Woodford argues, backed up by more than 100 scientific research papers that there is a correlation between the milk we drink in the West, and the development of a number of serious diseases.
Milk is not just milk and by milk is meant cow's milk. For example:
Colostrum is the milk a cow produces the first 72 hours after calving. It is usually untreated and has a history as an immune tonic, as it is full of antibodies. Colostrum is also used in skin creams.
Skimmed milk contains less fat than whole milk, but the protein content of the two kinds of milk are the same: 35 g /ltr.
The milk can be organic. Organic cows get more of their natural needs covered than conventionally farmed cows. E.g. they get more time on grass and their feed must be organic. This provides a slightly better fatty acid composition for organic milk and a higher content of vitamin E. Organic milk is not necessarily homogenized, but is pasteurized, thereby inactivating milk enzymes and the vitamins that do not tolerate heat will, to some degree decompose.
The devil lies in the details, they say. For all proteins it goes, that they consist of chains of amino acids. There are three types of casein in cow's milk: Alpha, beta and kappa-casein and it is in the beta-casein our devil must be found according to Keith Woodford's book.
Other research suggests that if you drink milk with your meals, or if you take milk in your tea, the milk protein will destroy the beneficial effects of antioxidants in these foods on blood vessels in paticular. This has been shown in blueberries and tea where milk proteins blocks the effect of various secondary plant substances that increase the elasticity of the arteries. There is no reason to believe that this unfortunate interaction applies only to these two kinds of food.
A1 and A2 cows
A few thousand years ago, when cows were domesticated, there was a mutation in some European cows, where an amino acid in the beta-casein were switched around. On space number 67 in the series of amino acids in the beta-casein we normally find the amino acid proline. The mutation led to the amino acid histidine to take the space of the proline.
Therefore we find beta-casein in two different versions in cows. The original version of the casein is called A2. These A2 cows is still the dominant type in Asia, Africa, parts of southern Europe and in Iceland. The later mutated version of the beta-casein is called A1, and therefore the cows are called A1 cows. They are dominant in the U.S., Australia, New Zealand and in Europe. Some cow-breeds like Holstein and black and white Frisian cows are hybrids, as they produce a mixture of A1 and A2, since they have one gene from their father and the second from their mother. About 70% of the Red Danish dairy Breed is A1 cows. Zebu, Yak and water buffalo and Guernsey and Jersey breed is A2 cows.
Milk from sheep, goats are closest to A2
- In women's colostrum (first milk after birth) the protein content is approx. 1.6%, which then falls to approx. 0.9%. The predominant protein in milk is whey. Beta-casein in human milk is closest to the A2.
- In cows' milk protein content as high as 3 to 4% and the dominant protein is casein. The ratio is 20% whey and 80% casein.
Milk and morphinepeptides
When the A1 milk protein is digested, some specific peptides (short amino acid chains) will be formed called casomorfin-7, abbreviated BCM-7. This does not take place with A2 milk. BCM-7 works in practice as a morphine-substance and an oxidant which is believed to promote heart disease. BCM-7 is also associated with milk intolerance, development of Type1 diabetes, schizophrenia and autism. BCM-7s sedating effect will also decrease food transit time and thereby increase the risk of constipation. Possibly BCM-7 is also involved in the development of lactose intolerance, where you cannot digest milk sugar, but it is only a preliminary theory.
In a healthy intact gut BCM-7 will be too large a molecule to cross the gut wall and invade into the blood, but in infants and in the large group of people with varying degrees of so-called "leaky gut" and likely in persons with ulcers and untreated celiac disease BCM-7 will pass through the gut wall and invade into the blood circulation and cause injury.
Milk and diabetes
The thesis of a connection between milk proteins and the development of insulin dependent diabetes mellitus was made in 1984 by researcher Bob Elliott and has since been reinforced by other researchers, but only for A1 milk. The theory goes that the body's own immune cells are forming antibodies against beta-casein which then mistakenly attacks and destroys insulin-producing pancreas beta-cells due to similarities in the structures on the cell surface between beta-casein and beta-cells.
Link to Autism
Presence of BCM-7 in the body can be detected in the urine. There still much knowledge to learn about BCM-7s role in human biochemistry.
The European Food Safety Authority EFSA, who reviewed the matter in 2007 estimates that A1 milk is not harmful to drink. Other experts, however, calls for more research in this field.
One should understand that Keith Wood Ford is not opposed to drinking cow's milk. He simply proposes that agriculture will solve the problem by phasing out the A1 cows and replacing them with A2 cows. (A hint to European milk producers)
Walter Willett, professor at Harvard University and inventor of the "inverted pyramid diet" also finds problems with milk. He has for years in speech and in writing warned about milk as a risk factor for developing prostate cancer and breast cancer. This is mainly due to hormones in milk from pregnant cows.
In New Zealand, and in some locations in the U.S. dairy producers have already begun to divide the cows respectively in A1 and A2 stocks but pure A2 milk is still available only in a few supermarkets.
Despite some claims that A1 milk is not problematic, A2 milk will find its way to store coolers, if enough consumers demand it, but it will probably be expensive at first.
References
- Lorenzo M, Jochmann N, von Krosigk A, et al. Addition of milk prevents vascular protective effects of tea, Eur Heart J 2007;28(2):219-23.
- Serafini M, Testa MF, Villano D, et al. Antioxidant activity of blueberry fruit is impaired by association with milk. Free Radic Biol Med. 2008. E-pub ahead of print.
- Elliott RB and Martin JM. Dietary protein: a trigger of insulin-dependent diabetes in the BB rat? Diabetologia 1984; 26(4):297-99.
- Elliott RB, Harris DP, Hill JP, et al. Type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetes mellitus and cow milk: casein variant consumption. Diabetologia 1999;42(3):292-96.
- Pozzilli P. Beta-casein in cow's milk: A major antigenic determinant for type 1 diabetes? Journal of Endocrinological Investigations 1999;22(7):562-67.
- Laugessen M, Elliot R. Ischaemic heart disease, Type 1 diabetes, and cow milk A1 ?-casein. New Zealand Medical Journal 2003; 116 (1168).
- Birgisdottir BE, Hill JP, et al. Lower consumption of cow milk protein A1 beta-casein at 2 years of age, rather than consumption among 11- to 14 - year old. adolescents, may explain the lower incidence of Type 1 Diabetes in Iceland than in Scandinavia. Ann Nutr Metab 2006;50(3):177-83.
- Devil in the Milk: Illness, health and politics. A1 and A2 milk. Keith Woodford, Craig Potton Publishing. ISBN 978-1-877333-70-5 – Oct. 2007.
- Biweekly News. What´s the Connection? Workshop Presents Information about Milk, Hormones, and Human health.Harvard Public health Now. Nov.10, 2006.
