How Nutritious Is Horse? The Other Red Meat

Darya Pino Post on Jan 07, 2011 by
Topics: Health
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Compared to lean beef, horse meat appears to have some nutritional advantages. Image courtesy of Tambako the Jaguar.

There's been much hoopla this week over the ethical and cultural implications of eating, you guessed it, horse meat. The discussion was sparked by the Summit of the Horse, a conference that convened the past 4 days in Las Vegas. The agenda of the conference was to “Restore humane and regulated horse processing,” that is, horse slaughter for human consumption.

Though the topic is controversial, what's one man's pet is another man's dinner. Horse meat consumption has been growing rapidly for the last several years in France, and is common in several other cultures including Belgium, Germany and Switzerland. In Japan, you can even get horse sushi.

But once we get past the sentiment and politics of eating Sea Biscuit, how healthy is horse meat?

Horse is generally leaner than cow. (Errr, beef—for starters, why doesn't horse meat get a cuter, less offensive name like beef or venison? Just saying.) And those who have tasted it describe it as having a “sweeter” flavor. For this article I chose a fairly lean, grass-fed strip steak for comparison.

Horse meat vs. Strip steak

According to NutritionData, the strip steak has slightly fewer calories than horse (117 vs 133 calories per 100 grams), though this is obviously not be true for all cuts of beef. Sirloin, for example, contains 142 calories. The meats also have very similar amounts of fat, cholesterol and protein when lean cuts are compared.

Where the meats really differ is iron concentration, with horse meat having double the iron (21% vs 10% DV) that beef contains. It is not surprising that a more athletic animal has more iron, but the magnitude of the difference is striking. Horse meat also contains substantially more vitamin B12 (50% vs 21% DV), but less B6, niacin and folate.

But what's truly impressive is the omega-3 fatty acid concentration in horse meat, which contains 360 mg (per 100 grams) compared to just 21 mg in strip steak. Omega-3s are essential fatty acids that need to be obtained from your diet. They are thought to be helpful in fighting against heart disease, stroke and neurodegeneration.

Compared to lean beef, horse meat appears to have some nutritional advantages. If we do ever manage to get past the taboo, at least we know there's good nutrition on the other side.

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  • Morgan Griffith

    Guess you forgot to mention the many drugs that are not allowed to be given to food for human consumption even one time such as bute, various wormers etc. Please add those to your study.

    • Desertrose984

      well when you consider the fact people that are sending these horses to slaughter are cheap mixed breed horses that likly have not even been vacinated let alone wormed or given any kind of drugs,now dont get me wrong i dont nesisarily agree with the slaughter idea but with the horse population on the rise due to breeding for nurse mare foals and pmu horses nobody wants horses who have never been handled by people and there are only so many places to put these unwanted horses this also drops the prices in the horse market and is forcing breeders to sell off their broodstock and there for adding to more unwanted horses

  • KMG

    This article reflects the author's lack of research and insight into the issues surrounding horsemeat.

    Since the author prides herself on being a "food and health" writer, as well as promoting her "Detox Diet", it's more than ironic she fails to mention that horses are not subject to any of the USDA regulations for banned substances in food animals. (ie, phenylbutazone, just for starters)

    It would probably have been worth mentioning in an article titled "How Nutritious is Horse?"

    Note to author: you may want to avoid horsemeat on your "Detox Diet"

  • Mary M

    You should not promote poison meat for human consumption! The Bible tells us not to eat horsemeat. You don't have a clue and better get yourself educated before you write any more articles!

    • Terry S

      The Bible tells us to not eat a good many things. If you don't keep Kosher, then the following should apply: 1 Corinthians 10:25–28. It basically takes the old testament food restrictions and throws them out the window. The only mention of horse is Leviticus.

  • Darya (author)

    I'm not sure why this requires mentioning, but this article is only meant to reflect the nutritional value of pure horse meat. The issues of treatment, regulation and sale of the meat is a government matter (was probably the subject of the conference) and is beyond the scope of this story.

  • B. B.

    Dear bed wetters,

    The title is how nutritious NOT how toxic. Please put down your emotional ringing bell and read the words – They do have meaning!

    callmeBob

  • Commenting8257

    I would love to know where you find PURE horse meat. I'm pretty sure there is not a person on the earth that has a horse and just lets it eat grass that has NEVER been fertilized and doesn't give their horse any supplements or anything like that.

    Otherwise, I found this article to be somewhat helpful in writing a term paper.

  • http://united-horsemen.org/ Jamie DeHart

    American Mustangs = Free Range Chickens, never touched by human
    hands….and in the state of this economy, I wouldn't worry about domestic horses being drugged either. People can hardly afford to FEED them let alone, keep them vaccinated!

  • steph graham

    Actually horse meat consumption in France has DROPPED by at least 12% if not more by now in the last few years. People are waking up to the risks of eating meat….whether it be cow, pig, chicken or….horse. Japans cancer rate has risen exponentially and studies are showing that meat consumption is the main player. They have been eating their race horses for years (and ours) and they also eat Canada's PMU (hormone replacement drugs for human females) mares including foals. They are shipped live from Calgary and slaughtered in Japan. Sad thing is that horses are caught in the battle between those who say we should be able to eat what we want and those who say we should never eat a companion animal. I for one would rather ride my horse and brush him than eat him. I know people talk about starving people need meat, well, why not feed them prisoners who have committed serious crimes? Why are we paying their rent and feeding THEM? Food for thought….

  • Svmarvbart

    I would like to know what Authority the Nutrition data goes by. Is it a Government publication or a University one?

  • mzm

    the beef industry put an end to the option of horse meat – it cannot even be used for pet food

    the US veterinary association stupor US slaughter as it is/was regulated and more humane

    is a horse that different from a cow or lamb?
    what is a person to do w/ an injured animal? – euthanize and bury

    i would rather they be used to feed people or pets rather than be killed chemically

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_RHIPG2TCM5RHDN6QRWU6WZWALI Diablo3fan

    I love your article, I'm using it for a source in my research paper arguing for a solution to gas prices rising. There are many benefits to owning a horse over a car.