Organic milk may be more heart healthy, study suggests

A new study, published in PLOS One, examined the composition of organic milk versus non-organic milk to determine if there was a nutritional difference. Researchers looked at organic milk nationwide over the course of 18 months. The focus of the study was the balance of omega-6 fatty acids versus omega-3 fatty acids. They showed that, on average over the course of the period of the study, organic milk had 25 percent less of the “bad” fatty acids (omega-6) and 63 percent more of the “good” fatty acids (omega-3). Researchers concluded that consuming organic milk would make significant progress to reaching or maintaining a healthy ratio of omega-3 to omega-6 fatty acid consumption. According to the New York Times, this study is the most clear-cut instance of an organic food’s offering a nutritional advantage over its conventional counterpart. The source of the difference in fatty acid composition comes, in part, from the grazing habits of the cows that are the source of milk. Under government requirements for organic labeling, dairy cows must spend a certain amount of the time in the pasture, eating grassy plants high in omega-3s. Conventional milk comes from cows that are mostly fed corn, which is high in omega-6s. Nonorganic cows that graze in pastures also produce milk with greater amounts of omega-3s. Nutrition experts broadly agree that omega-3 acids offer numerous health benefits. That was the impetus for the United States Department of Agriculture to urge people to eat more seafood when it revised its dietary guidelines in 2010. However, reduction of omega-6 consumption is far more controversial. In ancient times, people ate roughly equal amounts of the two fatty acids. Today most Americans now eat more than 10 times as much omega-6, which is prevalent in certain vegetable oils and thus also fried foods, as omega-3. While omega-6 is essential, some health studies suggest that such a wide disparity is associated with many ills. A shift to drinking organic whole milk along with an increase in consumption of that milk from the currently recommended three servings a day to 4.5 would take a big step to lowering the ratio. However, there would need to be additional adjustments to other portions of the diet to offset the calories from the additional milk fat consumed. In contrast with these findings, last year, a research team from Stanford University found that organic foods showed little evidence of health benefit. Based solely on health, there is not much difference between organic and non-organic food. The main benefit was a 30 percent lower risk of pesticide consumption, though organic foods were not completely pesticide free.