Beef vs Broccoli: Which Is Less Inflammatory?
Beef
Broccoli
Broccoli is less inflammatory than beef, and it is not a close call. People usually line these two up on protein, where beef wins comfortably, so the honest answer is that they are not really competing for the same spot on the plate.
Beef sits near the top of the scale because of its saturated fat, close to half the fat in a fatty cut, with no omega-3 to balance it. Broccoli goes the other way: chopping or chewing it produces sulforaphane, a compound that switches on your cells’ own defences. Halve the beef in tonight’s dinner and fill the gap with broccoli, steamed rather than boiled, because boiling washes the useful part into the water.
Side by side
| Beef | Broccoli | |
|---|---|---|
| Inflammation Score | High · 7/10 | Low · 1/10 |
| Category | Proteins | Vegetables |
| Serving size | 3 oz (85 g) cooked | 1 cup chopped (91 g) |
| Key nutrients | Protein, Saturated fat, Heme iron, Vitamin B12 | Sulforaphane (from glucoraphanin), Vitamin C, Vitamin K, Folate |
| How often | — | Most days, a cup steamed rather than boiled |
On the AIP diet
Beef
Beef is on the yes list for the elimination phase of the Autoimmune Protocol, and fresh cuts are one of the proteins the diet leans on. The line falls at what has been added to it. Cured and smoked beef, or anything rubbed with a spice mix, usually brings seed spices, sugar or preservatives, and those come out during elimination. Plain beef, cooked at home, stays in.
Broccoli
Broccoli is allowed on the Autoimmune Protocol from the first day of the elimination phase. It is a cruciferous vegetable, so it sits clear of the grains, legumes, nuts, seeds, nightshades and dairy that come out. It also earns its place: with rice, pasta and bread gone, a tray of roasted florets is one of the easiest ways to fill a plate.
What each one brings
Beef
- Complete protein: every amino acid your body cannot make
- The most absorbable iron of any common food
- A few ounces covers a whole day of vitamin B12
- Zinc, which people who cut out red meat often run short on
Broccoli
- Chopping or chewing it makes sulforaphane, which almost no other vegetable supplies
- That compound switches on your cells' own defences, so the effect outlasts the meal
- A cup covers a day of vitamin C, plus useful vitamin K and folate
- Cheap, sold all year round, and it freezes without falling apart
Watch out for
Beef
- Fatty cuts and 80/20 ground beef are a fifth fat by weight
- Close to half of that fat is the saturated kind
- No omega-3 fats to speak of, unlike oily fish
- Cured and smoked beef carries a heavier risk than fresh
Broccoli
- Boiling destroys the enzyme that makes sulforaphane and leaches the rest into the water
- Frozen broccoli is blanched first, so that enzyme is already gone
- Cheese sauce and heavy dressings undo most of what the vegetable brings
- Its fibre and sulphur compounds leave some people bloated and windy
Get the inflammation score of any meal
Just snap a photo or describe your food to get its inflammation score and uncover hidden patterns that may be affecting your well-being.
