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. 2018 Feb 28;6(3):681–700. doi: 10.1002/fsn3.610

Table 3.

Key fatty acids and ratios in whole milk—conventional, organic, and grassmilk (g/100 g milk)

Conventionala Organica Grassmilkb Grassmilk (adjusted total FA)c % difference
Conventional to adjusted grassmilk (%) p d Organic to adjusted grassmilk (%) p d
Total fatty acids 3.098 3.108 3.585 3.103 0.2 ns −0.2 ns
Saturated fatty acids 2.043 2.116 2.399 2.076 1.6 ns −1.9 ns
14:0 myristic 0.3274 0.3490 0.3997 0.3460 5.7 .002 −0.9 ns
16:0 palmitic 0.8995 0.9344 1.116 0.966 7.4 .0007 3.4 ns
18:0 stearic 0.3559 0.3434 0.3738 0.3235 −9.1 .00000 −5.8 0.001
Monounsaturated fatty acids 0.7944 0.7410 0.8352 0.7229 −9.0 .00000 −2.4 ns
18:1 incl. oleic 0.7074 0.6505 0.7258 0.6282 −11.2 .00000 −3.4 .010
Total ω‐3 Fatty Acids 0.0198 0.0321 0.0565 0.0489 147 .00000 52 .00000
α‐linolenic acid, ALA 0.0159 0.0255 0.0441 0.0382 140 .00000 50 .00000
20:5 eicosapentaenoic, EPA 0.0025 0.0033 0.00413 0.00357 43 .00000 8.3 .0008
22:5 docosapentaenoic, DPA 0.0037 0.0044 0.00543 0.00470 27 .00000 6.8 .004
22:6 docosahexaenoic, DHA e e 0.00106f 0.00092f
Total ω‐6 fatty acids 0.0948 0.0711 0.0525 0.0454 −52 .00000 −36 .00000
18:2 linoleic, LA 0.0856 0.0639 0.0447 0.0387 −55 .00000 −39 .00000
Total polyunsaturated fatty acids 0.1147 0.1037 0.1088 0.0942 −18 .00000 −9.2 .00000
Total trans fatty acids 0.1281 0.1254 0.1934 0.1674 31 .00000 33 .00000
Total CLA 0.0192 0.0227 0.0498 0.0431 125 .00000 90 .00000
LA/ALA 6.272 2.568 1.042 1.042 −83 .00000 −59 .00000
ω‐6/ω‐3 5.774 2.276 0.954 0.954 −83 .00000 −58 .00000
ω‐3/ω‐6 0.219 0.456 1.083 1.083 395 .00000 138 .00000
a

From Benbrook et al. (2013).

b

From Table 1.

c

Adjusted to the mean of conventional and organic.

d

Pairwise p‐values by 2‐tailed t test; ns, not significant (p > .05).

e

Not reported because quantifiable amounts ≥0.001 g/100 g milk were found in only 2 of 160 conventional and 4 of 218 organic samples.

f

Mean of 249 samples (21% of 1162) with quantified amounts ≥0.001 g/100 g milk. We estimate the average DHA content of all 1162 samples is about 0.0006 g/100 g milk, roughly half the unadjusted amount shown here. For this estimate, we assumed that the 913 unquantified samples contained an average 0.0005 g/100 g milk, half of the minimum quantified amount of 0.001 g/100 g milk.