For today’s Real Food Quote Monday (RFQM), we’re talking about the book “Devil in the Milk” by Keith Woodford. The author promises that he will write so that you don’t have to be a scientist to follow it. This is true; I am no scientist, and I am following it. But my mind has to be on while reading it! No slacking off, as each sentence is important. 
I’m not through the book yet, but I want to share its premise with you. So I’m also going to refer to Tom Cowan’s “thumbs-up” review of it in the Fall 2009 issue of the Weston A Price Foundation’s quarterly journal, Wise Traditions.
Dr. Cowan makes a good synopsis, and I’ll use his review to condense the material.
One of the proteins in milk is called beta-casein. It is a chain of 229 amino acids. At position 67, old-fashioned cows such as Jerseys, Asian and African cows (called A2 cows), have the amino acid proline. In modern breeds such as Holsteins (A1 cows) a mutation occurred five thousand years ago, changing this amino acid to histidine.
Attached to position 67, and part of the large chain of 229, is a side chain of seven amino acids called BCM 7, which is a powerful opiate.
“The side chain that comes off amino acid 67 is called BCM 7. .. a small protein [which] is a very powerful opiate and which has some undesirable effects on animals and humans.”
The amino acid at position 67 is different depending on if the cow is A1 or A2. The old-fashioned A2 cows carry the original amino acid, proline, which bonds strongly to BCM 7.
“… proline has a strong bond to BCM 7 which helps keep it from getting into the milk, so that essentially no BCM 7 is found in the urine, blood or GI tract of old-fashioned A2 cows.”
If an A1 cow, the histidine (the mutated protein) doesn’t hold so tightly to BCM 7.
“… histidine, the mutated protein, only weakly holds on to BCM 7, so it is liberated in the GI tract of animals and humans who drink A1 cow milk.”
Keith Woodford links the liberated BCM 7 to many serious health issues. Again, quoting Dr. Cowan:
“… the opiate BCM 7 can cause neurological impairment in animals and people exposed to it, especially autistic and schizophrenic changes. BCM 7 interferes with the immune response, and injecting BCM 7 into animal models has been shown to provoke Type 1 diabetes. Dr. Woodford presents research showing a direct correlation between a population’s exposure to A1 cow’s milk and the incidence of auto-immune disease, heart disease (BCM 7 has a pro-inflammatory effect on the blood vessels), type-1 diabetes, autism, and schizophrenia.”
In America, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, and northern Europe, most of the dairy cows are A1 cows. Keith Woodford found that:
“When you take A1 cow milk away, and stimulate our own endorphin production instead of via the toxic opiate BCM 7, some amazing health benefits ensue.”
So, where can we find the superior A2 milk? From old-fashioned cows such as Jerseys, and also from sheep and goats. None of these animals are carriers of the genetic mutation.
What can the dairy industry do, filled to the brim with modern A1 cows such as Holsteins? Well…
“Dr. Woodford explains that it is fairly straightforward to switch a herd to become an all A2 herd. No genetic engineering is needed, no fancy tests, just one simple test of the beta-casein and it can be done via breeding with A2 sires and selective culling of A1 individuals. Hopefully, when this practice becomes widespread we will end up with a truly safe and healthy milk supply.”
Keith Woodford also addresses the issue of milk processing, such as pasteurization, and demonstrates how harmful it is. I can’t wait to finish this book and learn more!
Even though this book sounds highly scientific, I don’t think the underlying issues are. A mutation happened, and people who’ve studied this speculate that other desirable traits (possibly docility) were expressed in those same cows. So the breeders made a choice to develop that genetic makeup which also included the A1 defect.
But consider, if the breeders noticed desirable traits in the cows, is it also possible that they could have noticed health symptoms arising in the humans who drank that milk? I think it is just as likely. (But I can’t prove it.) They made a choice to go with whatever else they saw that was desirable. It could have gone the other way.
We can presume that when God created the cows, they were all A2 with a sound genetic makeup. His design was perfect. These are GNOWFGLINS. Old-fashioned cows, goats, sheep, and their milk are GNOWFGLINS.
