It is hard to know what to make of all the research being done related to food. The BBC reports that eating Mandarins may cut the risk of liver cancer. Though one study was just a survey, another studied only 30 people with viral hepatitis who had a daily drink containing carotenoids and mandarin juice.
In the UK, the Organic Milk Suppliers Cooperative is asking that the Food Standards Agency recognize a nutritional distinction between organic milk and conventional milk. The request is based on a study that purports to find that:
According to the research, a pint of organic milk contains on average 68.2% more total Omega 3 fatty acids than non-organic milk and has a ratio of Omega-6 to Omega-3 fatty acids, which is believed to be beneficial to human health.
The study may be challenged on several points. The collection of milk was not done at retail, as consumers would experience it and, more important, it is an average over a year and not a finding that any given bottle of organic milk has more beneficial fatty acids than any given bottle of conventional milk.
But the big point is, even if accurate and representative, the study doesn’t even pretend to prove that drinking a lifetime of organic milk means you will live longer or be healthier than if you drink conventional milk.
And if we don’t have that, well, why care about the chemical make-up of the milk?
