The University of the Americas (UDLA) develops milk without A1 betacasein, a protein to which harmful effects such as indigestion are attributed in many people.
The University of the Americas (UDLA) in Ecuador develops as a new and more digestible livestock option, a milk without betacasein A1, protein that is credited with the harmful effects that make traditional milk indigestible for many people.
The project consists of the genetic identification of the cows and not in a manipulation as occurs with transgenic products, which has allowed the selection of non-carriers of genes with betcasein A1, which usually generates, above all, intestinal discomfort.
“About 7,000 years ago, a mutation appeared in the vos taurus breed that changed a protein present in milk, betacasein, a mutation that caused it to become unstable,” explained Jacobus de Waard, a researcher at the UDLA, to Efe. specialist in animal genetics, infectious diseases, and microbiology.
The researcher clarified that protein instability is what causes digestive discomfort: “It is not intolerance, it is not allergy, they respond to immunological factors.”
That would explain, he added, that even people with lactose intolerance and who drink milk without that component, still continue to experience discomfort that, “most likely due to A1 betacasein.”
Original milk
Also known as native milk, cow’s milk before this mutation contained the protein betacasein A2, as did maternal milk or that of other animals and that many people tolerate better, said this researcher who promoted the initiative.
Over the centuries in the genetics of cows of different breeds, betacasein A1 spread, although A2 did not completely disappear, which has allowed geneticists to select cattle according to this chromosomal characteristic.
In New Zealand and Australia, the commercialization of A2A2 milk began in the first decade of 2000, that is, from cows with the two chromosomes of betacasein A2, and the semen of bulls with this genetics also began to be introduced in Ecuador.
Through the genotyping technique developed at UDLA, De Waar has identified cows for production in the Andean country, for now, on a small scale.
Worldwide, the production of this type of milk has exploded in countries such as Australia, the United States and China. In Spain, a project with its own brand launched by Galician farmers has recently started and similar initiatives of a local nature are known in Latin American countries such as Argentina or Colombia.
But in the case of Ecuador, the UDLA project, in which the large dairy producers of the country have their eyes set, would be a first step to manufacture this “milk of the future”, and incidentally, a productive opportunity for a sector that it has suffered significant losses in recent years.
In Ecuador there are around 294,000 milk producers, mostly small (80%), and the rest (20%) are divided between medium and large, producing 6.15 million liters daily, according to the Surface and Production Survey Agropecuaria (Espac) of 2020.
Milk intake worldwide has fallen in the last decade for multiple reasons, including the emergence of “plant milk”, according to various studies.
Low consumption and smuggling cost dairy farmers $ 50 million a year
Added to this is the increased cost of production, which in many cases does not reach production costs, measures around the control of the use of whey, the increase in the consumption of powdered milk and the informality of a sector that in Ecuador reaches 57%.
Farm A2A2
Andrea Maldonado, head of the campus of the UDLA Nono farm, where students from different careers put their knowledge into practice, anticipates that in the coming weeks the initial tests will be carried out with A2A2 milk for the production of dairy products such as yogurt and cheeses.
“Thanks to this research we can do several tests with our consumers, who already know our products and give us their comments,” he said about the pioneer milk in which it is betting on a campaign to publicize the product under the label “Cows with A2A2 milk, the first in Ecuador “.
His colleague and technical coordinator of the Nono university farm, Christian Lemus, clarifies that after the study it was determined that 46% of the animals already have the A2A2 gene and that they produce an average of 100 liters of milk per day.
“We have twelve cows in production, 7 more on the way in the coming months, and the rest, calves and calves, still take a couple of years,” he said.
The objective is to increase the cattle through the crossing of A2A2 males with cows with the A1A2 gene, of which they hope to obtain fruits in the coming years so that “that genetics begin to be stronger”. (I)
Paul is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment and general news. He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established herself as a respected voice in the industry.