Modern cows and their milk are born of man’s tweaking. What we do to modern milk products (pasteurize and homogenize) comes from industry.
Everyone must choose for themselves which milk, if any, they will drink. The only reason I care what anyone else chooses is because everyone deserves to think through or be presented with all the issues when making a choice. Well, I do care about your health, too. But, no matter what you choose, God doesn’t determine your salvation or love you any less based on what milk you drink. So, don’t make your choices to please me or anyone else.
Our choice is clear. My family would rather go without milk (and have done until last year) than consume milk from an A1 cow, nor would we choose any processed (pasteurized, homogenized, or non-pastured) milk products. Of course this assumes that we are able to make the choice. Our choice might be different if we were starving.
I have a question about all this, too. Assuming that Keith Woodford is correct that the mutation occurred five thousand years ago, is this before or after The Flood and was the mutation at position 67 carried onto the Ark?
So what do YOU think? Do you think there’s anything to this? Do you think I came on too strong? Please share your thoughts in the comments!
Note: The book link in this post is an affiliate link to Amazon.com. If you choose to buy the book via my link, I’ll earn a commission. But I don’t care about that too much. The point of this post is for us to share inspirational words. That’s my sincere disclaimer. Thanks for reading.
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I think I need to read this book. I’ve recently started buying real milk (from a Jersey) and then got nervous about it. My mother-in-law made a comment that she would never buy raw milk. When I asked her about this, since she grew up on a farm, she said that was different because it was their own cow and they knew it was healthy.
Anyway, this quote tells me that real milk is better and that I shouldn’t go back to buying the store’s stuff.
I’m pretty happy to go without. This definitely goes deeper than other discussions I’ve seen on the pros and cons of milk.
.-= Michelle @ Find Your Balance´s last blog post… Healthy, hot breakfast in 4 minutes =-.
Makes sense to me Wardeh! I grew up on a dairy farm and we always had raw milk, straight from the tank. I switched to skim milk shortly after I moved away from home…believing that it was healthier. I drank skim milk throughout all my pregnancies and even gave it to my kids as soon as they were old enough…ignoring the advice of our pediatricians to give whole milk.
Our son has several health issues including epilepsy, asthma, psoriasis and anxiety. One of our daughter’s has had to deal with ‘precocious puberty’ since age 9. I don’t believe this is a coincidence.
I am going to read this book! Thank you for bringing it to my attention. I also think I’m going to be researching sources locally for A2 cow’s milk.
Wow! I’m so thankful that our raw milk happens to come from a Jersey. I’m going to have to read this book too. My reading list keeps growing and growing.
Well, I consulted my son who is actively reading Answers in Genesis materials and he says the flood was around 4,000 years ago but you should check it out yourself at their website.
If he is remembering what he read correctly then this would have happened before the flood. Hope this helps and thanks for sharing.
We don’t drink milk but still have cheese and ice cream on occasion.
Christie – I believe we’re more likely to find clean milk from healthy animals if we find local people who are taking the time to raise old-fashioned breeds such as Jerseys and Guernseys. These cows don’t yield as much milk as the Holsteins, and perhaps I’m guilty of having idyllic thinking, but I think it takes a special person with alot of love to embrace the old-fashioned animals.
Michelle – I’ve seen this information around a little, but I keep mentioning it to people in real life. Since they had no idea of it, I figured it was time for me to get the book and start writing about it. We think we’re going to get into raising a cow in addition to (or instead of) goats and we would have chosen a Jersey cow because of the extra cream and the oldness of the breed. This kind of information just cements our inclinations!
Tammy – I hope you find some A2 milk nearby! I am sorry about the health issues in your son and daughter. Hopefully, you’ll be able to reverse some of it through diet changes.
Jen – How wonderful that you’re already getting Jersey milk. Even without this information, I feel like the phrase “Jersey milk” and the idea of it is romantic, so I’m not surprised that so many of us are attracted to it without knowing about things like A1 and A2.
