Organic Pastures Dairy Company, California
May 10, 2003Milk: It Does a Body Good?
July 7, 2003
By Sally Fallon Morell
Scientists at the Agriculture Department’s US Dairy Forage Research Center in Madison Wisconsin have been studying a substance called CLA that occurs in butterfat. Many studies over the past 12 years have established that at least in laboratory animals, CLA offers some protection against breast cancer and other malignancies, apparently through its role as a potent antioxidant. In addition to anticancer benefits, CLA also seems to dramatically reduce the deposition of fat. Livestock eating feed supplemented with CLA tend to lay down more lean tissue; and dairy cattle ingesting CLA enriched diets have greater milk productivity. “Much to their big surprise,” scientists found that the highest level of CLA in milk was obtained with cows just eating pasture — nothing else, according to Larry D. Satter, director of the forage center. Satter finds the notion of pasture feeding “a far-out idea.” Actually pasture feeding is the only way to provide healthful, non-allergenic, nutrient-dense dairy products to the populace. Could it be that CLA in America’s pasture-fed cows at the turn of the century not only protected against cancer, but overweight as well, and allowed mothers to nurse successfully because they had plenty of milk? Meanwhile University of Wisconsin scientists are trying to figure out ways to mass produce CLA as a food additive. (Science News Online – Food for Thought – OCT 2001)
