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Eating locally to leading globally: CLA offers broad potential
The local market success of a yogurt from an Alberta dairy may not seem to have much in common with a summit of top scientists across the globe in Berlin. They do – the rising potential of CLA-related progress and the Canadian research that is helping to drive it. Over two years ago, Bles Wold Dairy Inc. of Lacombe, Alta., launched a new version of its signature yogurt product and other parts of its product line that made it among the first in Canada to include a statement of CLA content. This innovation was achieved working extensively with researchers and commercialization advisors participating in the CLA Network and it has broken ground for others to follow. Bles Wold reports the product line is doing well, enjoying consistently solid sales and steadily increasing demand that has made it mainstay on Alberta supermarket shelves and resulted in recent plans to expand distribution into British Columbia. “Our distributor says in the last year and a half we are the only product he deals with that has actually shown an overall increase in this economic climate,” says Tinie Eilers of Bles Wold. Meanwhile, the research progress is gaining international recognition and helping turn the negative image of beef fat and dairy fat on its head – showing that natural ruminant trans fats are not harmful and in fact show significant health enhancing potential. Dr. Spencer Proctor, CLA Network Science Lead, was recently invited to deliver an overview of the progress and potential related to natural CLA and its precursor, vaccenic acid (VA), at the recent World Dairy Summit in Berlin, which featured the most promising dairy science from around the globe. This invitation was a major recognition of the growing international relevance of this research both to industry progress and to nutrition and human health. “The growing body of evidence is clearly supporting new, beneficial health perspectives for dairy fat and beef fat,” says Proctor. “That’s good news for everyone from producers to consumers. We are encouraged by what we have learned to date. More importantly, we are excited about the opportunities to build on these results in the future.” Highlights of Proctor’s address in Berlin are captured in a new article featured in Nutrition Magazine. Home | The Dairy | The Yogurt | Natural Health | Product Listing | Green Footprint | Recipes Farm News | Customer Survey | FAQ's | Contacts & Location |