Cla

[hailtotheking]

Heres an interesting article i came across the other day:

CLA: The Modern Food Chain’s Weak Link

Lynnette Harris
UAES Information Office

Conjugated linoleic acid is a mouthful of a name for a compound that used to be easy to swallow. That was before before the advent of the modern low-fat diet. Now science is indicating that one side-effect of people cutting out fat is cutting out CLA, a component of fat that has been shown 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. “We have a tendency to get a little information and think that all fat is bad,” says Dr. Tilak Dhiman, a USU dairy nutritionist who is examining ways to increase the CLA content of milk, cheese and meat. “We must distinguish between types of fats. We tend to think all fat is bad for us, but nutrition is very complex and we don’t know everything about it.”

CLA is a fatty acid that occurs naturally in many foods and is especially high in milk and meat from ruminant animals such as cows, sheep and goats. CLA is produced by bacteria in the rumen. While the relationship between diet and cancer is extremely complex, CLA has been found to inhibit the growth of chemically-induced skin and stomach cancers in mice, as well as cancer in the mammary glands of rats. Studies in other animals have produced similar results. Synthetic CLA also changed the body composition of laboratory animals; they developed more muscle and had less body fat.

Regular cow’s milk available at the grocery store contains an average of 4.5 milligrams of CLA per gram of fat. This is only one-quarter the lowest effective intake found in research with laboratory animals. The lower the fat content of the milk, the less CLA. Dr. Dhiman and others 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. Researchers have also found that feeding higher amounts of conserved forage in the diet increases CLA content of milk. However, the CLA level is not as high as in milk from cows grazing pasture. Dr. Dhiman says it is possible that something in green grass enhances the growth of the particular bacteria in the rumen that are responsible for producing CLA. Or it may be that grazing cows have different microbes in the rumen than cows fed inside the barn. “We cut our consumption of CLA when we changed the ways we feed our animals,” Dr. Dhiman says, noting that 30 or 40 years ago animals mostly grazed on pasture. Now their feed is controlled, which might be having a negative impact on human health, he adds. “Today we are producing milk more efficiently,” Dr. Dhiman says. “However, we need to couple this efficiency with milk quality. CLA could be considered a value-added product of grass-fed cows depending on how much people come to value it.”

In ongoing research in cooperation with USU Animal, Dairy and Veterinary Science Associate Professor Kenneth C. Olson, Dr. Dhiman is working toward understanding exactly what the mechanism is that produces CLA in the rumen and how to enhance its production. At this point, Dr. Dhiman has determined that CLA levels can be boosted by supplementing the cow’s diet. Roasted cracked soybeans added to a diet of alfalfa and corn silage resulted in increases of CLA content of milk. When soybean oil and linseed oil were added to dry feed in amounts comprising 2-4 percent of the cow’s diet, CLA levels in their milk came close to those of cows eating green pasture. But adding oil at higher levels than 4 percent can affect the digestibility of the feed. One of Dhiman’s studies found that cows fed full fat extruded soybeans and cottonseed produced milk with almost double the usual amounts of CLA. Many farmers already supplement the cow’s diet with cottonseed and soybeans, but the fat or oil must be easily available to the digestive system. Dr. Dhiman has found that cracking and roasting the seeds help release the important chemicals.

CLA appears to be very stable, Dr. Dhiman says, meaning it is not affected by cooking and processing. Dr. Dhiman and Dr. Don J. McMahon, professor of Nutrition and Food Science and director of the Western Dairy Research Center at USU, recently prepared cheese using milk from cows fed extruded soybeans and cottonseed. The increased CLA content in the milk was retained in the cheese.

In addition to cutting our CLA intake by taking cows off pasture and feeding them conserved forage, many Americans have also made CLA intake a casualty of their war on fat. Milk is a good source of CLA, but the beneficial fatty acid comes along with the fat grams. Information from the International Dairy Foods Association indicates that American milk consumption has dropped to about 24 gallons per person annually in 1996 from 31 gallons annually per person in 1970. A portion of the decline may be due to concern about fat in foods because sales of nonfat and reduced-fat milk have doubled since 1970 while consumption of whole milk has dropped to less than half its 1970 level.

In the billion-dollar business that accompanies the American quest for leaner bodies, some manufacturers of health supplements are selling capsules containing CLA synthesized from sunflower oil. A component of fat, CLA, may actually slow some types of cancer and heart disease and help reduce body fat and increase lean muscle. Consequently CLA tablets are showing up in health food stores. Dr. Dhiman, who says a new brand of CLA capsules seems to appear nearly every month, is about to begin a study in which he will feed this form of CLA to laboratory mice and monitor changes in the muscle and fat composition of their bodies. Similar studies in other laboratories have found rats, mice and chickens fed a CLA-rich diet reduced body fat and increased lean body mass. Studies in other areas are tracking long-term changes in human subjects, he says. Until the results are in, dietary moderation is still the best advice for humans, he says, cautioning that people might want to think about the milligrams of CLA they are passing up in their efforts to cut out all the dairy and meat fats from their menus.

