News & Notes
Milk guzzling children may live longer, says study
Consuming plenty of dairy products at a young age may lower stroke risk and lead to a longer life, according to a 65-year follow-up study.
Some studies have suggested that dairy-rich diets contribute to heart disease because of high levels of saturated fatty acids and cholesterol. But new research published in the journal Heart and funded by health charities suggests that children who eat lots of milk and cheese may live longer.
Studying data from the Carnegie (“Boyd Orr”) survey of diet and health in pre-war Britain, researchers from Bristol University and the Queensland Institute of Medical Research looked for links between dairy consumption during childhood and mortality.
Tracking the lives and the dairy intake of 4,374 children between 1948 and 2005, the researchers found that 1,468 (34 percent) of them had died, and 378 of those deaths were caused by coronary heart disease and 121 were due to stroke.
Professor Richard Martin, one of the authors of the study, told Dairy Reporter: “This finding was all the more compelling because the children in the study were drinking high-fat milk.”
Not only did the study suggest that dairy-rich diets in childhood do not contribute to heart problems later, they found that higher childhood calcium intake was associated with lower stroke mortality.
In addition, children who were in the group that had the highest calcium intake and dairy product consumption were found to have lower mortality rates than those in the lower intake groups.
“Children whose family diet in the 1930s was high in calcium were at reduced risk of death from stroke,” said the study authors. “Furthermore, childhood diets rich in dairy or calcium were associated with lower all-cause mortality in adulthood.”
Martin said the study is one of the first to look into dairy consumption at mortality over such a long period.
This article by Guy Montague-Jones, appeared in the July 29 issue of the Dairy Reporter.
Jiménez-Flores wins IDFA Research Award
Cal Poly Dairy Science professor Rafael Jiménez-Flores won the International Dairy Foods Association Research Award in Dairy Foods Processing. The award, which was presented during the ADSA annual meeting, recognizes individuals whose research allows for the development of new products and improvement in the quality, safety or processing efficiency of dairy foods. The award, given by the ADSA, includes a plaque and a $1,500 honorarium.
Jiménez-Flores also organized and served as chairman of a symposium session on milk enzymes, featuring five world-renowned experts, that was presented during the Montreal meeting.
Is this bacteria good for you? Do your homework when it comes to probiotics
Ten years ago, many people considered the idea of eating billions of bacteria to improve health a wacko alternative medical practice. Now, you’d have to live in a media- and marketing-free bubble to be unaware of probiotics, the “good bacteria” that Jamie Lee Curtis is so excited about in those yogurt commercials.
But while marketers have done a fantastic job of spreading their message about the health benefits of probiotics, and probiotic products have been popping up all over the supermarket – from Dannon’s Activia to chocolates, fermented milk, cereals and granola bars -- it’s less clear exactly what those benefits are.
Much of the confusion comes from a basic misunderstanding – namely that all probiotics are the same. A little digging into the research reveals that nothing in the probiotic product world is simple. Grand and false generalizations are rampant, and it’s best to know exactly what you want and why when you head to the supermarket.
What’s important is that each strain has different effects, and it’s impossible to generalize about what they can do as a group, says Mary Ellen Sanders, a food microbiologist who is a consultant for the dairy industry in Centennial, Colo.
The little solid science behind probiotics – that they can help conditions like diarrhea associated with taking antibiotics, vaginal infections, and diarrhea in children who have rotavirus – comes from studies on specific strains of bacteria. What happens in one study does not apply to all probiotics.
The picture becomes even blurrier when you consider that studies can look at a strain by itself, in combination with others, and at different dosages over different periods of time.
“You really do see a hodgepodge [of studies] out there, and that’s one of the issues that makes this field really difficult,” says Sanders.
So what can these bacteria do for us?
Probiotic bacteria have been in our food supply for decades, and the bacteria in yogurt, Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus, have been around much longer. They are certainly safe. But do healthy people need them? That depends on whom you ask.
“No, absolutely not,” said Sanders. “This is not an essential nutrient to a person’s diet.”
But, she says, there’s a chance that by taking the right ones at the right dose, you could be doing yourself a favor. Some research has shown that strains like L. reuteri ATCC55730 (trade name Protectis) may have immune-enhancing effects.
