Unlocking the mysteries of milk
The Globe and Mail newspaper
Saturday, January 17, 2004 - Page F8
http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20040117/MILK17/
TPHealth/
or try http://makeashorterlink.com/?E2C042E17
If the latest promises of science are to be believed, the advertisements
informing us that "milk does a body good" may soon have to be revised to
read: "Better milk does a body even better."
At least, that is the goal of the Milk Genome Project.
"The big question in nutrition is not about people getting all the essential
nutrients they need -- they get those already. It is about having foods that
have health-promoting properties," says Bruce German, a Canadian
food-science professor now teaching at the University of California at
Davis.
<snip>
Supported in part by Canadian funding, the project, which formally begins
this year, aims to collect all that is known now and will be known in the
future about the genetics of milk and to provide the tools to study milk in
detail from this perspective -- not just in the common commercial producers
such as cows and sheep, but also across some unusual genus lines. Kangaroos,
seals, mice, monkeys and any other creature about which milk genetic
information is available will also be part of the project.
<snip>
"Modifying milk genetically would be the last thing we would do," Prof.
German says, but even that would not be without precedent.
Several years ago, British biotechnology company PPL Therapeutics reported
that it had bioengineered three cows with the genes that produce the protein
alpha-lactalbumin, a major constituent of human breast milk. The modified
milk was intended to be a natural dietary supplement for babies born
prematurely who could not be breast-fed.
Please see link above to read whole article.
(Thanks to Jodine Chase's breastfeeding news weblog
http://bfnews.blogspot.com/ for this item)
Janice Reynolds
Nokomis, Saskatchewan, Canada
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