Conjugated linoleic acids (CLA), Dairy Products and Safflower Oil

Here is a review of some articles on conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), health aspects of dairy consumption and safflower oil benefits.

What is conjugated linoleic acid(CLA)?

Conjugated linoleic acids or CLA is a family of linoleic acids or unsaturated n-6 fatty acids. Fatty acids are acids that come from fats that are broken down, and are considered "good fats." They are used for energy by the cells in our bodies, and are water soluble. These fatty acids help the body process cholesterol, clean up our veins and arteries of cholesterol build up, and help regulate weight.

The primary source of CLA are dairy products and beef.

CLA Side Effects

Some of the CLA Side Effects are:

• Stomach upset
• diarrhea
• nausea
• fatigue
• May worsen diabetes
• May cause diabetes if you have metabolic syndrome

CLA: The Modern Food Chain's Weak Link by Lynnette Harris

This article from USU states that some of the benefits of CLA are to "slow the process of some types of cancer and heart disease, and appears to actually help reduce body fat and increase lean muscle mass."

Interestingly, the researchers at USU have found that "CLA content of milk is as much as five times higher when cows graze green, growing pastures than when they eat diets consisting of 50 percent conserved forage, such as alfalfa and corn silage and 50 percent grain." Basically, we have engineered out the healthy benefits of dairy by feeding our cows the wrong diet. More emphasis needs to be placed on how our dairy food supply can be made healthier by increasing the CLA content.

Is Milk From Grass-Fed Cows More Heart-Healthy? by Lynne Peeples

Researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health have determined that people with the highest levels of CLA have a 36% lower risk of heart attack compared with people with the lowest levels of CLA. This may be more evidence that CLA more than offsets the risks of saturated fat in milk.

Study: Dairy Consumption Does Not Elevate Heart Attack Risk from Brown University

Researchers from Brown University analyzed health data from 3,630 middle aged Costa Rican men and women from an epidemiological study between 1994 and 2004.

"What they found is that the dairy intake of people who had heart attacks was not statistically different than the intake of people who did not. After breaking people into quintiles, based on their dairy consumption amount, there was no significant linear relationship between consumption and heart risk, even among the most voracious consumers."

Two Dietary Oils, Two Sets of Benefits For Older Women With Diabetes by Martha Belury of OSU

This study compared the health effects of safflower oil with CLA.

A result of the 16-week study showed that a small amount of safflower oil, which was a little less than two teaspoons each day, reduced fat in the trunk area (visceral fat), lowered blood sugar and increased muscle tissue.

The same amount of CLA supplements reduced total body fat and lowered the participant's body mass index.

"Among the most surprising findings: that in 16 weeks, these women could lose between about two pounds and four pounds of trunk fat simply by taking safflower oil supplements.

'I never would have imagined such a finding. This study is the first to show that such a modest amount of a linoleic acid-rich oil may have a profound effect on body composition in women,' Belury said. The dose of either oil taken each day was approximately 1 2/3 teaspoons."

A good article by Dr. Russell H. Greenfield titled "Safflower Oil: Use a Fat to Lose Fat?", however, questions the results of this study. Dr. Greenfield's recommendation for now is to not use Safflower Oil.

Organic Dairies and Milk Products Ratings

Here are two organic dairy scorecards and ratings:

The Cornucopia Institute

OnlyGrassFed.com

According to the above organic milk rankings, the best organic milk brands are Whole Foods Markets, Organic Valley and Stonyfield. The lowest ranked brands are Aurora and Horizon.

Charles