Dr. Michael Roizen, chief wellness officer of the Cleveland Clinic, has a diplomatic answer to the question. “The answer is we don’t know the answer. But the intriguing data is maybe.”
The jury is still out. Both Sanders and Katz think that the probiotic picture will become clearer as we better understand the bacteria that naturally live in our bodies.
The National Institutes of Health has taken the first step in this process by funding the Human Microbiome Project, a massive effort to identify the trillions of bacteria that colonize the human body much the same as the Human Genome Project mapped out our own genetic makeup.
This article, by Brie Zeltner of Plain Dealer Reporter, is excerpted from the June 16 issue of Ohio Real-Time News.
Russ Hovey joins UC Davis
The University of California, Davis, Department of Animal Science has hired Russ Hovey as an associate professor specializing in lactation and mammary gland biology.
Hovey is a native of Australia and grew up just outside of Brisbane. His involvement in dairying began as a high school student raising a Jersey heifer. Hovey milked cows during his summers and fitted cows for shows across Australia. He received his undergraduate and graduate degrees at the University of Queensland, and his Ph.D. from Ruakura Research Center in New Zealand. He did post-doctoral work at the National Institutes of Health to gain additional experience in genetics and human medicine-related research.
“While our research is all about what makes the mammary gland tick, this has a lot of potential relevance to everything from mastitis to milk composition,” said Hovey. “Our overall goal is to improve efficiency of the dairy cow by understanding how her udder works.”
To contact Hovey, call (530) 752-1682, or e-mail him at rchovey@ucdavis.edu.
Dairy Web resource
DAIReXNET, a national dairy Web resource bringing science-based, peer-reviewed materials to the dairy industry, hosted its second producer/allied industry webinar on “Financial Outlook for the Dairy Industry” and co-sponsored a third webinar with the University of Illinois on “Feeding Strategies with the Current Milk Prices.” These webinars are free to the public. Additional webinars are planned for the future on timely topics. Notices and archives of past sessions for these webinars will be located on the DAIReXNET home page at www.extension.org/dairy+cattle.
Troubleshooting tool for dairy lameness
Dairy producers now have access to a software program that lets them determine how to reduce lameness in their herd, based on an analysis of environmental factors on the farm.
“Lameness is so complicated because many factors are involved in determining whether or not a cow gets lame and whether or not she stays lame,” said Dr. Nigel Cook, head of the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine’s Food Animal Production Medicine section. “To communicate where a farm is failing is really difficult. We really needed a step-wise analytical tool.”
Working with experts from Zinpro (www.zinpro.com), the company that sponsored production of this analytical tool, Dr. Cook was able to apply his knowledge to what is now called the “First Step” software tool.
Based on years of research, the First Step software provides a methodical way to capture data and store information. Farmers enter data on 20 different areas that can affect cow lameness, including bedding, walking surfaces, hoof trimming, hygiene, biosecurity, freestall ventilation, and heat abatement strategies.
Once the assessors have been identified and entered, the program goes to work. It compares the farm’s data with industry standards. Through a set of automated reports, this information can be used to home in on an individual farm’s problems.
“The program helps the consultant determine the most significant areas to focus on,” Dr. Cook said. “It’s a trouble-shooting tool. It identifies why that farm in particular is having a problem.”
In the past, consultants assessed hoof-trimming, stall comfort or foot-bathing in isolation, but there was a risk of missing other factors that can contribute to lameness.
This article appeared in the May 12 issue of DairyBusiness.com.
Cal Poly Probiotic Ice Cream Goes to Capitol Hill
A prototype ice cream made by the Cal Poly Dairy Products Technology Center played a starring role in the International Dairy Foods Association’s 27th annual June Capitol Hill Ice Cream Party. The English Toffee Reduced-Fat Ice Cream with Probiotics, which was created to sample at the annual Institute for Food Technologists meeting earlier in the month, was served in the VIP tent at the annual event for more than 8,000 members of Congress and their families.
The ice cream has about 27 percent less fat than normal ice cream and features probiotics, beneficial bacteria linked to digestive health and immunity. It is not commercially available but was created to showcase dairy ingredients to food processors and manufacturers attending the annual IFT event.
