For more iron, elevate that cow.

For more iron, elevate that cow

Today, cuts of beef are marketed on the basis of the amount and marbling of intermuscular fat, the age of the animal at slaughter or whether a cow was fed drugs such as steroids and antibiotics. In the future, however, carnivores with anemia problems may be advised to select their steaks on the basis of the altitude at which a cow has been raised.

Researchers at the University of Wyoming in Laramie report that more than half of the iron in meat from steers raised at higher altitudes is in the "heme" form. Heme iron -- the form found in hemoglobin and myoglobin -- is generally the most bioavailable type for humans. Their study involved 40 steers, about half raised at 2,145 meters above sea level, the rest at 549 meters. Though at slaughter all had the same amount of iron in their meat, those raised at the higher altitude had 10 percent more of that iron -- roughly 70 percent -- in the heme form.

This finding in four different breeds of cattle confirms "a physiological response to high altitude," according to William C. Russell and his colleagues, writing in the January/February JOURNAL OF FOOD SCIENCE. The researchers suspect the accommodation permits animals raised in a low-oxygen environment to transport and store oxygen better. Their finding also "suggests that this beef could offer a nutritional advantage" -- especially to persons whose diets already contain less than recommended levels of iron.