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Special Report - ADSA Annual Meeting Coverage
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Welcome to the ADSA Annual Meeting Dair-e-news
The ADSA 2021 Virtual Annual Meeting is taking place this week in homes and offices around the world. It has been a great meeting so far. While COVID-19 caused the format to change again this year, the purpose, to present the premier global dairy science meeting in the world, is being achieved! This year’s meeting features over 970 abstracts that are being presented in oral and poster sessions. Need to miss a live event? Don't worry – one of the advantages of a virtual meeting is that most live events are being recorded and are available for on-demand viewing during and after the meeting. If you are registered, you have unlimited access to the recordings for three months following the meeting…another great reason to register. Panel discussions with live Q&A, live roundtable discussions available in several time zones, early and late hallway talks, an exhibit hall, additional networking opportunities, and student competitions are again available. As always, we will facilitate focused, meaningful, and interesting discussions about the latest dairy science and its applications. It is considered the most comprehensive dairy science meeting in the world and is where the latest ideas and findings in the industry are being discussed.
We are pleased to again be sending "Special Editions" of this newsletter to you from the virtual meeting. An outstanding group of graduate and undergraduate students is working with us to provide daily coverage of scientific sessions and other activities that are taking place throughout the meeting. I expect that from their summaries you are likely to find some additional presentations that you will want to view at your convenience.
A reminder: Next year's annual meeting will take place June 19-22, 2022 in Kansas City, MO. Start making your plans now to attend. We look forward to seeing you there in person.
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ADSA Annual Meeting Coverage
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American Dairy Science Association® Names Winners of 2021 Professional and Student Awards
The American Dairy Science Association (ADSA®), the international organization of educators, scientists, and industry representatives who are committed to advancing the dairy industry recognized the winners of professional and student awards for 2021 in the Awards Program Tuesday evening. They included:
Geoffrey E. Dahl (University of Florida) was recognized as the 2021 recipient of the ADSA Award of Honor. A member of ADSA since 1986, Dahl has served ADSA with distinction throughout his career. He has been actively engaged in the two primary outputs of ADSA, the Journal of Dairy Science and the annual meeting. Dahl has made significant contributions to the management of dairy cows with his work on photoperiod and heat stress abatement. Dahl has been a successful administrator, particularly in strengthening the Department of Animal Sciences at the University of Florida to achieve global recognition for dairy and beef cattle research and extension. Thus, he has served the entire industry, and the discipline of dairy science, with distinction.
Glen Broderick (Broderick Nutrition & Research LLC) was named the 2021 recipient of the ADSA Distinguished Service Award. He is a retired USDA researcher and emeritus professor of animal and dairy sciences at the University of Wisconsin. He has a PhD in biochemistry and dairy science from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and served as assistant and associate professor of animal science at Texas A&M. Broderick’s research has focused on improving nitrogen efficiency in lactating cows. In addition to teaching and mentoring, he served on several editorial boards and continues to review papers and make invited presentations at national and international meetings. He received the AFIA Nutrition Research Award and an honorary doctorate from the Swedish Agricultural University; in addition, he is an ADSA Fellow and a member of JDS Club 100. Web of Science indicates that Broderick’s 150 peer-reviewed articles have been cited 8,250 times.
Other awardees recognized included:
Jesse Goff (Iowa State University), David R. Mertens (Mertens Innovation & Research LLC), Marshall Stern (University of Minnesota), and Michel Wattiaux (University of Wisconsin) were announced as Fellows of the American Dairy Science Association in 2021.
Adriano Cruz (Federal Institute of Rio de Janeiro), Liam Hanrahan (Teagasc), and Anna-Maija Heikkilä (National Resources Institute Finland) are the 2021 recipients of the Journal of Dairy Science® Highly Cited Award.
Michael S. Allen (Michigan State University), MaryAnne Drake (North Carolina State University), and John Roche (Ministry for Primary Industries) are honored as members of the 2021 class of JDS Club 100.
Eliab Estrada-Cortés (University of Florida) is the 2021 recipient of the Alltech Inc. Graduate Student Paper Publication Award, generously sponsored by the Alltech Biotechnology Center.
Alexander N. Hristov (The Pennsylvania State University) is the 2021 recipient of the American Feed Industry Association Award, generously sponsored by the American Feed Industry Association Inc.
