Conjugated Linoleic Acid: Incorporation into Bovine Milk Fat and Effects on Human Health

Milk from ruminant animals has been an important component of the human diet for thousands of years. Ruminants have the unique ability to take organic material that is indigestible to humans and convert it into milk, a food with high nutritional value. Ancient civilizations learnt to exploit this potential through the domestication of various species of ruminant including the cow, sheep, goat, buffalo, and camel. Processing of milk into products like butter and cheese also has a long history. Cheese making is thought have been practiced as early as 4000 BC in regions of the Middle East and was a well-developed skill in the Roman era. Strategies that alter the basic composition of milk are a much more recent endeavor, encouraged by the rapid advancement of scientific knowledge over the past century.