significant ­difference: by trimming the fat from 100 grams (3 1⁄2 ounces) of beef, you can save seven grams of fat and 56 calories. Of course, controlling the size of the portion is also important.
• A 450 gram (16 ounce) T-bone steak, rack of beef ribs or huge slab of prime rib roast each have 800 to 1,000 calories, with half or more of these coming from fat.
• A modest 115 gram (four ounce) serving of eye of round provides about 200 calories, only 70 of which come from fat.

• The liver, kid­neys and other organ meats are the most concentrated source of iron and vitamins A and B12 in beef.
• At one time, women were urged to eat an occasional serving of liver to prevent iron-deficiency anemia.
• But enthusiasm for liver and other organ meats has been dampened in recent years for several reasons: they are very high in cholesterol, and they may increase the risk of heart disease.
• Another issue revolves around the fact that factory-reared animals are fed anti­biotics and hormones, which concentrate in the animals' liver.
• Some experts contend that these drug and hormone residues pose a health risk to humans who ingest them; others, however, insist that they are safe.

Keep this guide in mind and prepare beef the right way for a healthy meal that can't be beat!