The nutrient composition of animal products, including milk and dairy, is a reflection on what we feed our animals. An alternative approach would be to alter the composition of the food on offer, reducing the proportion of SFA whilst enhancing the supply of monounsaturated (MUFA) and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) along with other beneficial nutrients. Modern, western diets have many weaknesses but whilst advice to cut total fat consumption will help reduce calories and the most harmful saturated fatty acids (C12:0, C14:0 and C16:0), it will also diminish lipid soluble beneficial nutrients like vitamins A and E as well as omega-3 fatty acids (n-3), already deficient in our diets 4. On one hand they are high in saturated fatty acids (SFA) which might challenge health but they also supply many unsaturated fatty acids and antioxidants, beneficial to our health 1 and are a valuable source of quality protein, calcium and iodine 2, 3. There is a lot of interest in nutritional contribution of milk and dairy products to our diet, possibly due to diverging attitudes towards the relationship between their consumption and our health. Greater understanding of these phenomena might enhance the sustainability of dairying. Organic and rape feeding also gave lower trace-elements and antioxidants in milk. Organic and rape feeding provide less omega-3 PUFA than the conventional and control diets, yet contrary to expectations, together they almost doubled (+94%) the omega-3 concentration in milk, implying a 3.8 fold increase in net transfer from diet into milk. ![]() For milk fat, benefits of organic rather than conventional management (+39% PUFA, +24% long chain omega-3 and +12% conjugated linoleic acid (CLA)) appear complementary to those from feeding rape (+43% MUFA, +10% PUFA, +40% CLA), combining to produce milk 16% lower SFA and higher in MUFA (43%), PUFA (55%) and CLA (59%). These benefits can be partially mimicked by feeding oilseeds and here we consider the impact on milk composition in a 2 × 2 trial, feeding rapeseed to both conventional and organic cows, finding very differing lipid metabolism in the 4 experimental groups. The degree of fat saturation is influenced by cows’ diets grazing pasture enhances unsaturated fatty acids in milk compared with conserved forages. ![]() Dairy products are often considered challenging for health due to their saturated fatty acid content, yet they also provide beneficial nutrients, some unique to ruminants.
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