When they discuss milk, the world seems divided into different factions: those who tell us that milk is healthy and indispensable; those who tell us that, at least, it is not harmful; and the increasingly numerous faction of those who say that animal milk is not suitable for human consumption and would indeed be harmful.
To these factions another one is added, which tells us that milk "would" be useful to the organism, if it were the right one, because the milk they sell us is not. Let's get into the specifics.
Research on milk produced in Europe and betacasein
Some researchers and producers of bovine milk would have made interesting discoveries on the evolutionary history of dairy cows, which on a chemical level translates into the so-called difference between betacasein A1 and betacasein A2 .
It seems that between 5, 000 and 10, 000 years ago all cows produced milk containing betacasein A2, when suddenly a mutation occurred which prompted a strain of them to produce a milk rich in betacasein A1; the human being, who was able to easily absorb A2 milk, would not yet have completely adapted his organism to metabolize A1 milk, which would have some side effects and would not be considered entirely healthy.
It all started in the 1980s, when researchers focused on why some digestive problems related to milk consumption were so widespread. In New Zealand it was discovered that these chronic discomforts were mostly related to the betacasein A1 protein.
Fundamentally, caseins are complex phosphoproteins, which require specific enzymes to be metabolized and, apparently, while the digestive system of the human being has evolved to produce enzymes suitable for digesting betacasein A2, it would not be able to digest with successful betacasein A1.
Nowadays, due to commercial conflicts, various independent researches have been started and, although there is no evidence that they relate A1 milk to type 1 diabetes with certainty, it seems true that many discomforts related to A1 milk consumption would be due to the absence of enzymes capable of dissolving betacasein A1.
More recent studies show that some digestive scraps of A1 milk are toxic or, at least, not healthy, specifically they would cause tissue oxidation, inflammation of the blood vessels and have an antagonistic action towards insulin, favoring the onset of diabetes .
Although some oxidative problems of this kind, linked moreover to cardiac deficits, are linked to the consumption of milk tout court and not only to that A1, there is a slight difference between milk A1 and A2 which would favor the consumption of this last one.
The popularity of these studies, the interest of public opinion and the commercialization of A2 milk as a brand is growing, so much so that even in Europe, especially in France and the United Kingdom, more and more breeders are replacing their livestock by favoring the cows able to produce type A2 milk.
The authorities' response
Although some authorities, including the European Food Safety Authority, are still somewhat skeptical on the subject, some states have supported these studies and cow's milk capable of producing milk is marketed and distributed in some of them; let's talk first about Australia, New Zealand, China, United States.
In Europe, with the exception of France, commercialized milk is produced from type A1 cows, the strain not suitable for human consumption, hence the speculations on the economic interests that drive these states to reject theses and sector studies, according to which, among other things, there would be a clear correlation between A1 milk consumption and type 1 diabetes incidence in children.
Africa and Asia are still rich in cows capable of producing A2 milk, given that the mutation that led cows to produce A1 milk occurred in northern Europe.
