New and Unique Study Shows Potential for Use of Milk from Native Cattle Breeds to Produce Commercial Bioactive Food Components

A newborn baby’s ideal source of nutrition is human milk

, not least since 

it provides numerous biological activities. These activities originate 

from

 s

everal different components of the milk, among them o

ligosaccharides 

which

 provide several key health promoting roles, such as acting as probiotics in the gut and modulating the immune system. 

Cow milk contains many oligosaccharides that are similar to those in human milk and several studies on milk from commercial

 cattle

 breeds have shown the potential use of this milk to produce bioactive food components, such as infant formula

.

“However, the 

oligosaccharides in milk

 from native cattle breeds in northern Europe has never been analyzed 

before this study. T

he breeds carry a wide genetic diversity 

which is reflected in the variations of the phenotypic expression of oligosaccharides. T

his study also shows that 

milk from 

certain

 native breeds stood out in 

terms of relative total oligosaccharides

”, said Anne Vuholm Sunds,

 PhD-student at the 

 and

 lead author to the study 

.

The milk samples characterized in the study were analysed by the

and collected as part of the network 

, which was coordinated by NordGen in 2016-2017. The fact that the efforts in the network now lead to concrete and relevant research outcomes creates hope for the native breeds.

“This kind of research is great news for the Nordic native cattle breeds. If we can find new markets for their products, we can create incentives for farmers to keep the native breeds instead of replacing them with more high yielding 

commercial 

breeds”, said Mervi Honkatukia, Section Leader at NordGen Farm Animals. 

In the study, 80 milk samples from eight native 

breeds 

were analy

z

ed. 

The highest abundance of total milk oli

g

osaccharides was found in milk from the Western Finncattle which had significant higher levels compared to all breeds and approximately double as high as the levels in the milk from the commercial breeds. In Finland, the vocational college Ahlman’s is keeping the breed 

as a living genebank 

and they 

were

 excited with the results from the study.

“The exceptionally good oligosaccharide results obtained from milk from Western Finncattle are very interesting. They give us new commercial opportunities and a completely new window for product development – for example by making new products at Ahlman's own dairy. Based on the results, we 

could 

even use the milk for health products”, said Rii

t

ta Niiranen, 

P

roject 

Manager 

at Ahlman’s

. 

According to her, the 

result

 from the study gives the vocational college another way to justify the need for living genebanks, as these special genes and traits can’t be recreated if lost. 

“

Entrepreneurs will also benefit from the study results as we now have an additional reason to preserve the breeds for the future. Dairy farmers with Western Finncattle can now get paid for the quality of the milk, and not just aim for the quantity

”, Niiranen concludes. 

In the study,

the 

authors also suggest that the breeding for increased milk yield in commercial breeds may have resulted in lower content of oligosaccharides

 due to earlier findings of beef cattle having higher total content of oligosaccharides in the milk. 

This is important for a

nother 

Nordic native 

breed in

, 

the

 Norwegian Døla Cattle, 

which

 originates from the rich 

valley 

pastures north of Oslo

. It

 is listed as endangered even though the population size has increased over the decades, much due to conservation work done by the breeding organization Dølafelaget.

Morten Bjerkvik is the chairman of the 

organization and

 is very optimistic about the new findings in the study.

“This can be very good news for the Norwegian Døla Cattle. The breed has only recently gone from being critically endangered to just being endangered. But all progress is due to an increase in its use as a suckler cow. As a dairy cow, the breed is almost extinct. Using it for its milk could be 

one way of saving the breed for the future

”

, he said.