Are comfort proteins "novel" ingredients?  Maybe.  An interesting newsletter
discusses "protein with punch," by Kimberlee J. Burrington who is a Whey
Applications program coordinator at Univ of Wisconsin-Madison Center for Dairy
Research.  She states that the whey protein alpha-lactalbumin,  is a common
ingredient in infant formula. Hm......I believe that the major whey protein in cow's
milk is beta-lactoglobulin and that the major whey protein in human milk is
alpha-lactalbumin.  In fact human milk has 2.5mg/dl of alpha-lactalbumin and
cow's milk has ).5-1.0 mg/dl (patent # 5852224 called .alpha-lactalbumin gene
constructs).  So has the dairy industry invested in "novel" methods to produce
this protein in order to make infant formula more "comfortable?"

Patent #5852224, is a patent assigned to PPL Therapeutics, Scotland.  PPL
also has offices in Blacksburg, Virginia.  PPL is the "maker" of Dolly the cloned
sheep.  Dolly was cloned in part from a sheep's mammary cell--hence the
humorous name, Dolly (Dolly Parton).  There is a herd of cloned cows in Blacksburg,
Virgina as well as several other areas in the USA.  PPL is partnered with
Wyeth.  And I believe that Wyeth and Nestle of Canada have merged.  So it might
be possible to believe that comfort proteins are "novel" human proteins.
Cloned cow's milk was approved by the FDA--an article by Nicholas Kristoff of the
NY Times discussed this last year and humorously ended the article with saying
he didn't grow 3 heads from drinking cloned cow's milk.  Cloned cow's milk is
one easier way to produce various proteins in large amounts--one way in which
the "novel" human lactoferrin is produced.("native" human lactoferrin would be
human lactoferrin made by a human mammary gland--the old fashioned way).
Valerie W. McClain, IBCLC

news article note the date--6 years ago
http://www.veg.ca/newsletr/marapr97/news_mar97.html

Cow's milk 'humanized' by scientists

Rosie, a cow that produces "humanized" milk, has been injected with a human
milk protein gene by researchers at PPL Therapeutics, a company based in
Blacksburg, Virginia. This is not the first example of its kind. Herman, the world's
first "transgenic" bull, was unveiled a few years ago in Holland by the Dutch
company Pharming. It has been trying to create a herd of cows that can
produce milk containing another human milk protein. However, PPL claims that the
results of an analysis on Rosie's milk are the first to be released, revealing
that every litre she produces contains 2.4 grams of the major human breast milk
protein alpha-lactalbumin. An important nutritional protein, it is produced in
human breast milk in much higher concentrations than in cow's milk. Using
transgenic technology, PPL is able to manufacture cow's milk enriched with the
human protein, thus producing a more nutritional product that is balanced in
essential amino acids.
The Electronic Telegraph, Friday, February 7th, 1997


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