Conjugated Linoleic Acid is a compound or chemical version of linoleic acid containing nutrients that cannot be synthesized by the human body.

Merits of Conjugated Linoleic Acid as per various researches are:

• Reduce cholesterol levels
• Preventive and remedial diabetic supplement
• Muscle mass building and increasing lean muscle mass
• Immunity booster
• Fights initiation, promotion and progression stages of cancer and reduces the potency of carcinogens.

All these benefits reach the body only once they are consumed in the diet. There are a handful of very specific food items that contain CLA and if consumed on a regular basis can support the body into wellbeing.

The most important foods are:

Beef

Right from the discovery of Conjugated Linoleic Acid, beef has been one of the main carriers of this chemical form of Linoleic Acid. Now that the world is realizing the many benefits of this component of beef, it is catching up as healthier meat, which was not the case earlier. There is a bit of difference between grass fed cows and the common corn diet that the cows are on. The content of CLA in grass fed cows is much more than the corn fed ones. The Conjugated Linoleic Acid is between 1.2 and 10 mg per gram of fat (depending on how well the cow was raised).

Milk

Milk is one of the strongest sources of Conjugated Linoleic Acid present only after beef. Dairy products provide about 70% of total dietary CLA as compared to the 25% that comes from beef and the rest of the amounts from other ruminants.

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Cheese

Cheese, such as cottage and cheddar is also a very common source of Conjugated Linoleic Acid. Again the differentiation has to be done among the way the cows are fed. Only in grass fed cows does the CLA translate from the rumen that is a part of the stomach to the by-product milk and only that milk when fermented would give out the result of a CLA rich cheese. Cheese from a grass fed cow has about 20-30 mgs of CLA in per gram of fat. This number is lower to 4.1-4.5 in cheddar and cottage variations respectively.

Lamb

Similar to beef, lamb is also one of the best sources of CLA and this fat is also retrieved best directly from the meat of lamb. Not as nutritious as the cows, lamb has its content of CLA at about 4.3 to 11 mg per gram of fat.
Turkey, chicken, and pork
The rest of the ruminants have a much lesser quantity even if they are raised in the most perfect of conditions. A healthy pasture upbringing of the poultry with grass feed can determine the limited sources of CLA in them.

Eggs

The fatty acids in the yolk of the egg translate into higher quantities of CLA. Considering the current fad of eating only egg whites is causing the people to drudge farther away from the good fat that the yolk has. Next time when eating an egg consider the goodness of the yolk as well and eat it for the high CLA.

Oils – coconut and sunflower

Sunflower and coconut oils are also healthy vegan sources of CLA. Although they contain a limited of 0.4 and 0.1 mgs of CLA per 1 gram of fat this is an existing source nonetheless.

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Yogurt

As with cheese, how good a CLA source yogurt is depends on the cows from which the milk is derived. If the starting product is not rich in CLA sources, the by-product will never translate into subsequent high levels either.

Heavy cream

Cream, if made from grass-fed milk, would have a high level of about 118 mg per tbsp of CLA in it which is another good source for vegans looking for the kick that it gives.

Butter

This is a CLA source that can only be retrieved from grass fed cows. The amount of CLA content in butter would be approximately 80% of the fat made from grass-fed cow’s milk, which amounts to about 246 mg per tbsp.

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