Milk, Does It Do A Body Good? Part 5: Just One More Word
Yes, I know, I said Part 4 was The Final Word (for today). And I couldn’t even make it through a day without adding another post. I caught this article this morning after my previous post went out though and thought it would fit well. Rather than editing the previous post, I decided to add another post so it would go across the RSS for all to enjoy.
Cows that eat outdoors produce healthier milk
An al fresco diet in cows results in milk with up to 60 per cent higher levels of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA9) which has been linked to a reduced risk of cancer, according to research from Newcastle University. The same study found 39 per cent more omega-3 fatty acid and 33 per cent more vitamin E, which are also thought to reduce the risk of cancer and cardiovascular disease. During the summer, when there is the most discrepancy between feeding techniques, the widest difference emerges between organic and non-organic milks.
But it sounds to me like they’re not actually talking about organic vs. non-organic milk. They’re talking about grass-fed vs non-grass-fed. There are plenty of organic cows that aren’t fed grass. They’re not talking about raw milk though. So if organic grass-fed pasteurized milk is better than conventional milk, just imagine how much better it is to consume it without all of the processing.
“We have known for some time that what cows are fed has a big influence on milk quality,” Ms Butler said. “This research shows that on organic farms, letting cows graze naturally is the most important reason for the differences in compo-sition between organic and conventional milk.”
Of course a cow’s diet has an influence on the quality of its milk (and meat as well). I don’t see how anyone can truly believe that you can feed a cow anything and get the same substance from the udder. In fact, I’d say it borders on ridiculous. Would anyone expect to feed a human a crappy diet and get high quality breast milk? If diet affects humans and their health, why wouldn’t it do the same to other animals?
So there it is. The end of the series. Again. And yet another reason why I made the recommendations that I made in Part 4.
About Scott
Scott Kustes loves to cook and loves to eat. He started Real Food University to help you get maximum enjoyment out of the meals that you eat. To find out more about how he has rebelled against the fast food culture and counting calories or carbs, join the Real Food Revolution.
10 Reader Comments
Feel free to leave a comment below... and as always please keep it in good taste. Comment spamming ONLY to promote your website is NOT allowed. So please use your real name in the field below otherwise it may be edited or removed. Constructive discussion is always welcome, personal attacks or useless bickering is not. Not all comments may be answered directly by editors/writers.
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Yeah, I caught that too. I have a feeling the list of protective factors and nutrients from food prepared/consumed in natural and/or traditional ways is far longer than we’ll ever discover. But it’s nice to see research validate the way I eat.
Food Is Love
I can vouch for milk changing through the year. All of our cows (and I suspect 99% of the cows on other farms in the region) were grass-fed except for during the winter, of course, when they got a mixture of silage and hay. The other thing that changes as the cows move out to rich spring and summer grass is cow dung. A fairly dramatic increase in, er, liquidity is observable!
One rather charming event came every spring when we put the cows out to pasture after a winter in the yard. Grass survives the winter in the UK (which explains why it the landscape looks so green) but the grass itself doesn’t grow. If you put cattle on it they will (a) strip the fields and (b) cut up (‘poach’) the ground, both of which will reduce the productivity of the land.
When we released our little herd of 30 head back into the field after a few months on the yard they would go wild with joy, hurtling around the field like calves, bellowing, kicking their heels in the air and pawing the ground in between snatching mouthfuls of the first fresh grass they had seen for a long time. Seeing a 1400lb cow dancing with happiness is not only amusing but in a strange way quite moving.
Dan
Debs, for sure. When we realize that we cannot duplicate food through eating nutrients, we’ll all be better off.
Dan, the dancing cow tale brought a smile. That’s funny.
Cheers
Scott
I realize that protein powder is NOT any kind of ‘natural product’, but sometimes for people severely morbidly obese who need a lot of protein, but eating it all in hamburger (which I can afford) would mean probably more of other things than I want, it seems like the lesser evil. Do your comments on milk apply in any way to something like a quality whey protein powder?
I have a friend from my college days who married a guy who dairy farmed for a while in upstate NY. It’s what he had dreamed of doing for many years. He had to give it up because he couldn’t support his family on it. He does better financially as a gym teacher-football coach/earth science teacher, believe it or not.