Linda – Thank you to your son for answering that question!
Thanks, Wardeh, for this valuable information. As a result, I just phoned my local raw milk dairy and guess what . . . joy of joy . . . their cows are Jerseys! Yipeeeeeeee! I’m so happy.
I have a question. I make yogurt every week and heat the milk to 185 degrees. Doesn’t this effectively make the “raw milk” pasturized with all the benefits being destroyed, and therefore not as good for us?
Marly – That’s wonderful! And yes, you’re destroying all the benefits of enzymes and bacteria by heating it so high. You’d be much better off choosing a yogurt culture that works at room temperature and can culture raw milk. See my Resources page for the link to Cultures for Health for info.
After reading your post, I immediately ordered the book and began doing a little research. I found that the Hy-Vee stores carry A2 milk. It is provided exclusively by Prairieland Farms located in (drum roll here please…) Firth…NEBRASKA!!! Here’s a link: http://planetlactose.blogspot.com/2007/07/a2-milk-hits-america.html for you to peruse.
As thrilled as I am with my discovery (it’s a 1500 cow dairy that’s all A2 certified), I’m also finding that they are not exclusively grass-fed. It is raw milk…do you think it makes a difference?
We don’t have a Hy-Vee here, but there is one in a neighboring town, which I will definitely make a trip for! If nothing else, I will conduct our own little experiment at home. I’ve also discovered that goats and sheep produce A2 milk only. That’s great news!
I have some reservations about this, but it’s worth investigating. In this day and age of DNA testing cows, it makes it practical to cull cows that test A1. With frozen semen and artificial insemination siring calves that test A2 . Also a cross breed could have some efficiencies not currently being utilized in the dairy industry.
I am also concerned with the food safety of raw milk. I do know that milk handling and storage has improved greatly since the 1900′s. I would caution people buying local to make sure the farmer is following the necessary safety practices, which they should be for their own liability.
Wait! The stuff in the store has to be pasteurized, doesn’t it? Now I’m really confused! Guess I’ll have to read the book and do some more research. Thank you Wardeh for posting about this book. If nothing else, it makes you think!
Tammy – the milk in the store does not necessarily have to be pasteurized. It depends on your state’s laws, which you can find here:
http://realmilk.com
http://realmilk.com/happening.html
There’s a state by state summary of laws. You can also contact Hy-Vee.
Regarding not entirely grass-fed, you’d probably want to find out if they’re on pasture most of the time and perhaps just fed grain during milking. There’s a difference (usually) between grain-fed and supplemental grain-fed. All grass-fed would be best, but we don’t always have the luxury of finding the ideal.
I’m excited for you and your family that you might find a local raw milk source!
Tom -
What are your reservations?
If the handling and storage issues of the 1900s to which you are referring were at the same time that cows were brought into confinement and fed poor feed, then yes, I would agree that handling has gotten better since then. It had to! The system went awry – from the pasture to confinement. It is no wonder that poor, unnatural conditions created unsafe milk. Industry and urbanization created this unsafe milk, and therefore came up with current systems (pasteurization, homogenization, etc.) to clean it all up.
It would be better to return to natural methods of raising dairy animals – in the pasture and with the milk foods benefitting a local community instead of a wider audience that requires (for the milk) days in transit and long-distance shipping. A local, natural system does not stress the cows (or goats or sheep) or create unsafe milk. I am assuming that alongside a local system, the farmers are paying attention to simple details such as cleanliness, animal health, and good diet. You also seemed to point this out, although I’m not sure what else you meant by “necessary safety practices.”
I agree that we should be careful in choosing our local farmer. That’s one of the great benefits and responsibilities of buying local, don’t you agree? It is a privilege to know from where your food comes – and on the other hand, for the farmers to be able to provide food in a transparent way to people who trust them and their methods.
I am encouraged by the fact that some patience and attention to genetics can shift predominantly A1 herds over to A2 herds. It is one of the simplest solutions I have seen to health crises like this!
Thankfully, I do trust our friends who sell us the Jersey milk.
