DOES A2 OFFER TASTE OF BETTER HEALTH?
▶ The milk could be sold in UAE next year as Sharjah buys 1,000 cows
Visit a supermarket or coffee shop and, as well as cow’s milk, you can expect to be offered plant-based substitutes made from ingredients including almonds, soya, oats and coconut.
In the UAE, camel milk is also widely available.
Soon there could be another option for customers in the Emirates – A2 milk, a type of cow’s milk some say offers greater health benefits.
Sharjah has announced it is buying A2/A2 cows and their milk could be sold on the market next year. A wheat farm in the Mleiha area will start with a herd of 1,000 cows.
Sheikh Dr Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Ruler of Sharjah, said the goal of the project was to “ensure human health”, state news agency Wam reported.
“We will offer consumers the milk as it is, just like the milk taken directly from the cows without any intervention or reduction in its components,” Sheikh Dr Sultan said.
About 30 per cent of the protein content is beta-casein.
Cow’s milk typically contains a mix of A1 and A2 beta-casein.
But cows with a particular genetic make up, sometimes referred to as A2/A2, produce milk with the A2 type only.
There have been suggestions A2 milk may reduce the risk of illnesses, including cardiovascular disease, although these suggestions have not yet been proved.
Ian Givens, professor of food chain nutrition at the University of Reading in the UK, is not yet convinced of the health benefits of A2 milk.
One of the differences between the types of milk is that A1 beta-casein releases a peptide, or chain of amino acids, called beta-casomorphin-7.
One area of interest is whether this peptide is associated with inflammation in the digestive tract.
“We have done such a study and found no effect of A1/A2 versus A2 milk in subjects who we screened to show they were not lactose intolerant. But I am not sure the study had adequate power,” Prof Givens said.
Sports scientists have also researched A2 milk.
Experts at the University of Kent in the UK have been looking at whether milk that contains A1 betacasein is linked to asthma and another condition that affects breathing, exercise-induced bronchoconstriction.
A2 Milk Company, the largest A2 milk producer in New Zealand, also sells to customers in Australia – where A2 milk has a more than 10 per cent market share – North America, China and South Korea.
The company has referred to studies that focused on people with milk intolerance or problems with lactose.
“All report improvements in digestive symptoms, such as stomach discomfort, on consuming A2 protein only milk,” said the company, which is not linked to the Sharjah project.
“Research in healthy toddlers found decreased constipation after consuming toddler milk drinks [made with A2 milk] compared to conventional milk products.”
The company, founded in 2000, said the findings suggested A2 milk may offer benefits to a “broader range of individuals” but acknowledged that further research was needed.
But there has been scepticism about some research into the health benefits of A2 milk, because the studies were funded by producers.
A2 Milk Company makes no secret of the fact it has financed some of the research into the milk, but said governments and industry leaders, including Swiss food and drink company Nestle, also supported studies.
A2 milk is often regarded as different to “regular” milk, but it is actually the original form of the drink.
The mutation that caused cows to begin producing milk that contains A1 beta-casein – which differs from the A2 protein in only one of its 209 amino acids – is thought to have originated thousands of years ago and spread widely.
Holstein Friesians, the black and white cows familiar to many, tend to have a lower percentage of A2 genes than breeds such as Jersey, Guernsey and Normande cows.
Some cows, known as A1/A1, have milk that contains A1 beta-casein only, while milk from A1/A2 animals has both forms.
Genetic testing is available, giving farmers the option to introduce A2 herds.
Some farmers may be tempted for business reasons.
The A2 milk market was worth $1.87 billion in 2021 and is set to be worth $4.83 billion by the end of the decade, a report published last year by Polaris Market Research showed.
“Other mainstream dairy players have entered the market, and the category is no longer niche,” the A2 Milk Company said. The milk was available in the UK through a joint venture involving the A2 Milk Company, although this ended several years ago after modest sales were reported.
Among the other A2 milk producers is the Alexandre Family Farm in the US.
In some markets there are practical obstacles to mass-market sales, including difficulties in keeping A2 milk separate from other milk types when large numbers of farms supply individual dairies.
“You get milk from hundreds of farms a day going into the same tank,” said Phil Garnsworthy, professor of dairy science at the University of Nottingham in the UK.
He has looked at ways to improve milk, such as by achieving higher levels of a type of polyunsaturated fatty acid called linoleic acid.
His efforts faltered because it was not possible to keep the milk separate, he said.
A2 milk is one of the numerous types of cow’s milk associated with potential health benefits, Prof Garnsworthy said.
“There’s been all sorts of things like that,” he said.
“There was milk that was supposed to help you go to sleep only produced from cows milked at night.
“It had a high melatonin [a hormone produced in dark conditions] content.
“It did help people go to sleep, but the market wasn’t there because they couldn’t keep it separate.”
There was milk that was supposed to help you go to sleep produced from cows milked at night. The market wasn’t there
PROF PHIL GARNSWORTHY University of Nottingham