Casein It Isn't So-The Origin of Most Cow's Milk Allergies Is In The Protein

The advertisement asks, "Got milk?" But what kind of milk?

The popular cow’s milk campaign has been very successful in reversing declining milk sales in America over recent years. Common teaching is that cow’s milk is a "perfect food," for building strong bodies in children and preventing osteoporosis as we age. The modern dairy products that are available in most supermarkets today cause more digestive complaints and other symptoms than the milk of yesteryear for two reasons, homgenization of milk and the dairy industry preference of cows that have more beta-casein A1 in their milk.

Homogenization is the process where milk is pushed through a fine filter at pressures of 4,000 pounds per square inch and the fat globules are made smaller by a factor of ten times or more. These fat molecules then become evenly dispersed throughout the milk where the cream no longer rises to the top.

Homogenization makes fat molecules in milk smaller and they become "capsules" for substances that are able to bypass digestion like hormones. Proteins that would normally be digested in the stomach are not broken down and instead they are absorbed into the bloodstream. When proteins by pass the digestive system, the bodies immune system reacts to these proteins by defending itself as if the proteins were infectious agents.  This causes and allergic reaction where chemicals like histamine are released in the body to “wall off” the infection via the inflammatory cascade.

Casein is a major protein in cow's milk that occurs in several variant forms, two of which are beta-casein A1 and beta-casein A2. The levels of these two proteins vary considerably in milk dependent on the breed of cow.  Beta-casein A2 is the beta-casein form cows have produced since before they were first domesticated, over 10,000 years ago. 

 Goat’s milk and human breast milk do not contain beta-casein A1. It is considered safe and nutritious and has no known negative effects on human health. Sometime in the past few thousand years, a natural mutation occurred in some European dairy herds that changed the beta-casein they produced. The gene encoding beta-casein was changed such that the 67th amino acid in the 209 amino acid chain that is the beta-casein protein was switched from proline to histidine. This new kind of beta-casein that was created is known as beta-casein A1, and is generally more common in many of the big black-and-white cow breeds of European descent such as the Holstein and Friesian. Due to their size, milk production, and demeanor, these breeds of cow are used to produce the vast majority of Northern Europe and America’s milk.  In addition, during the digestive process of beta casein A1, can be cleaved by enzymes. The 7 amino acid segment that is separated from A1 beta casein is known as beta-casomorphin-7, often abbreviated as BCM-7.  BCM-7 is an opioid that interacts with the human digestive system, internal organs, and brainstem. While no direct causal relationships have been demonstrated between BCM-7 and these diseases due to a wide range of contributing factors for each illness, BCM-7 has been linked to type 1 diabetes, heart disease, autism, and other serious non-communicable diseases as well.

Recognizing and Living With a Cow’s Milk Casein  Allergy

A Cow’s milk casein allergy can cause the following problems:

wheezing

trouble breathing

coughing

hoarseness

throat tightness

phlegm production

stomachache

vomiting

diarrhea

itchy, watery, or swollen eyes

hives

eczema

swelling

Cow’s milk allergy is like most food allergy reactions: It usually happens within minutes to hours after eating foods that contain cow’s milk proteins.

A cow’s milk allergy is often confused with lactose intolerance because people can have the same kinds of things happening to them (like stomach pains or bloating, for example) with both conditions. Lactose intolerance involves the digestive system that does not produce enough of the enzyme needed to break down the sugar in milk called lactase.  This is not an immune response and is not an allergy.

Milk and milk products can lurk in strange places, such as processed meats. Chocolate is another product that may contain dairy — so be sure to check the label before you eat it.  Manufacturers of foods sold in the United States must list on their labels whether a food contains any of the most common allergens. This means that you should be able to find statements like these somewhere on the label: "contains milk ingredients," "made with milk ingredients," or "processed in a facility that also processes milk products."

This new labeling requirement makes it a little easier than reading the ingredients list — instead of needing to know that the ingredient "hydrolyzed casein" comes from milk protein, you should be able to tell at a glance which foods to avoid. But it's still a good idea to get to know the "code words" for milk products when you see them in the ingredients of a food.

Some ingredients and foods that contain milk are:

casein, calcium casein, casein hydrolysate, magenesium casein, potassium casein, rennet casein, sodium casein

dairy products like cheese, yogurt, milk, pudding, sour cream

butter, butter flavoring, butter fat, butter oil, artificial butter flavor

lactalbumin, lactoalbumin phosphate, lactaglobulin, lactose

margarine

non-dairy creamers

whey, whey hydrolysate,

sports drinks or muscle building supplements

natural rubber latex gloves

Cow’s Milk Alternative

Goat's milk is a natural alternative to cow milk and can comfortably be consumed by many patients who suffer from cow milk allergies or sensitivity. Goat milk and human milk do not contain beta-casein A1.

Goat milk, like cow's milk and human milk, contains lactose.  However, many people with lactose intolerance can drink goat milk. It has been hypothesized that the reason lies in goat milk's superior digestibility. Goat milk is more completely and easily absorbed than cow's milk, leaving less undigested residue behind in the colon to quite literally ferment and cause the uncomfortable symptoms of lactose intolerance.

The digestibility of goat milk can be attributed to its casein curd, which is both softer and smaller than that produced by cow’s milk.  Another significant difference between cow's milk and goat milk is found in the composition and structure of fat. The average size of goat milk fat globules is about two micrometers, as compared to 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 micrometers for cow's milk. These smaller sized fat globules provide a better dispersion and a more homogenous mixture of fat in the milk, another factor in making goat milk easier to digest.

Goat milk contains more of the essential fatty acids (linoleic and arachidonic acids) and a higher proportion of short-chain and medium-chain fatty acids than cow's milk. The fat in goat milk may be more readily digested and absorbed than cow milk because lipases attack ester linkages of such fatty acids more readily than those of longer chains. And, unlike cow's milk, goat milk does not contain agglutinin; as a result, the fat globules in goat milk do not cluster, which helps facilitate digestion and absorption.

Other easily tolerated and digestible cow’s milk substitutes include:

sheep or buffalo milk

almond milk

rice milk

Soy, cashew and oat milk are not included because of the growing allergic reactions that are happening after the consumption of these types of products.

References

Health implications of milk containing beta-casein with the A2 genetic variant. Bell SJ, Grochoski GT, Clarke AJ. Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr. 2006; 46(1):93-100.

Polymorphism of bovine beta-casein and its potential effect on human health.  Kamiński S, Cieslińska A, Kostyra E. J Appl Genet. 2007;48(3):189-98. Review.

A casein variant in cow's milk is atherogenic.

Tailford KA, Berry CL, Thomas AC, Campbell JH.Atherosclerosis. 2003 Sep;170(1):13-9.

The A2 milk case: a critical review.

Truswell AS. Eur J Clin Nutr. 2005 May;59(5):623-31.

http://drinc.ucdavis.edu/goat1.htm

http://www.gotmilk.com/#/news-events

http://keithwoodford.wordpress.com/category/a1-and-a2-milk/ is a link to Keith Woodford’s blog, specifically listing all of his posts regarding A1 and A2 milk and related topics.

http://www.betacasein.net/ and http://www.betacasein.org/ are both thorough collections and discussions of scientific literature regarding beta-casein, its variants, beta-casomorphin-7 (BCM-7), and links between BCM-7 and several non-communicable diseases