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Is milk from grass-fed cows more heart-healthy?
If milk does the heart good, it might do the heart better if it comes from dairy cows grazed on grass instead of on feedlots, according to a new study.
Earlier experiments have shown that cows on a diet of fresh grass produce milk with five times as much of an unsaturated fat called conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) than do cows fed processed grains. Studies in animals have suggested that CLAs can protect the heart, and help in weight loss. Hannia Campos of the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston and her colleagues found, in a study of 4,000 people, that people with the highest concentrations of CLAs — the top fifth among all participants — had a 36 percent lower risk of heart attack compared to those with the lowest concentrations.
Those findings held true even once the researchers took into account heart disease risk factors such as high blood pressure and smoking.
The new findings suggest that CLA offers heart-healthy benefits that could more than offset the harms of saturated fat in milk, Campos said.
“Because pasture grazing leads to higher CLA in milk, and it is the natural feed for cattle, it seems like more emphasis should be given to this type of feeding,” she told Reuters Health by email.
Dairy products in the U.S. come almost exclusively from feedlots, she added. And cow’s milk is the primary source of CLA. (Beef contains a small amount.)
Campos and her colleagues looked to Costa Rica for their study, where pasture grazing of dairy cows is still the norm. They identified nearly 2,000 Costa Ricans who had suffered a non-fatal heart attack, and another 2,000 who had not. Then they measured the amount of CLA in fat tissues to estimate each person’s intake.
Since CLA typically travels with a host of other fats, the researchers went a step further to tease apart its effects from those of its predominantly unhealthful companions, they report in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. The difference in risk attributed to CLA subsequently rose to 49 percent.
“Whole-fat milk and dairy products have gotten such a bad reputation in recent years due to their saturated fat and cholesterol contents, and now we find that CLA may be incredibly health-promoting,” Michelle McGuire, spokesperson for the journal’s publisher, the American Society for Nutrition, and associate professor at Washington State University, told Reuters Health in an email. “Whole milk is not the villain!”
Each year, approximately 1.5 million Americans will suffer a heart attack. A third will not survive.
The evidence may now be piling up: another paper out of Sweden in the same issue of the journal as the Costa Rican study also hints at heart attack protection through milk fat.
Further, the benefits of CLA may extend beyond the heart to the prevention of cancer and diabetes, suggests McGuire, pointing to results of other animal studies. “Milk is actually the only food ever ‘designed by nature’ to be fed to mammals,” she added. “We need to look to milk as the perfect food and learn everything we can from it.”
SOURCE: here American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, online May 12, 2010.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE64R5GY20100528?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2FhealthNews+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Health+News%29
Here’s a place my wife and I go regularly. They graze their cows year round, there’s no fertilizer or poisons, and the cows honestly look happy and content.My daughter used to break out in hives if she drank “store bought” milk. Since she has been drinking Happy Cow milk, there have been no problems.
Here’s two links to their sites:
Happy Cow Creamery in Pelzer, SC
http://happycowcreamery.com/index.htm
Twelve Aprils Dairying
http://www.southernsare.uga.edu/twelve/trantham.html
A testimony:
As a Physician Assistant in a growing integrative medicine practice in Easley, SC, I have had to do my research on dairy products. Omega 3 and CLA (conjugated linoleic acid) are two very healthy, necessary fats that we all need in our diets. The first, omega 3, raises our level of good cholesterol, helps lower triglycerides and aids in brain function. You get higher levels of omega 3 in animal products when the animals have been fed their natural diets and not “bulked up” with grains such as corn and soy. The second, CLA, has been proven to aid in weight loss; and is found in animal products when the animals are raised in a stress free environment. In my professional opinion the Happy Cow Creamery has the highest quality dairy products of any I know. I have had many patients improve their health drinking Happy Cow’s whole fat milk and dairy products. One man in particular who followed the diet laid out in our Natural Bariatric Program, which relies heavily on Happy Cow products, was able to lose 35 lbs and greatly improve his lipid profile and glucose control in only 3 months with NO medications. On 10/05/06 his numbers were as follows: Total cholesterol 204, triglycerides 227, HDL(good cholesterol) 29, LDL(bad cholesterol) 130, and HgbA1C(which is a 3 month average blood sugar level that is best kept below 5.5) 6.3. On 1/11/07 they were: total cholesterol 173, triglycerides 128, HDL 34, LDL 113 and HgbA1C 5.5. These are improvements that any medicine would be proud of, but only diet and lifestyle were used. This is one of many success stories I have seen when people include Happy Cow Creamery’s dairy products in their healthy diet and lifestyle.
Cheryl Middleton PA-C
LivingWell Integrative Healthcare
Easley, SC
Here’s a place my wife and I go regularly. They graze their cows year round, there’s no fertilizer or poisons, and the cows honestly look happy and content.My daughter used to break out in hives if she drank “store bought” milk. Since she has been drinking Happy Cow milk, there have been no problems.
Here’s two links to their sites:
Happy Cow Creamery in Pelzer, SC
http://happycowcreamery.com/index.htm
Twelve Aprils Dairying
http://www.southernsare.uga.edu/twelve/trantham.html
A testimony:
As a Physician Assistant in a growing integrative medicine practice in Easley, SC, I have had to do my research on dairy products. Omega 3 and CLA (conjugated linoleic acid) are two very healthy, necessary fats that we all need in our diets. The first, omega 3, raises our level of good cholesterol, helps lower triglycerides and aids in brain function. You get higher levels of omega 3 in animal products when the animals have been fed their natural diets and not “bulked up” with grains such as corn and soy. The second, CLA, has been proven to aid in weight loss; and is found in animal products when the animals are raised in a stress free environment. In my professional opinion the Happy Cow Creamery has the highest quality dairy products of any I know. I have had many patients improve their health drinking Happy Cow’s whole fat milk and dairy products. One man in particular who followed the diet laid out in our Natural Bariatric Program, which relies heavily on Happy Cow products, was able to lose 35 lbs and greatly improve his lipid profile and glucose control in only 3 months with NO medications. On 10/05/06 his numbers were as follows: Total cholesterol 204, triglycerides 227, HDL(good cholesterol) 29, LDL(bad cholesterol) 130, and HgbA1C(which is a 3 month average blood sugar level that is best kept below 5.5) 6.3. On 1/11/07 they were: total cholesterol 173, triglycerides 128, HDL 34, LDL 113 and HgbA1C 5.5. These are improvements that any medicine would be proud of, but only diet and lifestyle were used. This is one of many success stories I have seen when people include Happy Cow Creamery’s dairy products in their healthy diet and lifestyle.
Cheryl Middleton PA-C
LivingWell Integrative Healthcare
Easley, SC
I recently came across the book The Untold Story of Milk by Ron Schmid. It is fascinating to learn why pasteurization of milk was so necessary when it was first discovered and that it was considered a stop gap measure at the time. The book extols the virtues of raw milk from grass fed cows. For anyone who wants to know more about the science and history of milk I highly recommend it.
Another link worth reading on the topic: http://www.realmilk.com/
We used to milk cows who were always grain fed, but who were also on grass during the grass seasons. Milk tastes like whatever the cow eats. That means it tastes like wild onions in the spring of the year. Unless, of course, you don’t have wild onions in your fields. And cows require a lot of concentrate (grain) to adequately produce milk.
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