Milk: Does a Body Good—or Not so Good?

You’ve seen the arguments about milk and other dairy products. While they’re full of protein, the cows they come from are full of synthetic hormones, chemicals that can obviously affect the end food products that go into your body. What about the organic versions?

Yes, organic milk costs a bit more, but the uptick in healthfulness is well worth it. For example, an article in the January ’12 Prevention discussed a Harvard study in which grass-fed dairy cows produced “milk that’s much higher in conjugated linoleic acid. People with the most CLA in their tissues had a 36 percent lower risk of heart attacks [than] people with the lowest levels.”

In other studies CLA has been shown to help burn fat and build muscle. A Canadian study showed that it is especially synergistic with creatine for muscle growth.

Organic milk also contains more omega-3 fatty acids than its nonorganic counterpart. Omega-3s protect your brain and reduce inflammation, which can lower your risk of disease. They’ve also been shown to improve fat burning by helping to optimize natural hormones in the body.

So if you’re not lactose intolerant and choose to drink milk, go organic. Also, you want to stick with 2 percent milk, as skim has much less fat and can shoot up your insulin levels—which stops fat burning in its tracks and can lead to blubber building.

—Steve Holman