Organic Milk for Health

Organic milk has all the nutritional goodness of non-organic milk but due to the cows’ more natural diet it also has some additional health benefits.

In 2003 a study confirmed that organic milk naturally contains much more Omega 3 fatty acid than non-organic milk. This is due to the fact that organic cows are fed higher levels of natural red clover than non-organic cows.

Further research carried out at the University of Aberdeen in 2004 found yet higher levels of Omega 3 in organic milk. The research, which compared the Omega 3 content of organic and non-organic milk, showed that organic milk can contain up to 71% more Omega 3 than non-organic milk and has a better ration of Omega 3 to omega 6.

Research has also established that organic milk has higher levels of vitamin E, vitamin A and antioxidants. Organically reared cows, which eat high levels of fresh grass, clover pasture and grass clover silage, produced milk which is on average 50% higher in vitamin E, 75% higher in beta carotene (which our bodies convert to Vitamin A) and two to three times higher in the antioxidants lutein and zeaxanthine than non-organic milk.

Drinking a pint of organic milk a day provides 17.5% of the required intake of vitamin E for women and 14% of that for men, and as much beta carotene as a portion of some vegetables such as Brussels sprouts.

As well as having tangible health benefits, drinking organic milk minimises the risk of consuming chemical residues. You can also rest assured that it is produced in a natural way, which means that the cows do not graze on pastures sprayed with artificial, chemical pesticides and are not fed GM cattle feed.

The Organic Milk Suppliers Cooperative, OMSCO, is the UK’s largest and longest established organic milk cooperative. It was formed in 1994 by a group of five like-minded farmers in the West of England, including the Elm Farm Research Centre’s farm and the Duchy of Cornwall Home Farm in Tetbury. Our members now number around 300 from Cornwall to Aberdeen and we supply the majority of UK’s organic milk needs. OMSCo farmers work hard to produce naturally pure milk which we believe it better for you, the cows and the countryside.

British organic milk is different to non-organic milk. You can trust organic milk because on an organic dairy farm you will find:

No use of artificial insecticides on pastures where organic cows graze.
No use of artificial herbicides on pastures where organic cows graze.
No use of artificial fungicides on pastures where organic cows graze.
No use of antibiotics unless the cows are ill.
No GM in organic cattle feed.
No case of BSE ever found in an organic born and raised dairy cow.
No use of solvents or urea to produce organic cattle feed.
No housing of organic dairy cows all year round.
No housing of organic calves in single pens where they cannot touch other cows.
No hedge cutting on organic farms between October and March to minimise wildlife disturbance. -live-naturally.co.uk