The science of milk, lactation, nutrition and genetics came together Sept. 19-21 at the Third International Symposium on Milk Genomics and Human Health in Brussels, Belgium. The three-day event, organized by the California Dairy Research Foundation (CDRF) and the International Dairy Federation (IDF), featured current developments in research using the tools of genomics to understand milk and its health properties.
Presented by the International Milk Genomics Consortium (IMGC), the annual event is based on the scientific principle that milk has evolved over millions of years to produce ingredients that provide infant mammals with a greater probability of health and survival. The critical biological strategies that emerged from this evolutionary process are encoded within the genomes of mammals.
According to Bruce German, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Food Science and Technology at the University of California at Davis, who serves as the scientific chair of the IMGC, the field of genomics provides new opportunities to understand the role each component of milk plays in overall health by studying its genetic origins. “With the human genome sequenced and many other genomes following, the genes responsible for milk production can guide scientific research into the molecules, functions and health benefits contained in milk’s diverse components,” he said.
The first milk genomics symposium in 2004 addressed the study of lactation genomics for nutrition. The second event provided a pathway to move forward as a global consortium. This year’s event concentrated on recent scientific breakthroughs and created a strategic direction for moving these into practice.
“Milk is a highly nutritionally dense food,” said Joseph O’Donnell, Ph.D., CDRF executive director. “Through this research we will gain an understanding of the role milk components play in delivering nutrition and health.”
Outcomes of the research could be new value-added milk products and processing technologies, said O’Donnell. Cows could be bred specifically to produce milk with more of the components that contribute to good health, he pointed out. Maintaining these components in milk may require new processing techniques, which could change aspects of the dairy business. New dairy ingredients also could be developed to deliver specific health benefits such as milk proteins to modulate blood pressure and other milk components to help people enhance mineral absorption or resist bacterial infection.
The symposium also spotlighted the importance of the International Milk Genomics Consortium in coordinating effective communication and providing new means for scientists to interact electronically, including a demonstration of the IMGC’s Web portal (www.imgconsortium.org) as the interface through which scientists can work with databanks that are becoming the standard information resource of modern life science.
Event sponsors included CNEIL, DairyAustralia, Dairy Farmers of Canada, Mead Johnson Nutritionals, the Dutch Dairy Association and Teagasc. Moving the location from the United States to Belgium provided a uniquely European perspective on current initiatives in nutrition and milk genomics. It also attracted participants from 24 countries, including Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand and the United States.
A fourth International Symposium on Milk Genomics & Human Health is scheduled for November 7-9, 2007 in Napa, Calif. and will be coordinated by the California Dairy Research Foundation. Details will be available online in late 2006. For more information, contact coordinator Jennifer Giambroni at (415) 254-4549 or info@imgconsortium.org.
About the IMGC
The International Milk Genomics Consortium is a partnership of companies and academic organizations with the goals of leveraging existing resources for the assembly of genetic instructions for milk molecules, linking the scientific community for better understanding of the biological values of milk, creating tools for an interactive Web data exchange, coordination of pre-competitive research to develop baseline data and providing a foundation for the development of exclusive/competitive research. For more information about the consortium, visit www.imgconsortium.org or email info@imgconsortium.org.