Windy Ridge Dairy Trying to Breed Out Proteins that Cause Milk Intolerance

Windy Ridge Dairy is one of the most popular dairy stores in the Ellwood City area.

The store rests at the edge of their 150 acre farm, mainly consisting of corn fields and their dairy producing cows.

Lindsey, one of the store owners, said that they have roughly 80-90 cows, 40 of which are used as milk producers.

They always have fresh milk for sale and at different times of the year they provide different varieties of milk and ice cream flavors. For the fall season their most popular flavor is pumpkin.

Lindsey said that she wishes more people could try all that they have to offer and she is aware of the growing amount of milk intolerance many people have, so her company has been looking into the semantics of milk intolerance, hoping to find the best solution.

In order to understand how bodies react to an intolerance, it’s important to know that an allergy and an intolerance are two different things; an allergy is an overreacting immune response to a certain protein whereas an intolerance happens when the body is missing the appropriate enzymes to break down the proteins in the ingested substance, therefore making digestion of it very difficult.

The symptoms of the two also differ, allergies can be life-threatening and will typically cause an array of symptoms including hives, rashes, itching, swelling, and in severe cases difficulty breathing, swollen airways, and loss of consciousness. Intolerance will cause uncomfortable symptoms like bloating, gas, nausea, and cramps, but it is not a life threatening condition.

Recently there has been a lot of debate over two types of produced milk, A1 and A2, and if there is any difference in their digestible properties.

A1 and A2 are beta-casein proteins and naturally, cows should be only producing A2 proteins in their milk, however the A2 gene has mutated in most European and American cows, causing the A1 gene; because of this, American cows have both genes present in their milk as opposed to just A2 proteins.

Scientists are arguing in favor of A2 milk containing more easily digestible proteins than its A1 and A2 containing counterpart. Many people also say that its benefits go beyond health and supposedly it tastes better than A1 milk. A2 milk will still contain lactose however, and it will not be suitable for those with a lactose intolerance.

In order to produce A2 milk, the producing cows need to be a specific breed, which will most likely have to be imported from an overseas country. Due to this, Windy Ridge Dairy is planning on slowly introducing A2 breeds to their farm.

Although A2 milk’s health benefits are still being studied, Windy Ridge Dairy is willing to give it a try and hope it will provide some relief for those who have a hard time digesting milk.

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