CLA News

CLA Summit: Strong prospects for dairy and beef as sources of CLA

Kananaskis, Alta., May (15), 2007: As promise grows for conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) as a health enhancing fatty acid with lucrative market potential, studies of dairy and beef cattle show these livestock are well suited to deliver CLA to consumers in a range of products, say leading researchers at the CLA Summit 2007 conference, May 8-10 in Kananaskis, Alta.

The CLA Summit in Kananaskis brought together top CLA experts and industry stakeholders.

The CLA Summit 2007 conference, hosted by the CLA Network, brought together top scientists and industry stakeholders to present and discuss the latest science and opportunities surrounding CLA. The CLA Network is a collaborative team that includes representatives from many areas of expertise such as research, food industry, health and communications.

"We see great potential for dairy and beef cattle and the products they produce as valuable sources of natural CLA," says Dr. Erasmus Okine, professor of ruminant nutrition and metabolism at the University of Alberta and a member of the CLA Network. "In the CLA Network, we have learned a great deal about how CLA is produced in these animals. We can use this knowledge as the basis of strategies to optimize and enhance the level of CLA that is transferred to dairy and beef products."

Progress in understanding CLA can strengthen the health image of dairy and beef products. This can both increase demand for existing products and create opportunities to introduce new health-oriented products with enhanced CLA.

A key component of CLA Network research progress has been the study of animal mechanisms that underlie CLA formation and transfer, says Okine. CLA is formed naturally in beef and dairy cattle when linoleic acid from digested plant material is converted into CLA through activity by microorganisms in the rumen and in the mammary gland.

"We've made strong progress in understanding the mechanisms related to the two forms of CLA currently of greatest interest - CLA 9,11 and CLA 10,12," says Okine. "One of our major accomplishments has been to better understand how CLA formation influences fat deposition. We've found that certain feeding strategies can not only increase CLA levels but reduce amounts of undesirable fat such as backfat in beef cattle. This is a very significant finding, since backfat is an unwanted by-product that is a tremendous cost to remove and to dispose of at the processing level."

Dr. John Kennelly outlined strong progress in dairy research.

Studies by researchers participating in the CLA Network have confirmed that beef and dairy products already contain natural CLA and these natural levels may be increased substantially through simple livestock production approaches. Researchers have shown simple dietary manipulation can consistently produce CLA increases of five times or more in milk fat or two-to-three times in beef.

"The nice thing about enhancing CLA is we're working with the natural processes of the animal," says CLA Network member Dr. John Kennelly, a professor of dairy cattle nutrition and metabolism and Dean of the University of Alberta Faculty of Agriculture, Forestry and Home Economics. "We've focused a lot on what happens in the rumen and now we're extending that to the small intestine and mammary gland. We've made great strides in developing production strategies that will support specific, consistent CLA levels to provide a basis for product development opportunities."

An important aspect scientists have investigated is how changes to CLA levels could impact other components of product quality, says Dr. John Basarab a senior beef research scientist with Alberta Agriculture and Food, also a participant in the CLA Network. "The indications so far are very positive that increasing CLA levels has no negative effects on product quality in beef. Now another priority is to look at ways of reducing variation in CLA levels among animals and types of animal tissue, to help us produce a uniform product."

Further information on CLA Summit highlights and presentations will be made available over the coming week at www.CLAnetwork.com.