Sunday, March 15, 2015
Udder Nonsense
Recent articles in the popular press have heralded the genetic engineering of cows with some human milk proteins. Milk produced by these transgenic cows is advertised as being similar or the same as human breast milk.
This is like claiming that the udder in the picture is an all natural, low BPA container for fortified water. The breakthrough in humanized cows milk, announced by Chinese researchers in PLoS One, actually documents replacement of cow lysozyme with the corresponding human enzyme. That does not make the milk human anymore than adding egg white lysozyme would turn the cows into chickens. If it moos like a cow...
Cows milk-based formula harms infants, because the carbohydrates it contains do not support the normal development of infant gut flora. The result is gut inflammation, and not normal gut and immune system development. Even human proteins produced in cows will have characteristic cow sugars attached. It is these cow sugars on milk proteins that are associated with colic. The chains of sugars (milk oligosaccharides) free and/or associated with milk proteins are different in cows and humans, and cow carbs are a problem in formula.
I think that it is silly to support humanizing cows milk formula, when the sensible solution is to support breast feeding and licensed human milk banks. The natural approach is much cheaper and far healthier. Only human milk and human milk-derived fortifiers should be used for infants (especially preterm) in hospitals. It is time for the healthcare industry to realize that disruption of gut flora by antibiotics or artificial formula is a health risk. The data are clear -- cows milk (including transgenic cow’s milk) in the hospital may be profitable, but it is unhealthy, e. g. contributes to Clostridium difficile and necrotizing enterocolitis infections, and contributes to long term health problems, such as inflammatory and autoimmune diseases.
References:
China Genetically Modifying Cows To Produce Human Breast Milk
Characterization of Bioactive Recombinant Human Lysozyme Expressed in Milk of Cloned Transgenic Cattle
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