A 3.5 oz. burger made from 7-percent-fat ground beef provides significant amounts of several essential nutrients, but the exact amounts depend on the method used to prepare it. Four common methods include broiling, pan-broiling, pan-browning and baking. Consider your personal nutritional needs for each of the nutrients 7-percent-fat ground beef provides before deciding which cooking method to use. For example, pan-browned 7-percent-fat ground beef provides the greatest value for someone with iron-deficiency anemia.
Finding the Data
The USDA Nutrient Database for Standard Reference provides data for 90-percent-lean and 95-percent-lean ground beef, but does not include 93-percent-lean ground beef. A new tool, the Ground Beef Calculator, allows you to input any fat percentage between 5 and 30, coupled with a cooking method, to generate a nutrient value profile.
Ground beef nutrition labels base their information on a 4 oz. serving size, or 112 grams. Labels provide the total calories per serving, the calories from fat, total fat, cholesterol, sodium and total carbs expressed by weight and as a percentage of daily nutritional value. The National Beef Association's label for its "93/07 fine ground beef" lists protein by weight only, and iron, riboflavin, B-6, B-12 and zinc as percents of daily value only.
Protein
Pan-browned ground beef crumbles provide the most protein of the four cooking methods, at 28.88 g per 3.5 oz. serving. Pan-broiling provided the least, at 25.56 grams. Although protein helps build and repair muscle, high-protein foods often provide more calories than necessary for people who are inactive to only moderately active, advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC. High-protein foods can aggravate kidney problems and elevate your level of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, or LDL, which is associated with heart disease.
Phosphorus
Baking 7-percent-lean ground beef provides the lowest amount of phosphorus per serving -- 197 mg -- while pan-browned crumbles provide the highest -- 258 mg per serving. Phosphorus works with calcium, parathyroid hormone and vitamin D to maintain blood calcium levels. Symptoms of abnormally-low phosphorus levels include poor appetite, anemia, muscle weakness, bone pain, rickets, lowered ability to combat infection and "pins and needles" sensation in the arms, legs, hands and feet.
Potassium
Pan-browned crumbles provide 449 mg of potassium per 3.5 oz. serving, while baked 7-percent-fat ground beef provides just 309 mg of this essential nutrient. Potassium works with sodium, chloride, calcium, and magnesium to regulate heart function and assist skeletal and smooth muscle contraction.
Zinc
Pan-browned crumbles provide the most zinc -- almost 7 mg per serving. Zinc intake affects how food tastes and smells. Lower levels of dietary zinc make your food less appealing. Zinc also supports healthy immune function, protein synthesis, wound healing and normal growth.
Choline
Choline helps the body synthesize betaine, which helps convert homocysteine to methionine, which keeps homocysteine levels low. High homocysteine levels increase the risk of developing heart disease. Pan-browned crumbles provide the most choline -- 92.5 mg per serving.
Cholesterol
Despite its bad reputation, the body needs both HDL or so-called "good" cholesterol, and LDL, or so-called "bad" cholesterol. The body synthesizes estrogen and testosterone from cholesterol, and cholesterol controls cell membrane functions. Bake your 7-percent-fat ground beef for the lowest cholesterol level -- 79 mg per serving.
References
- USDA Agricultural Research Service: Ground Beef Calculator
- USDA Agricultural Research Service: Products and Services -- Ground Beef Calculator
- National Beef Association: Product Detail --- 3/07 Fine Ground Beef
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Nutrition for Everyone -- Protein
- Linus Pauling Institute; "Phosphorus"; Jane Higdon; April 2003
- University of Maryland Medical Center: Potassium
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