By SIMON COLLINS science reporter
A2 Corporation founder Dr Corrie McLachlan says he sought funding from a tobacco company to research the benefits of "A2 milk" before he got backing from Dunedin entrepreneur Howard Paterson instead.
Dr McLachlan said he wanted to take advantage of an American legal ruling that forced tobacco
companies to fund research into the health effects of smoking.
The approach, disclosed in an ABC Four Corners documentary screened in Australia last Monday, came to nothing.
But it has added fuel to a lively debate in Australia on the possible health benefits of "A2 milk", launched by A2 Corporation in northern New South Wales last month.
A1 and A2 are natural varieties of milk produced by different cows and are identical apart from one section of a particular protein in the milk.
A2 Corporation claims that drinking A2 milk lowers the risk of heart disease, diabetes and certain mental disorders, as well as helping people with milk allergies.
More than 70 per cent of guernsey cows and 50 per cent of New Zealand jersey cows produce A2 milk, but the proportion is only 30 per cent in the dominant New Zealand dairy breed, holstein-friesian.
The English Channel Island of Guernsey also has a very low rate of heart disease, with only 43.5 deaths for every 100,000 people in the 35 to 64 age bracket compared with 116 in New Zealand. Neighbouring Jersey's rate is 69.9.
Dr McLachlan said Guernsey's lung cancer rate was also 40 to 50 per cent lower than Jersey's.
He said most of the health damage from smoking demonstrated in the US courts was related to heart disease.
"The question is, if you took A1 out of the formula, can you smoke and not get heart disease? My guess is you'll get much less," he told the Herald.
A2 Corporation plans to launch A2 milk in New Zealand this month.
Herald Feature: Health