He said conventional milk production is all about volume, though there is a slight price increase for high fat content. But bulk was the only way he could stay afloat so that is what he concentrated his efforts on. Feed ration ingredients were chosen based on their cost and if they increased milk yield. The bakery trucks and snack food trucks would drop off the “old” bakery and snacks stock that that they collected on their sales routes and he would feed that to the cows as a free supplement to their rations, because it increased bulk milk yield.
Yup, he fed his cows day old white bread, muffins, donuts, cookies, hot dog buns, old Snickers bars, and corn chips. Appetizing, huh?
Mark McAfee of Organic Pastures raw dairy in CA (one of our raw milk sources) said in a lecture I attended that outdoor cows make more vitamin D in their milk than confined indoor or shaded cows (I have heard this of chickens & eggs, too). If I understand it correctly, the oils in the fur and feathers are changed by the UV exposure (much like the cholesterol in our blood and skin is changed by the UV light) and it is ingested when self-grooming and during cooperative grooming, then that precursor goes to the liver for processing.
Healthy stores of vitamin D in the blood and body tissues (tested by the 25 OHD test) are important for both tooth and bone health. Even here in So. Cal., the winter UV wavelengths are in short supply during winter months. One would have to have full or nearly full body exposure in mid-day to get enough of the right sunlight wavelengths to produce adequate Vit D precurser. Needless to say, I supplement Vit D even in sunny So Cal.
Last December I had my 25 OHD level checked and it was only 44, after 8 months of supplementing at 2000-4000 iU Vit D3 nearly daily (my doctor was happy with that level, but I view my test result as reassurance that I can supplement even a bit more and/or get more sunshine).
On a related note, a Seattle-based friend who has recently completed chemo and radiation treatment for breast cancer, told me that her Vit D levels were in the “teens” (!) at the time of her diagnosis (low Vit D levels are associated with breast cancer), yet I don’t think anything was said about it (I wonder why the test was even done if they weren’t going to do something about it). The Vitamin D Council advises levels of at least 50, preferably over 60. 30-100 is considered normal.
PJ, I’m not sure how the above applies to whey powders. As you pointed out, it’s far from “natural”. Every bit of everything except the whey, and probably anything that attaches to the whey, is removed. How much protein are you taking in from protein powder?
I don’t have a set amount for intake. When I max out on meat or run out of money or want to drop calories for a little while, I try to intake some protein powder. About 45g a day max from it in the past. (I aim for ~150g daily, from animal sources. If I’m eating plenty of carbs I can eat mondo food, but if I’m eating LC which I do, I have a hard time eating enough… I’m just too stuffed. So having to eat all that in meat/eggs is extremely trying! [I don't like seafood.]) I try to get most protein from ‘real food’ but that is often dairy, which lately I’m trying to scale back on drastically, which to me means maybe scaling up the protein powder a little. Aside from sausage, cheese, and a few sauces (I’m working on making my own stuff so I won’t need those either), I don’t eat any other ‘processed’ things anymore besides protein powder.
Reading your posts about milk just made me wonder if the whey protein powder had any of the same issues since you were talking about whey a bit. Seems to me it’s got to be processed beyond all recognition, so maybe not. (I have an allergic “craving” reaction to milk (but not to hard cheeses), but I’ve never perceived any reaction to whey protein powder.)
PJ, if it’s working for you (i.e., if you’re moving towards your goals), I’d say stick with it. I’m not sure using whey is the most healthful thing there is, but it’s also not healthful to be severely overweight, so it’s a lesser of two evils. If protein powder is your only processed food and you don’t eat a ton of it, I’d not be overly concerned. It can be something that you look to remove in the future when your dietary needs have changed. As with all things, we have to balance perfection with reality.
What are you concerned with getting too much of in ground beef though?
Cheers
Scott
Scott
related to this discussion, I found this quite amusing…..
http://conditioningresearch.blogspot.com/2008/06/eat-more-protein.html
Now Chris, isn’t that recommendation just mighty convenient? It’s almost like the guy is biased towards those products.