Its like any other food source, really, whether local or store-bought … we do have to trust that its safe when we decide to eat it.
Wardeh, We found a good source of raw milk and are driving about an hour on Saturday to pick up our first batch. The lady on the phone asked my husband if he thought we would be needing milk on a regular basis. His answer was a resounding “YES!”
I’m very excited! I’ve ordered this book and we’re renting a movie tonight called “Food, Inc.” I believe we’ve entered into a new dimension of health for our family. Can’t wait to see what’s next!
“A mutation happened, and people who’ve studied this speculate that other desirable traits (possibly docility) were expressed in those same cows.”
I get raw Jersey milk locally. The lady of the farm tells me that the jerseys are gentler and startle more easily at the slightest change, in comparison with the holsteins she used to have. She said both breeds are very docile.
“The system went awry – from the pasture to confinement. It is no wonder that poor, unnatural conditions created unsafe milk.”
Scary. No wonder (pasteurized) formula became popular. Women were confined during pregnancy and nursing, so their milk was sometimes unsafe. Everyone, especially pregnant and breastfeeding animals has lungs that need fresh air and legs that love to climb, run and do all other natural things. Being shut in on a grain diet is not healthy for milking animals. Eating grain may be natural to wild birds, but they don’t give milk. There’s so much to learn now that everything has been systematized out of us.
I keep 2 dairy goats. We do not have pasture, although during good weather I take them out into the woods as often as I can so they can browse (makes for Happy Does!) I am very curious. Since these girls are bred for milk production, would it not be a problem if they only had pasture and hay? We give them hay, a grain mix that is just for goats that our local grain elevator mixes for us, a small amount of Calf Manna, and a bit of alfalfa pellets plus clean water every day. They are healthy, their coats shine, they give birth to healthy babies with no trouble. Surely, this is not an unhealthy situation for them. I would fear to put them just on pasture or hay, as goats are browsers by nature, like deer, and I do not think they would thrive. Any thoughts on this?
Hi, Yolanda! First let me clarify what I mean by pasture and hay, for goats – by pasture, I mean a field full of good browse that is suited for goats – lots of weeds! (For a cow, the ideal pasture would be different.) And for hay, I don’t think there’s any doubt that alfalfa hay and goats are a match made in heaven.
So I don’t think you and I are talking about different things with regard to goats.
I don’t claim to be an expert and we are certainly learning as we go along. When we first got goats, I talked to several people and read many things. And I found that some people do only raise their goats only on pasture and alfalfa. One person I know in particular who does this has very healthy goats, but they yield less milk. She’s good with that because she doesn’t want to feed them grain. There may be other reasons and I hope I’m not confusing the issue.
And then others feed their dairy goats some amount of grain or a special dairy mix, in addition to the alfalfa/hay/pasture. As for us, we serve a conservative amount of local, natural, whole oats and sunflower seeds at milking time. Our pasture IS weeds that they love and we always make available high quality alfalfa hay in the barn, which they can access anytime. I have a friend who recommends 1 pound of grain for every goat, then 1 pound more for each quart of milk they produce. That works out to be right for us. Many times our goats don’t even finish that amount – they love the alfalfa hay so much better!
It sounds to me like you’re doing a wonderful job with your goats – I would like to meet them! What kind are they? When you said that you take your goats for walks in the woods, that reminded me of a book I love. It is “The Herbal Handbook for Farm and Stable” by Juliette de Barclay Levy – you probably know it? She said that goat owners should do just that! Here’s the book on amazon:
http://gnowfglins.com/recommends/herbal-handbook-farm-stable
You might want to read this post, where I quoted quite a bit of that book in order to speculate on the traditional diet for goats. Quite a few people have responded and the discussion has been wonderful!
http://gnowfglins.com/2009/05/20/traditional-natural-diet-for-goats/
Female Passerby – thank you for your thoughtful comments. I didn’t mean to suggest that Jerseys were not docile, but was repeating the speculation that had been discussed in the book. In my only experience with a Jersey, I would tend to agree with you, because the lady from whom we buy Jersey cream has a nice Jersey and an ornery Holstein.
