Co-op rejects 'cause-and-effect'

By Deborah Hill Cone

Friday 1st November 2002

The Fonterra view is that there is no cause-and-effect relationship proven between A1 milk and diabetes or any other health problem.

The link is based, as with all epidemiology (study of disease), on a number of assumptions.

In 1997 the Dairy Board was reported to have promised to put milk free of A1 protein on the shelves within a year if the health benefits were proven.

In 2000 it said it had taken advice on whether to go ahead with production and added that there was still not enough evidence to make any claims for A2 milk, and therefore production was not an option commercially.

Also, there was no demand for A2 milk. If there was to be any demand for it, that would "have to come through the medical profession," then-Dairy Board spokesman Neville Martin said.

The Dairy Board, now Fonterra, has not changed its position since.

Four weeks ago Fonterra's director of research, Chris Mallett, said the link between A1 milk and diabetes had not been conclusively demonstrated by any measure.

"There is now a recognition that the evidence to date doesn't support the contention that A1 milk is implicated in juvenile-onset diabetes," he told Dow Jones.

Fonterra has the same reservations about the link with heart disease as it does for diabetes, Dr Mallett said.

Fonterra's concerns include:

* the initial research showing a link between A1 milk and type 1 diabetes has not been replicated elsewhere;

* the University of Queen sland research on rabbits, showing a link between A1 milk and coronary heart disease has not been published, let alone replicated, elsewhere;

* only 5% of the New Zealand population is thought to be genetically predisposed toward type 1 diabetes;

* families with young children may switch away from drinking milk and miss out on the health benefits it brings;

* there is no research showing beneficial effects of A2 milk.

Other sceptics have wondered:

* why is heart disease a 20th-century phenomenon when people have been drinking cow's milk for centuries?

* what risks could be associated with A2 milk?

Some health specialists say five to 10 years' research is needed on tens of thousands of children and a safety pilot study to test whether phasing out A1 milk will reduce diabetes.

Fonterra says the science behind the research is complex and the recent announcement that A1 milk consumption is linked with heart disease in rabbits needs careful consideration and review by experts.

"A1 milk consumption was first proposed to be a factor in heart disease in the mid-1990s. As with all scientific research associated with milk, Fonterra took the issue very seriously and performed its own extensive analysis of the data to support such a claim.

"The results from this analysis did not support an effect of milk consumption on heart disease and were recently published in a scientific journal," Dr Mallett said, referring to a paper published in a Society of Animal Production journal.

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