The Reality of the White A1 vs A2 Milk- A Critical Review

Milk from dairy cows has been regarded as nature's perfect food, providing an important source of nutrients including high quality proteins, carbohydrates and selected micronutrients. Being rich in these components, milk is considered as one of the essential foods all over the world. Amongst the milk constituents, ?-casein has gained importance and popularity in the health conscious people due to the health related issues. Recently, a relationship between disease risk and consumption of a specific bovine ??casein fraction with either A1 or A2 genetic variants, has been identified. The status of A1 or A2 beta casein variants from different countries have shown that the presence of A1 variant in European cattle has been linked to a range of illnesses. India is endowed with A2 rich dairy animals and since then our civilizations, have been protecting the masses from ill effects of A1 milk. But cross breeding programmes has been declining the availability of A2 milk in India. It is a matter of great concern for the public health and hence there is a need to crosscheck our breeding policies, so that the purity of desi breeds and their beneficial qualities can be conserved.