Study finds organic milk reduces eczema in children

A newly published scientific study conducted by the Louis Bolk Institute Department of Health Care and Nutrition in the Netherlands shows that the incidence of eczema in infants fed on organic dairy products, and whose mothers also consumed organic dairy products, is 36% lower than in children who consume conventional dairy products.

Why is this particular study significant? While a large number of studies have found that organic food contains higher levels of beneficial nutrients than non-organic foods, this is the first example of a definite health impact (i.e. isolated from other potential beneficial factors) of organic food consumption being published in a peer reviewed journal.

Professor Carlo Leifert, at Newcastle University, leader of the EU’s 80m euro Quality Low Input Food (QLIF) project, said: “The Louis Bolk Institute together with medical schools in the Netherlands and the UK has published data which show that the composition differences between organic and conventional milk (as shown by the results from the QLIF project and other published studies) translate into higher levels of CLA in human breast milk and lower incidence eczema in infants. This is the first example of a definite health impact of organic food consumption being published in a peer reviewed journal.”

Whilst the study confirms it is organic dairy consumption that protects against the development of eczema, the scientists could only hypothesise as to the mechanism which delivered this protection. Their hypothesis follows the established facts of increased levels of the beneficial conjugated linoleic acid isomers (CLA) found in milk from organically managed cows. A separate recent study confirms that higher levels of conjugated linoleic acids are not only found in cows’ milk but also in the breast milk of women consuming organic milk. This therefore underpins the hypothesis that the higher levels of CLAs in the breast milk of organic milk drinking mothers are a key mechanism in reducing eczema, as well as the organic dairy diet of the infants themselves.

References
Consumption of organic foods and risk of atopic disease during the first 2 years of life in the Netherlands, Louis Bolk Institute Department of Health Care and Nutrition, Driebergen, the Netherlands. Ischa Kummeling, Carel Thijs, Machteld Huber, Lucy P. L. van de Vijver, Bianca E. P. Snijders, John Penders, Foekje Stelma, Ronald van Ree, Piet A. van den Brandt and Pieter C. Dagnelie. British Journal of Nutrition (2007).