# Pork vs. Beef, the common misconception



## PreMier (Nov 5, 2008)

so i post on another board  and got talking to people about pork vs beef.  not to mention all the people i see here on IM saying "avoid pork!".

i want to make a statement that pork is very similar if not BETTER than beef  

im going to post what was said at 'the other place' because it created a good debate, and good information came from it.



			
				b said:
			
		

> Nutrition
> Nutrition is a vast field. There are truckloads of books on the subject. Read them if you like. What you're about to read here are the facts that the popular books will not tell you.
> 
> 
> ...



wow, i leave for a few days and the fire spreads..  

here are some facts on beef and pork.. lets start with the red

beef

on the plus side, its complete. it has all the essential amino acids, and its not allergenic. on the other side, its not particularly concentrated.. and its not particularly nutrient dense, inflicting a significant number of calories on your body along with the protein. also it tends to promote colon cancer.. particularly if grilled at high temperatures. and unless your buying organic grass fed beef, it also comes complete with high levels of antibiotics, pesticides, hormones, an unhealthy ratio of omega 6 to omega 3 fatty acids, and its low in CLA's.. not to mention high levels of saturated fat. 

now, with that said.. lets talk about white

the old dictum that pork is unhealthier than beef or chicken simply is no longer true.. unless you are still eating pork raised in a third world country that allows pigs to feed on garbage or corpses (for any of you who saw the movie snatch.. god thats a great flick haha). also, the old myth that pork is more indigestible than beef is likewise not true. that was just another way to warn people off pork when it was garbage fed.. and as a matter of fact, pork is more digestible than beef. however as i stated earlier it is also slightly higher in fat.




			
				ffos said:
			
		

> i've always been told that pork is a poor choice and that it is not very condusive to building quality muscle.... i believe it has a very bad BCAA ratio... Beef is far superior in my opinion... beef has been used for decades in the off season for power athletes to pack on Slabs of Solid mass.... if you ever look @ a protein BCAA ratio chart for important proteins for athletes you'll notice they never even list pork... i don't know any power/strength athlete that uses pork at all... just my two cents...



just because people dont use it doesnt mean its not good.. and instead of saying "pudzian doesnt eat pork, so if i eat it, i wont look like him!", educate yourself.  im by no means talking down to you, but there is so much thats talked about on forums, and so many misconceptions spread its ridiculous!  it just frustrates me, thast all.

so here is the bcaa profile of both pork and beef.  now, just for measure i am using pork tenderloin because its very lean, and if/when i eat pork, its what i use.

just so everyone knows, the BCAA's are valine, isoleucine and leucine. they are essential amino acids whose carbon structure is marked by a branch point.. they are also the three amino acids critical to human life and are particularly involved in stress, energy and muscle metabolism.

both numbers will be based off of 100g(raw) serving size

lets start with white(pork tenderloin) first this time 

isoleucine
992 mg

leucine
1717 mg

valine
1053 mg

now the red(beef sirloin/tri-tip with fat trimmed)

isoleucine
963 mg

leucine
1684 mg

valine
1050 mg


so as you can see they are damn near identical.  i used pretty much the best cuts of meat from each animal (cow and pig).. so pork is just as good, if not better than beef when it comes down to it.

again, i dont want to talk down to anyone, i just want people to stop spreading 'hearsay' and do the proper research.

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it took a little while to research and write this, and looking here at IM, i cant find a beef vs pork thread.  so i thought this might be helpful


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## Merkaba (Nov 6, 2008)

My thoughts as well.  


As soon as I started reading the first on I was thinking Oh god, someone's gonna mention the bible.  And they did. 

I agree that the meat is as good as what its fed and there are no pigs going around chewing on dead soldiers nowadays.


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