Feeding of High Forage diet to enhance Conjugated Linoliec Acid (CLA) in Cow’s Milk interest of Human Health: A Review

Dairy cows diets is usually composed of forages especially pasture, silage, hay. The main fatty acid found in forage are palmitic acid (C16:0), steric acid (C18:0), oleic acid (C18:1 n-9), linoleic acid (C18:2 n-6) and linolenic acid (C18:3 n-3). Milk fatty acid is synthesized in mammary gland from de novo and dietary fatty acid source. Consumption of milk contributes mineral, vitamins, energy and essential fatty acids linolic (C18:2n-6) and linolenic (C18:3 n-3) to human, but inclusion of high proportion milk and milk product especially, saturated fat in human diets is becoming questionable because of the health risk like obesity, cancer, diabetics, and cardiovascular disease. This creates negative altitude on consumers towards milk and milk product. The aim if this review was to summarize the concentration and it’s health promoting effect of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) in cow’s milk through feeding high forage diets. This review was carried out by using secondary data sources mainly published journals. Studies in rat revealed that CLA (rumenic or vacenic acid) rich butter at 2% of its diet show reduction in mammary tumor and cholestrol induced coronary heart disease in rat. Research findings showed it is possible to enhance the unsaturated fatty acid in the milk by manipulating the cow’s diet. Compromising the milk yield inclusion up to 70 % of forage enhances n-3 PUFA, CLA. However, the contribution of the unsaturated fatty acid especially CLA from milk to the total human diet seams relatively low