Omega 3 vs 6 in the database item

Billy_D

I eat a lot of grass fed butter (the cows eat the grass). In the database, the Kiwi grass fed butter does not have the Omega 3 or 6 data filled out. So how does it get counted ? I could create a custom food, but I dont know what to put in because the fats dont seem to add in any way that I can recognize.
Same issue with grass fed beef.
Any thoughts? Thanks

Susan_RD_101

@Billy_D

Hello!

I think one of the other moderators can confirm, but I believe why this issue occurs is the food label that is used in the database does not include omega 3 and 6. To get a more accurate nutrient profile, you may want to choose a generic butter.

Hope this helps!

Billy_D

So I found a study
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2846864/table/T2/
which tabulates the Omega 6 to omega 3 ratios in meat for different cow breeds in grass fed and grain fed. The average for the grass fed om6/om3 is about 2. (the average for the grain fed is about 7.6)

Would you think that would be a close enough representation, considering that my butter is from a local organic (PA) farm feeding their cows grass?

Would the OM6/OM3 ratios be similar in meat and milk, or meat and butter?

Then I took the database item

Butter, Unsalted
Food #465962, Data Source: NCCDB

which showed a ratio of 6/3 as 6.5 and modified the Omega 6 & Omega 3 values to show a ratio of 2 without changing the sum.

Would you think that would be a close enough representation, considering that my butter is from a local organic (PA) farm feeding their cows grass?

Would the OM6/OM3 ratios be similar in meat and milk, or meat and butter?

There must be others using Cronometer that eat grass fed butter and track (or attempt to track) their Omega 6 & 3 intakes.

I will continue to research.

Hilary

@Billy_D , As @Susan_RD_101 says, we do not have a good generic option for Grassfed Butter. I would suggest using our generic entry for "Butter, Unsalted" (Food #465962, Data Source: NCCDB:1595) for the closest approximation with the most Nutrients listed. Check out a recent Blog post here https://cronometer.com/blog/6-tips-getting-nutrition-data/ to learn more about how to choose the best options for you from our database and getting the most out of our data!