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

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

From ReThink Health with Dr. Autumn Smith by Dr. Autumn Smith

March 20, 2026 · 1h 12m

About this episode

Dr. Autumn Smith interviews Dr. Stephen van Vliet about the complexities of food quality and nutrient density in grass-fed beef.

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…

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Host: Dr. Autumn Smith

Guest: Dr. Stephen van Vliet

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Organizations: Utah State University

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