Milking cow
Image: Flickr/PLR_Photos
People allergic to whey may be able to drink newly engineered milk without the unpleasant digestive consequences, according to research released October 1.
A team of New Zealand researchers genetically engineered a cow named Daisy to produce milk free of β-lactoglobulin protein that can cause allergic skin, digestive and respiratory reactions predominantly in infants.
"Since the protein is not produced in human milk, it's not surprising that this protein may be recognized as a foreign protein in infants and cause allergies," study author and scientist at AgResearch in New Zealand Stefan Wagner told LiveScience.
Studies show that about 1 in 12 infants develops an allergic response to whey, but most infants are able to outgrow their allergy.
For decades, food manufacturers have broken up whey protein, a mix of about 10 proteins including β-lactoglobulin, in milk products through a process called hydrolysis in an effort to decrease its allergenicity. [9 Weirdest Allergies]
"Infant formula uses hydrolyzed milk, which is supposed to be much less allergenic, but there is still residual risk to exposure of allergies," Wagner said.
Some outside researchers expressed concern because while the milk produced by Daisy does show much less β-lactoglobulin, it held more of a non-whey protein called casein, which is also responsible for allergies. "We wouldn't think that this has any relevance to milk allergy; whey protein is one of many, many proteins that people can be allergic to," said Robert Wood, allergy and immunology chief at The Johns Hopkins Hospital, who was not involved in the new research.
Making Daisy
So instead of relying on manufacturing methods, the researchers focused on getting the source material free of whey.
To decrease whey in milk directly, the New Zealand group created a cow free of β-lactoglobulin. To do so, they combined two tools: Nuclear transfer, a technique established during the days of cloning the famous Dolly sheep; and RNA interference, a technique relatively new for livestock used to shut down genes.
The researchers inserted a DNA fragment into cow somatic cell lines, or those not inherited, for cow-lactating tissues; this DNA element shuts down production of β-lactoglobulin in lactating tissues. Researchers then transferred the transgenic nuclei into unfertilized egg cells that, when stimulated, became embryos that were implanted into cows — a total of 57 cloned cow embryos. [Genetics by the Numbers: 10 Tantalizing Tales]
The process resulted in five pregnancies — one of which was terminated to collect cells. Of the four remaining pregnancies, one resulted in offspring.
The whey-reduced milk is years away from market, if it ever makes it to grocery shelves.
"We are nowhere near any clinical tests — what we are currently doing is to show that milk from our transgenic cow is indeed less allergenic," Wagner said.
A ways to go
But why go to all the bother of producing a transgenic cow when manufacturers can reduce whey in postproduction?
"When we process milk with heat or enzymes, we lose some of the nutrients that are essential to our body," Anower Jabed, who completed his doctoral work on the transgenic cow and is currently at the University of Aukland, told LiveScience. "It is a way to solve the problem where we don't have to process every time."
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6 Comments
Add CommentCreepy.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMany people brush off concerns about GMO foods as nothing more than the irrational fear of those with little understanding of biology, and this may be a fair assessment some of the time, because there are probably a number of GMO foods that are perfectly safe. Every time any organism produces offspring--whether animal or plant--some natural tinkering with genes takes place. Segments of DNA are moved around and mutations take place, adding entirely new genes into the world. So if it's safe to eat organism's who've undergone this natural genetic change, what's wrong with human beings engineering genetic changes as well?
It's a complicated issue that will be debated fiercely for years to come, but I've been steadily moving towards the anti-GMO-foods position over time. Look at one of the most important foods in the world: wheat. It was genetically modified around the 1950's to increase yield during farming per unit of area. But as a side effect of this transformation, a new protein called gliadin appeared and it turns out that gliadin is an opiate...like heroin. So now wheat is addictive, and a growing body of research has emerged, implicating gliadin's tendency to trigger over-eating as a big contributor to many of the world's (especially America's) health problems.
The research that's led to this new type of milk product is interesting and worth conducting in my opinion, but I don't think we should be so quick to turn to genetic engineering to solve our problems with food. Let's play it safe. There has got to be a better way.
Why don't they just grow a teat in the lab? Why bother using a whole animal? That's wasteful.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe Apocalypse is associated with the destruction of ruminants. The result of genetic contamination . Perhaps someone found a cure for the human race. The " poison "is also associated with a solar storm. At the moment, I don't see a poison caused by the solar storm. A solar storm would knock out the food supply. A decision to wipe out the human race may have followed,.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI am sure they are just kidding.
We are the only mammalian species on this planet that tends to deprive their offspring of their rightful, species-specific milk formula (though we would shudder if we saw someone holding a human baby under a cow's udder, forcing it to suck from it! That would be possibly classified under "child abuse" to use/ or abuse the cow as a wet nurse! )
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAnd now this 'Frankenstein' cow that they've synthesized do do away with the whey! It makes me wonder what else may be missing, apart from the tail...
Youthevity.com
To Kloumann: Thank you for this interesting history of wheat, with the added addictiveness of an opiate!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisActually, it is getting more and more clear that , with all processed food, there is much more concentration of certain ingredients, which act like opiates on our unsuspecting brains; sugar, as a distillled 99% isolate from canes or beets, is another prime example.
With wheat, sugar, and fat caked together in the shape of 'cakes', the synergy of opiates working in tandem works wonders for pandemic addiction levels; all for the greater benefit of the national growth product! Growth in weight & health problems included.
Youthevity.com
Humans are the ONLY species on the planet that continues to drink milk after weaning. Doesn't anybody else have a problem with that. And genetically engineered milk! Wow. Really. Hope the powers that be are prepared for the damage to the human genome that this will inevitably lead to. Check out the 12 year old girls with adult cleavage and 12 year old boys that have already been shaving for a year. Not very smart. Not very smart at all.
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