A recent article, ”Switching to a high-carb diet will take off the pounds and add variety to your dinners,” contained a serious inaccuracy with regard to food production.
Claiming a high-carbohydrate diet is ”ecologically efficient,” the writer compared vegetable protein obtained per acre of farmland to animal protein per acre. This comparison is invalid, in that 90 percent of the grazing lands in this country are not suitable for cultivated crop production. Cattle have different stomachs and can eat things that humans can`t, like grass and crop residues, and convert them into lean beef loaded with protein, vitamins and minerals. If it weren`t for grazing animals, there would be no way to harvest food from range and pasture land.
Furthermore, beef production is energy efficient. More than 80 percent of the energy involved in food production, processing and preparation is used after food leaves the farm. Because many plant-source foods require large amounts of energy in the processing phase, the overall energy efficiency of beef often is comparable, or even superior, to that of plant-source foods.
