The Transfer of conjugated linoleic acid and vaccenic acid from milk to meat in goats

Biomedical studies with animal models have demonstrated that conjugated linoleic acids (CLA) have many positive health benefits. The major sources of CLA in human diets are meat and milk products from ruminants. The content of CLA in ruminant fat depends on the rumen’s production of CLA andtrans-11 C18:1 (vaccenic acid,VA) as bio-hydrogenation intermediates and on VA by D9-desaturase. Kid’s meat is a valuable and expensive product. The kids are fed exclusively with the milk of the mothers and they are slaughtered at approximately 30-45 days of age, when they reach a weight of 7-10 kg. Thus the milk component is not degraded by the rumen before it is absorbed from the intestine, and as a result the meat fatty acid (FA) content could be markedly influenced by the fatty acid composition of the milk. The aim of this work is to evaluate the transfer of fatty acids, included CLA and VA, from the milk of the goats to the meat of the kids.