Yesterday was my first experience with the annual AdFarm tour. The speakers were great. The 23 pies were even greater. My impromptu nap on the bus was so-so.

But my favorite part of the experience was our trip to the North Dakota State University department of Animal Sciences. Dr. Eric Berg showed us around their facilities and talked about some of their recent and ongoing research.

At the North Dakota State University department of Animal Sciences

One of the most interesting parts of Dr. Berg’s talk was the point he raised about the importance of animal health and nutrition research to our understanding of human health and nutrition. And it’s not just about how food animal health and nutrition impact the people who eat food from those animals; it’s also great for modeling disease and nutrition in humans.

Dr. Eric Berg

Pigs are very similar physiologically to humans.  And they make a much better research model for humans than mice. Plus, unlike much of the current self-reporting nutrition research in humans, you can control the variables. If you’re wondering about the weight loss potential of an all-turnip diet, for instance, you can select litters of the same parentage and very similar physique.  Feed one large group an all turnip diet and the other a typical ration. You’ve cut out a lot of the pesky genetic variance and metabolic differences that throw human studies out of whack. Suddenly, you have a pretty clear-cut result and a nice correlation curve showing that an all-turnip diet will indeed contribute to weight loss. Now you just have to figure out whether it’s a result of turnip nutrition or pigs deeply engrained hatred of turnips.

I’m being facetious, of course. But it’s important to remember how much we have to learn about ourselves from our four-legged friends. And as this type of research becomes more and more common as our concern for human health and wellness grows, we should thank and appreciate the capable, caring people who help us better understand our world.

Thanks to Dr. Berg and the entire NDSU Animal Sciences department for making my day. I hope to see you again next year!