Price Factor...Aha moment

[Guest guest]

hey guys, i just had an " aha " moment re the price factor while i was

rebounding. at least it was " aha " to *me* it may be nothing, but i wanted

to run it by you all and see what you think. I'm in a rush right now because

I've got to get the dogs out for their walk, so my ideas may not be well

organized here - i'll just throw it all out.

i was thinking about and 's discussion of altering omega fatty

acids. I also listened to the Lee - Pat Connolly interview a couple of

times today. Connolly is the Price-Pottenger Foundation archive curator.

it's a fascinating interview and i'd recommend it to everyone. anyway,

Connolly was discussing the Price Factor/Activator X and it's connection to

the deep yellowness/orange-ness of pasture-fed butter. She stated that the

price factor is " obviously an omega 3 " of some sort. she seemed to be

referring price's thinking, not her own. but she didn't elaborate. with

those things in mind, here are my random thoughts:

1. *maybe* the price factor/activator x (if it exists) IS some sort of omega

3 uniquely manufactured by the rumen bacteria of *bovines* ONLY. Or

primarily. here's why this thought occurred to me:

a) unjointed grasses (young grasses, such as the Swiss' in NAPD) have an

*extremely high* carotene content. One source i have, lists 52,000 IU per

100 grams (as opposed to 10,000 for kale or 8,000 for spinach, for example).

I don't know how many grams of grass cows typically eat per day,

though...anyone? but 100 grams is about 3 1/2 ounces.

i think june butter from bovines is yellow because of the very high beta

carotene content. grain-fed bovines do not have nearly as yellow butter, or

it's not yellow at all. goats have white milk/cream/butter.

c) in one large scale study, it was found that bovines have a high tissue

concentration of beta-carotene as compared to goats, who, either a) don't

absorb as much carotenoids from food, or convert (pre-cursor) carotenoids

to vitamin A much more efficiently than bovines. in any case, there's

something unique about bovines that makes their milk/cream/butter very

yellow when they're pastured. i'm guessing the higher the soil

fertility...the greener the grass...the higher the concentration of

carotenoids (especially beta-carotene)...the yellower the milk...

d) bovines and other ruminants seem to have the unique ability to *saturate*

polyunsaturates. scott wrote that they can't convert one type of omega to

another, but i haven't been able to figure out how that works yet because my

source (The Fats of Life by carolyn pond) says that they convert

polyunsaturates to saturates, which, i *think* necessarily implies omega

type changes.(note: pond writes that rumen bacteria " desaturate " PUFAs, but

then goes on to say, in so many words, that they saturate them. i think the

" desaturate " was a typo.) Grass, i *believe* has LNA, which has 3 double

bonds. If even one double bond is removed, then it's no longer an omega 3,

right? i don't know what other fatty acids are in grass...LA, i'd guess. If

even one double bond were removed, then it would no longer be an omega 6...i

don't know....maybe i have this wrong. but grass certainly doesn't have the

longer chain efas such as EPA and DHA which are only found in animal

sources. so that leaves the longer chain n-3s out. or are there other n-3s

found in plants that i'm leaving out? and which *specific* polyunsaturates

are cow's rumen bacteria saturating?

e) CLA is unique (i think) to bovines..? Or, at least, it's most abundant in

bovine milk/tissue. CLA is 9-cis 11-trans (apparently a *healthy* transfat -

a fairly unique situation). CLA is getting attention now for it's health

benefits - it may turn out to be some type of fatty acid " super food. "

f) beta-carotene is 9-cis all-trans. It's a fat-soluble

nutrient/anti-oxidant.

f) we know that bovine rumen bacteria are unique in their ability to change

fatty acids in ways that other species with fewer stomachs can't. We know

that CLA seems to be most abundant in, or unique to bovine milk/tissue. It

seems that the Price Factor is unique to *deep yellow pastured bovine

milk/cream/butter* from grass-fed animals, but is especially concentrated in

unjointed (young) grasses (high in carotenoids, and in beta-carotene, i

believe).

so...i began to wonder if the unique bacterial *milleau* or maybe just a few

unique strains that exist in pastured bovine rumens, are doing something

special with the beta-carotene as they convert PUFAs to saturated fatty

acids...maybe something to do with CLA...the *trans* isomer connection

between beta-carotene and CLA is intriguing...or maybe they're manufacturing

some other type of fatty acid - maybe an n-3 as Connolly suggested. but i'm

mainly intrigued by the factors that seem to be uniquely connected to

activator x/price factor:

*bovines* on *young grass* (high in carotenoids) and *rumen bacteria* and

their *fatty acid alterations.*

and the fact that CLA appears to be a very healthy fat unique (mostly) to

bovine milk/tissue.

well...those were the thoughts i had when i rebounded (bounced on my

trampoline). does any of it make sense???

i don't understand biochemistry as well as some of you and i may have

gotten some of this wrong, so please feel free to correct where necessary.

would love to hear anyone's comments...

Suze Fisher

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