What would you rather drink? Milk from a cow chained up in a barn eating slop through a hole, or a cow allowed to graze in a field?

Hopefully you picked the latter. Lots of organic farmers believe food from free range livestock is better and healthier – they’re probably right!

And now a new study says milk from grass-fed cows is healthier for the heart than conventionally produced milk.

Writing in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition researchers found milk from cows allowed to graze contain more conjugated linoleic acid, or CLA, than cows fed processed grains.

CLA is an unsaturated fat that can protect the heart.

Given this health effect, the scientists suggest more attention should be paid to feeding practices for cows.

Milk from a cow allowed to graze – like they naturally do – just sounds better, especially since some feedlots, in an attempt to cut costs, mix rejected M&Ms and potato chips with their cows’ regular cud.

M&M’s? Does that mean they make chocolate milk?

Image credit: ib economics weblog