What exactly does organic milk have that regular, non-organic milk has?

Organic Milk has to come from farms with very strict standards on milk production. The cows that organic milk comes from have to only eat pesticide free feed and have to be able to roam free in the pasture. Other things that differentiate organic cows from non-organic cows is the hormones that are injected into the cows to increase milk production.

Even though the dairy standards are that in order for milk to get to the grocery shelf have to have very little to no pesticides in them when tested, some people still have a problem with the fact that they ate feed that had pesticides in it so they have to be in the milk. This mainly comes into play when people are going totally clean or organic. Organic milk today is pesticide free.

Since the cows are able to roam in the grasslands and eat as they may, this results in a higher concentration of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) in dairy cattle. CLA is an immune system booster, helps the body to fight tumors as an anti-carcinogen, and helps regulate body fat. Marketed in the United States for its health benefits, CLA is just that beneficial. Be careful though with the synthetic CLA as it has a different chemical makeup than the CLA that naturally occurs in organic Milk. Since it has a different chemical makeup, the nutritional supplements have both the good CLA and Omega 3 fatty acids and also the not so good omega 6 fatty acids.

A study done by Newcastle University in Great Britain reported that organic milk contained 67% more antioxidants than conventional milk and 32 % fewer healthy Omega-6 oils. The report, that was published in the Journal of Science of Food Agriculture, also found that organic milk contained more vaccenic acid. This has also been known to help reduce three major health conditions: heart disease, diabetes and obesity.

Since the diet of organic cattle is so closely monitored, their milk is found to have 50% more vitamin E and 75% more beta carotene than non-organic milk. Putting all these studies together, you have a pretty solid case that drinking organic milk will boost your immune system.

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