Research from the United States suggests dairy cows fed flaxseed produce more nutritious milk

Oregon State University researcher Gerd Bobe found cows' milk contained more omega-3 fatty acids and less saturated fat, when the amount of flax seed in their feed was increased. Bobe suggested the high omega-3 content of flax seed could play a large part in the improvements discovered in his study.

He said traditional cattle feed mixtures of grains, hay and grass silage (and in the US maize and alfalfa) often result in dairy products with low concentrations of omega-3 and other potentially beneficial polyunsaturated fats. Reporting on his discovery in the Journal of Dairy Science, Bobe said his findings could have implications for producing healthier milk with feed which can be grown domestically.

As part of the study, ten pregnant cows at the University dairy were fed different amounts of flaxseed – up to seven percent of their daily diet. Researchers attempted to pinpoint the amount of flaxseed that would maximize the amount of omega-3 in milk and dairy products without negatively affecting their production and texture.

"We were looking for a sweet spot," said nutritionist Bobe. "Too much of a good thing can be bad, especially when trying to maintain consistency with dairy products."

The study found that feeding cows up to six pounds (2.7 kg) of extruded flaxseed improved the fat profile without negatively affecting the production and texture of the milk and other dairy products. Extrusion presses raw ground flaxseed into pellets with heat.

At six pounds per day, saturated fatty acids in whole milk fat dropped 18 percent, poly-unsaturated fatty acids increased 82 percent, and omega-3 levels rose 70 percent compared to feeding no flaxseed. The improvements were retained when the milk was processed into cheese and butter.

Even so, Bobe acknowledged saturated fat accounted for more than half of the fatty acids in the dairy products while the increase in polyunsaturated fats compromised no more than nearly nine percent of the total.

Although flaxseed costs more than traditional cattle feeds, Bobe hopes that it still could be a viable feed supplement for cows because products enriched with omega-3 can sell for a premium at the grocery store and the cows appeared to enjoy the flaxseed as a supplement to their diet.

"Many consumers already show a willingness to pay extra for value-added foods, like omega-3 enriched milk," he concluded.