The nutrient potential of milk is the nutrient density possible in Milk. This is found in the milk from healthy cows eating a healthy pasture diet.
Butter Oil Components and Properties
To summarize the importance of high vitamin butter oil and cod liver oil as it relates to their healing abilities we like to refer to a quote from Sally Fallon's book Nourishing Traditions:
Dr. Price was often called to the bedsides of dying individuals, when last rites were being administered. He brought with him two things---a bottle of cod liver oil and a bottle of high vitamin butter oil from cows eating growing grass. He put drops of both under the tongue of the patient--and more often than not the patient revived. He was puzzled by the fact that cod liver oil alone and butter oil alone seldom revived the dying patient--but the two together worked like magic.
Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA)
CLA has been shown to be an anticarcinogen in several animal models, reduce the adverse catabolic effects induced by immune stimulation in rats, mice and chickens, enhance growth performance in rats and inhibit plaque formation in rabbits fed an atherogenic diet at least in part via changes in lipoprotein metabolism. CLA inhibits the body's mechanism for storing fat and causes the body to utilize fatty reserves for energy.
CLA has been shown to inhibit lipoprotein lipase, an enzyme that breaks down fat globules in the blood so that adipocyte (fat cell) uptake, or body fat accumulation, can occur. The inhabitation of lipoprotein lipase results in reduced fat deposition.
CLA also increases hormone sensitive lipase activity, an enzyme that breaks down fats stored in fat cells on the body. The fatty acids are returned to the blood stream to be used as an energy source for muscle cells. CLA directs the body to use fat reserves for energy.
Stearic acid
Stearic acid is a saturated fatty acid. Recent research suggests that diets high in stearic acid help lower total blood cholesterol. (Beef fat and cocoa butter contain significant amounts of stearic acid, but they also contain palmitic acid, which raises cholesterol.)
Sphingolipids
Sphingolipids are one principal group of lipids in the cell membranes. Found especially in nervous tissue and cell and the BRAIN. They function in cell-cell communication, signal transduction, immunorecognition, and definition of physical state of membranes and lipoproteins. In addition to those functions, current research has link sphingolipids as intracellular Ca (2+) mediators.
Lauric and myristic acids
In animal studies these two significantly increased HDL.
Butyric acid
Butyric acid and other short chain fatty acids are taken up by the intestine to be used for energy.
Butyric acid is specifically an important energy source for the cells lining the COLON, where it seems to assist their normal development and maintenance. Butyric acid seems to reduce chronic inflammatory conditions of the colon, and high fecal levels correlate with decreased risk of colon cancer.
Butyric acid works in several ways:
1. It reduces the inflammatory condition of these walls reducing intracellular seepage of undigested food particles.
2. It seals up the holes left by penetration of the roots, i.e. rhizoids of candida albicans overgrowth, which are often implicated in secondary food sensitivities.
3. By stimulating epithelial sloughing in the intestinal tract, new attachment sites are created for favorable bio-flora such as bifidus and acidophilus cultures. Re-establishing the balance of protective bacteria supports our enzyme and fighter cell capabilities, which is necessary for stronger immune support.
In compromised immune systems, undifferentiated cell growth can be inhibited by butyric acid.
Butter Oil Components
* The Wulzen Factor: Called the "antistiffness" factor, this compound is present in raw animal fat. Researcher Rosalind Wulzen discovered that this substance protects humans and animals from calcification of the joints—degenerative arthritis. It also protects against hardening of the arteries, cataracts and calcification of the pineal gland.63 Calves fed pasteurized milk or skim milk develop joint stiffness and do not thrive. Their symptoms are reversed when raw butter (and raw High Vitamin Butter Oil is added to the diet. Pasteurization destroys the Wulzen factor.
* The Price Factor or Activator X: Discovered by Dr. Price, Activator X is a powerful catalyst, which, like vitamins A and D, helps the body absorb and utilize minerals. It is found in organ meats from grazing animals and some seafood. Butter can be an especially rich source of Activator X when it comes from cows eating rapidly growing grass in the spring and fall seasons. It disappears in cows fed cottonseed meal or high protein soy-based feeds.
* Arachidonic Acid: A 20-carbon polyunsaturate containing four double bonds, found in small amounts only in animal fats. Arachidonic acid (AA) plays a role in the function of the brain, is a vital component of the cell membranes and is a precursor to important prostaglandins. Some dietary gurus warn against eating foods rich in AA, claiming that it contributes to the production of "bad" prostaglandins, ones that cause inflammation. But prostaglandins that counteract inflammation are also made from AA.
* Short- and Medium-Chain Fatty Acids: Butter contains about 12-15% short- and medium-chain fatty acids. This type of saturated fat does not need to be emulsified by bile salts but is absorbed directly from the small intestine to the liver, where it is converted into quick energy. These fatty acids also have antimicrobial, antitumor and immune-system-supporting properties, especially 12-carbon lauric acid, a medium-chain fatty acid not found in other animal fats. Highly protective lauric acid should be called a conditionally essential fatty acid because it is made only by the mammary gland and not in the liver like other saturated fats.65 We must obtain it from one of two dietary sources—small amounts in butterfat or large amounts in coconut oil. Four-carbon butyric acid is all but unique to butter. It has antifungal properties as well as antitumor effects.66
* Omega-6 and Omega-3 Essential Fatty Acids: These occur in butter in small but nearly equal amounts. This excellent balance between linoleic and linolenic acid prevents the kind of problems associated with over consumption of omega-6 fatty acids.
* Lecithin: Lecithin is a natural component of butter that assists in the proper assimilation and metabolization of cholesterol and other fat constituents.
* Cholesterol: Mother’s milk is high in cholesterol because it is essential for growth and development. Cholesterol is also needed to produce a variety of steroids that protect against cancer, heart disease and mental illness.
* Glycosphingolipids: This type of fat protects against gastrointestinal infections, especially in the very young and the elderly.
* Trace Minerals: Many trace minerals are incorporated into the fat globule membrane of butterfat, including manganese, zinc, chromium and iodine. In mountainous areas far from the sea, iodine in butter protects against goiter. Butter is extremely rich in selenium, a trace mineral with antioxidant properties, containing more per gram than herring or wheat germ.
* The information above is from a variety of sources and publications including the article published by Sally Fallon and Mary Enig and Dr. Xianti Hoo
For more information see www.WestonAPrice.org