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Reply: The A2 milk case: a critical review

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 60, pages 924–925 (2006)Cite this article

The three paragraphs under ‘Epidemiology’ in KB Woodford's long letter discuss which of several between-country studies are likely to be more reliable. He favours those published by originators of the A1/A2 hypothesis. I favour others that have included more countries (including the Netherlands and Ireland) and FAO food consumption data. As I wrote ‘There is more uncertainty with national figures for A1 beta casein than for total milk casein and more uncertainties for these than for average milk consumption.’ For infants consumption (considered with type 1 diabetes) there are the special problems that infant formulas usually contain increased whey and reduced casein and the milk protein used for their manufacture does not always come from within the country where the formulas are consumed.

Correlation studies of national food intake against chronic diseases have been notoriously unreliable in nutrition research (and I gave some classic examples).

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References

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  1. Human Nutrition Unit, Biochemistry Building, G08, The University of Sydney, NSW, Sydney, Australia

    A S Truswell

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  1. A S Truswell
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Truswell, A. Reply: The A2 milk case: a critical review. Eur J Clin Nutr 60, 924–925 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ejcn.1602454

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