4 ms·

This article might be a "submarine" article for it, but I'm actually glad A2 milk is getting more popular, and now even Costco carries it. I grew up in France

by vmarsy 7y ago

This article might be a "submarine" article for it, but I'm actually glad A2 milk is getting more popular, and now even Costco carries it. I grew up in France and drank milk without problem my whole life, but when moving to the US, I started noticing dry-patches on my arms, and digestive discomforts after breakfast. It took me a while to pinpoint the root-cause, but after some experimentation, I figured out it was either the whole-wheat bread, or the milk. Today I'm pretty confident this is the milk. For a while I thought this had to do with some difference in UHT/pasteurization process (all milk in France is shelf-stable until opened, whereas here it has to be refrigerated at all times). But then I realized then that this A2 milk is popular in Australia, and I had never heard of this A1/A2 distinction, but apparently France's cow is 100% A2 only, so I tried their milk, and I don't have any digestion nor dry-patch on my arms anymore. Maybe it's placebo effect, but it works for me, so now I'm back at drinking milk. A1/A2 apparently isn't as big of a deal for processed dairy (Cheese, yogurts), but I buy the one imported from France/Switzerland, so those are probably A2 anyways.

jgwil2 7y ago
I wish the article had gone more into this as it's an interesting topic I had never heard of. Even the wikipedia article [0] gives only passing mention to France, but according to other sources [1], the Channel Island cow breeds which are raised in France produce mainly the A2 protein, whereas the Holstein-Frisian varieties cultivated elsewhere in Europe and in North America produce both A1 and A2. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A2_milk https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A2_milk [1] https://www.ericksonliving.com/tribune/articles/2017/08/what-a2-milk https://www.ericksonliving.com/tribune/articles/2017/08/what...
zkim 7y ago
I'm not familiar with the term 'submarine' in this context, does that refer to some sort of stealth advertising?
- unwind 7y ago
  I believe it's from [1] by Paul Graham. [1] http://www.paulgraham.com/submarine.html http://www.paulgraham.com/submarine.html
  - amock 7y ago
    I can't immediately find a source with a date, but I'm pretty sure using submarine to mean undisclosed happened before Paul Graham was born.
    - portlander12345 7y ago
      OP used the term specifically to refer to PR-generated articles in prestige media like the NYT, which was probably a direct allusion to Graham’s essay.
dguest 7y ago
> all milk in France is shelf-stable until opened As someone currently in France I thought this was funny: the first thing I show visitors is the "distributeur de lait frais" down the street, which will dispense 1L of raw milk for 1 euro. It tastes amazing.
lucb1e 7y ago
For anyone else unfamiliar with A2 milk: > A2 milk is a variety of cows' milk that mostly lacks a form of β-casein proteins called A1, and instead has mostly the A2 form. [...] The a2 Milk Company claims that milk containing A1 proteins is harmful [...] but a 2009 European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) review found [no] an adverse effect on health. It is said to be sold mostly in five eyes countries and China, which would explain why I've never heard of it, and is snake oil to boot so I'm happy it hasn't caught on here. > The a2 Milk Company claims that people who experience discomfort drinking ordinary cows' milk may experience relief when they switch to milk with predominantly A2 protein. This claim is not supported by research. Scum of the earth. I'm actually pretty sure that health claims that are not supported by any evidence whatsoever are legal in the EU (edit: found it[1]). Curious that it's still popular in the UK, but it probably got popular in the past and they just stopped printing that claim on the packaging when that became illegal. > The EFSA study emphasized the dangers of drawing conclusions from correlations identified in epidemiological studies and the dangers of not reviewing all the evidence at hand. I'm sorry u/vmarsy, but you've been mislead about what A2 milk is :/ The placebo effect might work and have real effects, but buying (more expensive, or just any really) products from scammers still seems ill-advised. All citations from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A2_milk https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A2_milk [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_claim#European_Laws https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_claim#European_Laws

by vmarsy 7y ago

jgwil2 7y ago

I wish the article had gone more into this as it's an interesting topic I had never heard of. Even the wikipedia article [0] gives only passing mention to France, but according to other sources [1], the Channel Island cow breeds which are raised in France produce mainly the A2 protein, whereas the Holstein-Frisian varieties cultivated elsewhere in Europe and in North America produce both A1 and A2. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A2_milk https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A2_milk [1] https://www.ericksonliving.com/tribune/articles/2017/08/what-a2-milk https://www.ericksonliving.com/tribune/articles/2017/08/what...

zkim 7y ago

I'm not familiar with the term 'submarine' in this context, does that refer to some sort of stealth advertising?

unwind 7y ago
I believe it's from [1] by Paul Graham. [1] http://www.paulgraham.com/submarine.html http://www.paulgraham.com/submarine.html
- amock 7y ago
  I can't immediately find a source with a date, but I'm pretty sure using submarine to mean undisclosed happened before Paul Graham was born.
  - portlander12345 7y ago
    OP used the term specifically to refer to PR-generated articles in prestige media like the NYT, which was probably a direct allusion to Graham’s essay.

dguest 7y ago

> all milk in France is shelf-stable until opened As someone currently in France I thought this was funny: the first thing I show visitors is the "distributeur de lait frais" down the street, which will dispense 1L of raw milk for 1 euro. It tastes amazing.

lucb1e 7y ago

For anyone else unfamiliar with A2 milk: > A2 milk is a variety of cows' milk that mostly lacks a form of β-casein proteins called A1, and instead has mostly the A2 form. [...] The a2 Milk Company claims that milk containing A1 proteins is harmful [...] but a 2009 European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) review found [no] an adverse effect on health. It is said to be sold mostly in five eyes countries and China, which would explain why I've never heard of it, and is snake oil to boot so I'm happy it hasn't caught on here. > The a2 Milk Company claims that people who experience discomfort drinking ordinary cows' milk may experience relief when they switch to milk with predominantly A2 protein. This claim is not supported by research. Scum of the earth. I'm actually pretty sure that health claims that are not supported by any evidence whatsoever are legal in the EU (edit: found it[1]). Curious that it's still popular in the UK, but it probably got popular in the past and they just stopped printing that claim on the packaging when that became illegal. > The EFSA study emphasized the dangers of drawing conclusions from correlations identified in epidemiological studies and the dangers of not reviewing all the evidence at hand. I'm sorry u/vmarsy, but you've been mislead about what A2 milk is :/ The placebo effect might work and have real effects, but buying (more expensive, or just any really) products from scammers still seems ill-advised. All citations from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A2_milk https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A2_milk [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_claim#European_Laws https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_claim#European_Laws