You mentioned that women were confined during pregnancy and nursing – was this recently? I just have not heard of this; I don’t doubt you – I would like to know more.
You mention that grains are only for the birds. I’ve seen evidence in some of my readings (for instance, the Herbal Handbook for Farm and Stable mentioned above) that at least goats would be browsing on grains they came upon in the field. I have read in Nourishing Traditions (discussed in this post) that cows might do a little of this, too, but I think cows wouldn’t prefer it as much as goats would.
Anyway, it is interesting to have these discussions, even though we might not never know everything – and certainly the conditions of the animals depends not just on whether they are urban or rural and who raises them, but on what part of the world they live, too.
What do you feed your goats? I have found a supply that is not necessarily organic but they get Lakin Lite pellets. They are a Bermuda and Alfalfa blend pellet. Also, a small amount of 4 way grain when they are on the milk stand. Maybe a cup. And she also turns them out in the evenings and they have free forage of her alfalfa hay stacks. I just want to make sure this is worth making the switch from my organic, pastured, Holstein cow raw milk that I have been getting. Since you have goats, I thought you might have a good idea on this.
Kara, I was going to follow up with this post soon, based on what I just read in the WAPF Wise Traditions journal – just got the most recent issue today. Someone wrote a letter to the editor and basically said, “Now what do we do?” because they were not sure their milk was A2. I wrote up there in my post that my family would never drink Holstein milk, which was pretty strong. But perhaps not as balanced as it should be. I’m not backing off from my desire for us to have A2 milk. But I can definitely see more of the picture now. Anyway, in response to that person’s question, here’s what the editor said:
“Raw whole milk from pasture-fed cows is safe and wholesome for most people. The significance of the A2 findings is that it may explain why some people do not do well even on this kind of milk – and why some people do better on goat milk. We are not suggesting that farmers and consumers worry about whether their milk is A2 or A1. What we are suggesting is that those who have trouble with raw cow’s milk seek out and try A2 milk, or switch to goat milk. We also suggest that pure A2 milk may be the answer for those with very serious conditions like autism. We predict that over the years, A2 milk will become more and more available, perhaps eventually the only type of milk available. But this transformation will be gradual and will take a long time. Meanwhile, we don’t want farmers to worry about their current herd, nor consumers to worry about the milk they’re drinking if it agrees with them.”
To answer your question about what we feed our goats. They get pasture access 24/7. They have quality organic alfalfa hay available at all times in the barn. At milking, we give them a small amount of whole, local, natural oats and sunflower seeds (the latter is not organic, can’t find any that is). Not very much and it depends on their size and milk yield. It sounds to me like those goats are getting a good diet, if not organic. Do you think you have any issues with the Holstein milk?
Hi Wardeh,
I thought this incredible! I am able to buy jersey cows milk, no problem, but you talk of the Holstein breed of cow. Here in the UK we mostly have Friesian breed of cow. Is this the same as Holstein? I know that sometimes we can have different names for the same thing both sides of the Atlantic
I am now buying the ‘proper stuff’
Thanks so much for bringing this to my attention. Bless you!
Yvonne, I don’t know – but that’s interesting and I’d like to find out. I’m happy you’re drinking the good stuff.
I received this comment from someone who would like to share anonymously:
Isn’t that AMAZING!!!!?????
Guys, can I ask you a slightly off-topic question? As a milk drinkers, which milk is more beneficial: that of a cow or goat?
Thank you kindly.
Zhenya
Here’s a question: We just lost the cowshare we used to belong to – the man decided to sell his cow. We just managed to get hold of 2 gallons from another dairyman, but it appears that he waters down his milk in the tank.
This milk was a one time deal only, the man will not sell to individuals on a regular basis. But is there any way we can get rid of the excess water? We cannot get raw cream to add, and my husband does not want to use the homogenized stuff from the store. Do we grin and bear it, or can this milk be fixed?