Milk From Certain Cows Might Have Health Pluses
LINCOLN — Distinguishing one lumbering, black-and-white Holstein cow from another on a dairy near this southeast Nebraska town is like trying to tell the difference between identical twins.
9 August 2007
1 minute read
| Dairy cows wait to be milked |
But with help from high-tech DNA testing on tail hairs plucked from the animals, dairy operators at Prairieland Dairy are the first in the United States to make a distinction they hope will put them on the leading edge of new market for a type of milk some claim tastes better and is healthier.
The resulting product, called A2 Milk, was recently put on the shelves of about 100 grocery stores in the Midwest, although it's been sold in Australia and New Zealand for a few years.
The milk contains just one major protein — unlike most milk, which contains a mix of different types. Genetics aren't altered to produce the milk; rather, the dairy cows' DNA is tested to identify those 25 percent to 30 percent that produce it.
Backers of the milk point to scientific research they say suggests the product has more health benefits than milk that contains a mix of major proteins. And anecdotal evidence, they say, reveals that the milk is easier for some to digest.
