A2 milk
[3] Interest in the distinction between A1 and A2 beta-casein proteins began in the early 1990s via epidemiological research and animal studies initially conducted by scientists in New Zealand, which found correlations between the prevalence of milk with A1 beta-casein proteins in some countries and the prevalence of various chronic diseases.
About 30 to 35 percent of the casein (equivalent to two teaspoons per quart of milk) is beta-casein, of which there are several varieties, determined by the genes of the cow.
[9][13][14] In 2003, A2's website said: "Beta casein A1 may be a primary risk factor for heart disease in adult men, and also be involved in the progression of insulin-dependent diabetes in children" and the CEO had linked A1 to schizophrenia and autism.
[15] A2 Corporation also petitioned the Food Standards Australia New Zealand regulatory authority to require a health warning on ordinary milk.
The commission notice of the ruling said: "Although the A2 Corporation expressed confidence during the investigation that its quality controls were sufficient to exclude the vast majority of beta casein A1, it acknowledged that it could not be certain that there was no A1 in A2 milk.
[18] A2 Corporation licensed patents filed in the 1990s by the New Zealand Dairy Board, and filed its own patents on genetic tests to determine what form of beta-casein cows produce in milk, and concerning supposed adverse health consequences of milk containing both the A1 and A2 proteins.
[23] The press over the litigation and public concern over the claims of A2 Corporation led the New Zealand Food Safety Authority and the Ministry of Health and the Food Standards Australia and New Zealand to issue reports and statements confirming the safety of conventional milk.
[13][24][25] A2 Corporation was able to obtain agreements with enough dairy farmers to launch its milk in New Zealand at the end of April 2003.
[28] In New Zealand it is illegal to make health claims about a food product without providing scientific evidence and registering the food as a medicine, and in November 2003 the New Zealand Commerce Commission advised that A2 Corporation Ltd and its licensed a2 MILK brand producers had agreed to amend the health claims in their promotional material following a warning from the commission.
[28] Meanwhile, the first time milk with predominantly A2 protein was marketed anywhere in the world was in March 2003 in Australia, by a dairy farm unaffiliated with A2 Corporation, run by the Denniston family.
[15][29][32][33] The company, which had been in a tenuous financial situation since beginning trading in May 2004, went into administration in October,[33] and was liquidated in November, owing farmers and processors tens of thousands of dollars.
[21][33] A $1.27 million federal government grant awarded to the company in August as part of the Regional Partnerships Program was also cancelled.
A2 Australia established new contracts with the dairy farmers who had A1 protein–free herds, promising better payment terms—a week in advance instead of once per month, after shipment.
[41][42] The EFSA report, released in 2009, found that "a cause and effect relationship is not established between the dietary intake of BCM-7 (beta-casomorphin-7), related peptides or their possible protein precursors and non-communicable diseases".
[44][48] In 2014, Lion, a beverage and food company that operates in Australia and New Zealand, and is owned by Kirin, relaunched their Pura Milk product with a new label stating: "Naturally contains A2 protein.
[51] In August 2003, as part of a new focus on overseas markets following the death of its founders, A2 Corporation exclusively licensed patent and trademark rights to US-based Ideasphere Incorporated (ISI) to market milk with predominantly A2 protein products in North America under its a2 and a2 MILK brands.
[53] In June 2005, ISI and A2 Corporation agreed to form a joint venture, A2 Milk Company LLC.
[60] In January 2014, the a2 Milk Company exited its joint venture with Müller Wiseman Dairies by acquiring MWD's stake for a "nominal" amount.
As part of their evaluation, the EFSA looked at the laboratory studies that had been done on bovine β-casomorphin 7 (BCM-7) that found that BCM-7 can act as a weak opioid receptor agonist.
[71][10] A 2014 review of research into the relationship between consumption of dairy products (including A1 and A2 proteins) and the incidence of diabetes found that while there appears to be a positive correlation between consumption of dairy products by babies and the incidence of type 1 diabetes (T1D), and an inverse relationship between the consumption of dairy products and the development of type 2 diabetes (T2D), these correlations are tentative; it would be very difficult to determine which component or components of milk might be responsible for these effects, and it is unlikely that the expensive and complex research to determine the answers to these questions will ever be conducted.
