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| NZ Article on Milk
What the 'milk devil' could do
By JON MORGAN - The Dominion Post | Thursday, 13 September 2007
The "milk devil" identified by Lincoln University professor Keith Woodford is beta-casomomorphin7, a derivative of A1 beta-casein, a gene found in cows' milk.
Where his findings become controversial is that not all of New Zealand's cows carry the A1 gene.
About half are A2, which does not have the "devil".
The dairy industry does not distinguish between the two and mixes all milk together.
Professor Woodford says he has urged the industry to change the national herd to A2, a move that he estimates would take 10 years to complete, but has been ignored.
He claims the industry has, instead, run a strategy of denigrating the science linking A1 to health risks, and the science the industry has produced has typically been in non-medical conference papers or in non-refereed poster papers at industry conferences "well away from the scrutiny of other medical scientists".
His book Devil in the Milk, published tomorrow, carries endorsements from Professor Sir John Scott, professor emeritus of medicine at Auckland University, and Professor Garth Cooper, Auckland University's professor of biochemistry and clinical biochemistry.
His summaries of the conditions affected by the milk devil are:
Type 1 diabetes.
His hypothesis is that the devil in A1 is similar to a pancreatic molecule in the cells where insulin is produced, and that the body attacks the islet cells in the pancreas by mistake.
This theory is supported by the fact that type-1 diabetics have much higher levels of antibodies to A1 beta-casein than non-diabetics.
In Finland it has been found that genetically susceptible children who drink more than half a litre of milk a day are five times more likely to get diabetes than those who drink less.
Heart disease. High-user A1 countries also have a high rate of heart disease.
"The correlations are so strong that it is extremely unlikely that they could be due to chance."
Other auto-immune conditions. Newborn babies all have "leaky guts" that allow the milk devil's large molecule to enter the bloodstream.
"So it is not just a case of making sure that babies are breast-fed rather than formula-fed. It is also a case - as a risk management procedure - of making sure there is no supplementation using formula milk containing A1 beta-casein."
Conditions that involve leaky guts include ulcers, Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis.
Many sufferers cannot drink milk.
In other conditions, such as multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's and Rett syndrome, the link with A1 beta-casein is not proven.
Scientists have also found that the milk devil causes apnoea, a breathing dysfunction, in adult rats and newborn rabbits that is comparable to sudden infant death syndrome.
Autism and schizophrenia. Scientists have identified that autism sufferers typically excrete the milk devil in their urine, but normal children do not.
This could come only from A1 milk. When milk is removed from their diets, most show a steady improvement and reduction in the symptoms of autism.
Trials on rats show that the milk devil crosses the blood-brain barrier and becomes attached to areas altered by schizophrenia.
Milk intolerance. It has been found that the milk devil causes increased secretion of mucin, the sticky proteins in mucus "totally consistent with the symptoms that people have been reporting for generations".
Many people claim that milk causes them problems with mucus in their throat and nasal passages.
Other problems are bloating, stomach cramps and diarrhoea.
Reports are coming in consistently that people who could not tolerate ordinary milk can successfully digest A2 milk.
Professor Woodford says A1 milk can be used safely in butter, whey powders and probably in cheese, though more research is needed.
However, he says research is urgently needed to find out if the milk devil is released in digestion of yoghurt made from A1 milk.
He says the dairy industry should not regard A2 milk as a threat but as a "tremendous opportunity, albeit with short-term difficulties".
The A2 Corporation has been producing A2 milk for four years, mostly for sale in Auckland.
Professor Woodford says he has never owned shares in the company.
Members of his family once had a small holding, but no longer do so.
interesting
Hi Mysh
apparently the A2 milk is available here in Oz
but I haven't seen it yet
http://www.a2australia.com.au/portal/
http://www.a2milk.com/
and an interesting ABC Landline article
http://www.abc.net.au/landline/content/2006/s1702999.htm
kind of explains it all really
regards
forker
Forker,
Thanks for the links. Apparently this story is being aired on "Today Tonight' Wednesday evening if you are interested.
Mysh |
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