Organic Milk and Beef Are High in Healthy Fats, but Not Enough to Affect Your Diet
Good news for people who buy organic milk and beef, these foods may actually contain more good omega-3 fatty acids than their non-organic counterparts. Not so good news: they are still expensive, and dietary differences won’t have much of an impact on your diet.
Organic milk and beef should be better because they contain more health-promoting compounds like omega-3s, which are good sources of fish and some nuts. Omega-3s are a type of polyunsaturated fatty acids , and they are important because we cannot manufacture them from scratch in our body. Its benefits are associated with improved memory and brain function, improved blood vessel function, and decreased inflammation . Recommended 300 to 1000 milligrams per day for healthy adults.
Of course, it’s hard to tell if organic is really better when studies are blended, so in a very large, very detailed study review published in the British Journal of Nutrition (in two parts: here and here ), 196 articles on dairy products and food products . 67 on organic and inorganic meat to clarify the situation. The researchers found that organic meat and organic dairy products contain, on average, 47% and 56%, respectively, more omega-3s than their non-organic varieties.
But this is a bubble we have to burst: the amount of omega-3 in non-organic beef is already low enough that the nearly 50% increase is much less remarkable than it seems. To illustrate this point, The Washington Post estimated the omega-3 level in regular beef at about 43 milligrams per 100 grams, or 47% more than organic beef contains about 63 milligrams . That still pales in comparison to tilapia and king salmon levels of 134 milligrams and 1,270 milligrams, respectively. In terms of cost relative to the amount of omega-3s, organic beef is a significantly more expensive source. In addition, Professor Ian Givens, who teaches at the University of Reading, tells Science Media Center :
Much attention is paid to increasing the content of n-3 fatty acids in organic milk by 56%; but this increase occurs in milk fat and not in all milk. The effect also needs to be assessed throughout the diet. On average, we consume about 2.2 grams of n-3 fatty acids per day. Switching from regular milk to organic milk will increase our n-3 intake by about 33 mg per day – an increase of only 1.5% in our total diet. Small changes like these are unlikely to provide nutritional or health benefits.
At the same time, the iodine content in organic dairy products was 74% lower than in conventional ones. This can be a problem since many people get about 30-60% of their iodine from milk and dairy products, according to the authors of a study published in the European Journal of Nutrition . Drinking organic milk will provide 14% less daily iodine requirements for an adult. Givens adds:
All in all, this is a very detailed and valuable work, but the differences between organic and conventionally grown foods should be assessed as part of the entire human diet. When they are, most of the differences are really very small.
Understandably, many of us buy organic foods for a variety of reasons (not just health – sometimes because of taste, aroma, environment, or animal welfare), and the omega-3 content may not be your reason. But let this be a reminder that dietary change is about the choice of food, not the fact that it is organic. So don’t be in a rush to buy more expensive organic beef and milk just in the hopes of getting an overdose of nutrients (remember, you can get omega-3s from other sources ). Do it simply because you want to .
An expert response to the differences between organic and regular milk and meat | Science Media Center (via Science Alert)