Genetically Modified Cows

Cattle Logic

Here’s a good one.

A type of Japanese cattle known as Akaushi is now being raised in Texas. According to a television report from KEYE TV in Austin, these cattle are “genetically geared to produce conjugated linoleic acid or CLA.”

The report goes on to note that the cattle roam free for their first seven months. After that they’re raised in a confined space. And the meat will be “all natural,” we’re told, because the animals will never receive growth hormones.

Okay – what’s wrong with this picture? Let’s connect the dots

Dot 1: Most cattle are slaughtered between 12 and 18 months of age. That means that these Akaushis will be confined for at least five months.

Dot 2: As I’ve noted in previous e-Alerts, beef is a good source of CLA, but only when the animals that produce the beef are grass-fed. CLA levels drop when cattle are fed grain and hay.

Dot 3: When cattle are confined, they don’t eat the grass they would naturally eat – they’re fed grain and hay.

So here’s the image we get from our connected dots: Scientists genetically alter a type of cattle to produce CLA, which the animals would naturally produce on their own if they were raised their whole lives as free-range instead of being cooped up and grain-fed.

How crazy is that? And they have the audacity to call a genetically altered animal that spends much of its life in confinement “all natural.”

Keep it lean

CLA is a fatty acid that’s shown promise as an anticancer agent. In the e-Alert “Beef ‘n’ Butter” (4/20/04), I looked at CLA studies and testimonials that showed how CLA may also help increase lean body mass. And this is confirmed in a new clinical study from the University of North Carolina (UNC) that tested CLA on obese subjects.

STUDY PROFILE Forty-eight subjects were recruited – 35 females and 13 males

For 12 weeks, half the group received a placebo while the other half received either 3.2 grams of CLA, or 6.4 grams of CLA each day

X-ray technology was used to assess changes in body fat mass and lean body mass

Results showed that the higher dosage of CLA prompted an increase in lean body mass, but no significant effect on body fat or weight

Markers for inflammation (such as C-reactive protein) increased in the short term, but remained within normal limits

This study might have turned out differently with an extended intervention period. In the e-Alert “”Yo-YoNaa” (4/11/05), I told you about a study in which more than 134 overweight subjects received 3.4 grams of CLA daily or a placebo for two years. Although lean body mass was generally unchanged, subjects who started out with the highest body fat mass lost the most body fat. These subjects did not regain any of the fat over the full two-year testing period. Total cholesterol and LDL were reduced as well.

Two ways to go

CLA research is still in the early stages. And to complicate things, CLA supplements contain two different isomers. (For those of you who, like me, can’t remember a single detail of high school chemistry, isomers are molecules that share the same molecular formula, but their atoms are arranged differently.)

The isomers in CLA go by the catchy names cis-9, trans 11 and trans-10, cis-12. We’ll make things easier for everyone and just call them cis-9 and trans-10. In the May 2007 issue of the Journal of Nutrition, the UNC team notes that the CLA they used for their study was composed of a 50:50 ratio of cis-9, and trans-10. And according to a press release from the Centre for Synthesis and Chemical Biology (CSCB – an Irish biomedical research facility) cis-9 is a beneficial isomer, while trans-10 may play a role in the development of type 2 diabetes.

CSCB claims to have found a way to synthesize cis-9 in large quantities, although they haven’t yet found a partnership with a supplement maker who can deliver their prime cis-9 to market.

So, is there really anything behind their claims about cis-9 and trans-10?

After a little searching I came up with an animal study that demonstrated a link between trans-10 CLA intake and the promotion of metabolic syndrome, which sets the stage for diabetes. And I also found a human study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition that showed how trans-10 CLA increases the ratio of LDL to HDL cholesterol (the smaller that ratio, the better), while cis-9 decreases the same ratio.

Currently, there appear to be no CLA supplements on the market that are made up of cis-9 exclusively.

In the meantime, if you want to try a CLA supplement, be sure to talk with your doctor first. And you might also take note of a CLA tip from Jonathan V. Wright, M.D., who wrote about CLA in the November 2000 issue of his Nutrition and Healing Newsletter. Dr. Wright noted that supplements of CLA should be taken with a broad range of other fatty acids, such as flaxseed oil, which contains a majority of omega-3 fatty acids, but also omega-6 and omega-9 fatty acids.

In addition, vitamin E (as alpha-tocopherol along with other tocopherols) should be taken with any fatty acid supplement to help keep the acids from oxidizing and forming free radicals.