(Health Secrets Newsletter) Researchers from the Netherlands have found that organically fed chickens develop different genes than their conventionally fed counterparts. The result is that the genes responsible for creating cholesterol have a higher expression in organically fed chickens, yet these birds do not have elevated blood cholesterol levels.

Commissioned by the Louis Bolk Institute in Driebergen, the study compared two groups of chickens from two generations that were each fed the exact same things with the exception of one group receiving organic feed and the other conventional feed. Upon completion, scientists took RNA samples from all the chickens' intestines in order to compare and contrast gene expression.

Researchers were surprised to discover that simple differences in cultivation methods can have such a drastic outcome in how chickens process their food and express it in their genes. Dr. Astrid de Greeff from Livestock Research and her colleagues came to find that 49 genes ended up regulating differently in the organic group.

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