[hailtotheking]

Heres a part in an article on t-nation called 'Fats Roundtable' which briefly talks about CLA as an anti-inflamatory:

Let's mention the fact that the muscle damage created from weight training is very pro-inflammatory anyway. If the cell membrane is full of omega 6s, you're talking about mega soreness and damage. With omega 3s, muscle soreness may be reduced and recovery time may be enhanced! You see, inflammation is a cyclical process. Training damages muscle - muscle gets inflamed - inflammation promotes more damage - more damage, more inflammation, and so on.
This is where CLA comes in to play. Since I've done quite a bit of CLA research, here's where I comment on some of the biggest benefits of taking the stuff. And here, finally, hot off the presses, are my graphs:


As you can see from this data set, both delayed-onset muscle soreness (DOMS) and interleukin-6 concentrations were blunted after an eccentric downhill run in the CLA subjects. IL-6 is a pain-related, inflammatory cytokine, so the two findings agree. In theory less IL-6, less muscle soreness.
And check this out:

The urinary nitrogen from these subjects was a bit lower in the CLA group as well, indicating a tad less muscle breakdown, but this latter finding wasn't statistically significant like the others. All this is exciting, but unless you're a subject in one of my studies, it's unlikely that you'll get close to 15 grams a day of CLA, even with supplements. At this point, I wouldn't recommend it anyway; we need more data on both safety and efficacy. In fact, Dr. Joey Antonio joked once that I've basically just discovered expensive natural "aspirin" that takes six weeks to work! I can hardly argue except to say that it's a food that seems to possess drug-like qualities and that in itself is fascinating.
JB: Right on, guys. I can't give a recommendation for CLA, Lonnie, but thanks for those splendid graphs. I feel like I'm back in seminar class snoozing through one of your buddy, Dr Ziegenfuss' lectures!
As far as what I can recommend, I've recommended fish and flax oils to many people suffering from injuries. I've also recommended them to some friends with asthma and rheumatoid arthritis. Each has noticed some benefit. In regard to weight trainers, it's my impression that the benefits noticed with CLA in Lonnie's studies would also be noticed with omega 3s.

[NU_nutrition_TS]

Haven't I been saying this?! Ditch that vegetable marg and start speadin' that CLA-rich butter form pasture-grazed cows!

[hailtotheking]

It did make me think that organic beef and milk is definately worth buying, although the former is damn expensive.

Interesting how CLA was being promoted as an anti-inflamatory in the second article, as opposed to a weight loss agent.

[NU_nutrition_TS]

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It did make me think that organic beef and milk is definately worth buying, although the former is damn expensive.

Interesting how CLA was being promoted as an anti-inflamatory in the second article, as opposed to a weight loss agent.

Organic beef is not necessarily grass-fed...so you need to check labels carefully - Tesco's are good in this regard!

TIP: I now buy packs of fresh predominantly grass-fed and organic lean beef mince and make them into burger patties...works out cheaper than beef steaks and you don't have as much waste (fat & gristle)! You can also add your own seasoning blends and/or minced onion for flavour!

[hailtotheking]

Where do you get YOUR grass-fed beef from?

[NU_nutrition_TS]

Unfortunately, I can't get 100% guaranteed grass-fed beef, but Tesco's do a wide range of organic and non-organic beef that is "predominantly grass-fed" (mostly in their non-organic "Finest" range) and is the best compromise I can find! Their labelling includes short bio's of their various suppliers and will generally tell you names, locations, farming methods and what the animals are fed. The best one I've found was Tesco's organic minced beef from cows that are grazed and supplemented with hay (in winter) and hand gathered clover forage - definitely no feedstall grains, herbicides, pesticides or antibiotics!

PS Price is normally £1.99 for a 400g pack of lean organic grass-fed beef mince. I can make four good-sized burgers from that (2 per meal for 2 meals) compared to anywhere from £4 to £8+ for non-organic predominantly grass-fed beef steaks (rump, fillet etc.!).

[Wotan]

Cheers for this post both of you! I have been taking CLA capsules for ages but if you can get it from food so much the better!

[hailtotheking]

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Unfortunately, I can't get 100% guaranteed grass-fed beef, but Tesco's do a wide range of organic and non-organic beef that is "predominantly grass-fed" (mostly in their non-organic "Finest" range) and is the best compromise I can find! Their labelling includes short bio's of their various suppliers and will generally tell you names, locations, farming methods and what the animals are fed. The best one I've found was Tesco's organic minced beef from cows that are grazed and supplemented with hay (in winter) and hand gathered clover forage - definitely no feedstall grains, herbicides, pesticides or antibiotics!

PS Price is normally £1.99 for a 400g pack of lean organic grass-fed beef mince. I can make four good-sized burgers from that (2 per meal for 2 meals) compared to anywhere from £4 to £8+ for non-organic predominantly grass-fed beef steaks (rump, fillet etc.!).

Ta for this mate. Seems a reasonable price. However, i only have a Marks & Spencers, Waitrose, and Sainsburys near me. Will do some investigating. I presume to get a decent quantity of CLA from lik, you'd need to get organic wholemilk, again, from cows that are grass-fed.

The health shop i go to also sells organic cottage cheese, so im going to check that out as well.

[Wotan]

How about goat's milk? Sainsbury's do it and so do Waitrose. I've tried it, it tastes very "clean", nothing like I expected it to!
Anyone know the CLA content of this stuff?