Corwin Nelson (University of Florida) is the 2021 recipient of the Cargill Animal Nutrition Young Scientist Award, generously sponsored by Cargill Animal Nutrition.
Marcia Endres (University of Minnesota) is the 2021 recipient of the DeLaval Dairy Extension Award, generously sponsored by DeLaval Inc.
Jillian Bohlen (University of Georgia) is the 2021 recipient of the Hoard’s Dairyman Youth Development Award, generously sponsored by Hoard’s Dairyman.
Scott A. Rankin (University of Wisconsin–Madison) is the 2021 recipient of the International Dairy Foods Association Research Award in Dairy Foods Processing, generously sponsored by the International Dairy Foods Association.
Nagendra Shah (University of Hong Kong) is the 2021 recipient of the International Dairy Foods Association Teaching Award in Dairy Manufacturing, generously sponsored by the International Dairy Foods Association.
Shogo Tsuruta (University of Georgia) is the 2021 recipient of the J. L. Lush Award in Animal Breeding, generously sponsored by the Council on Dairy Cattle Breeding.
Luiz Ferraretto (University of Wisconsin–Madison) is the 2021 recipient of the Lallemand Forward Award for Scientific Excellence in Dairy Nutrition, generously sponsored by Lallemand Animal Nutrition.
Achilles Vieira-Neto (Kansas State University) is the 2021 recipient of the National Milk Producers Federation Richard M. Hoyt Award, generously sponsored by the National Milk Producers Federation Dairy Scholarship Fund.
Trevor DeVries (University of Guelph) is the 2021 recipient of the Nutrition Professionals Inc. Applied Dairy Nutrition Award, generously sponsored by Nutrition Professionals Inc.
Steve Kelm (University of Wisconsin–River Falls) is the 2021 recipient of the Purina Animal Nutrition Teaching Award in Dairy Production, generously sponsored by Purina Animal Nutrition.
Daryl Nydam (Cornell University) is the 2021 recipient of the West Agro Inc. Award, generously sponsored by West Agro Inc.
MaryAnne Drake (North Carolina State University) is the 2021 recipient of the Zinpro Award for Excellence in Dairy Science, generously sponsored by Zinpro Corporation.
Leluo Guan (University of Alberta) is the 2021 recipient of the Zoetis Physiology Award, generously sponsored by Zoetis.
Prateek Sharma (Utah State University) is the 2021 recipient of the ADSA Foundation Scholar Award in Dairy Foods.
Jimena Laporta (University of Wisconsin–Madison) is the 2021 recipient of the ADSA Foundation Scholar Award in Dairy Production.
Victoria Favorit (University of Idaho) is the 2021 recipient of the ADSA Foundation Graduate Student Literature Review Award: Production Division (MS).
Connor Owens (Virginia Tech) is the 2021 recipient of the ADSA Foundation Graduate Student Literature Review Award: Production Division (PhD).
Cynthia Hamlett (Iowa State University) is the 2021 recipient of The Genevieve Christen Distinguished Undergraduate Student Award.
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Let’s Talk Cheese
By Aakash Varsha Swaminathan
The hallway talk: Let’s talk cheese was hosted by four scientists who work on different aspects of cheese including Michael J Miller, Paul Kindstedt, Rani Govindasamy-Lucey, and Mark Johnson. Mike shares that this session was held to help foster discussions and spontaneous conversations that happen during an in-person meeting. Rani started the session by summarizing the number of abstracts received and a total number of oral (38) and poster (48) presentations for the 2021 virtual meeting excluding the graduate student poster (11) and oral competitions (9). The hosts discussed the various symposium sessions that took place these past 2 days including the “Norm Olson Recognition Symposium”, “Milk Protein and Enzymes: Opportunities to Create New Products with Mixed Dairy and Plant Proteins”, “Dairy Foods: Reducing Dairy Food Loss and Waste” and recommends the attendees to watch the recordings of these sessions in case they missed them. The later part of this session focused on the key innovations in cheese. The hot topic focused on cheese this year was the observation of gas formers in cheese such as Cheddar and Gouda. The hosts shared a few posters and oral presentations (P187, O118, O210) on this topic that they thought were interesting. 3D printing of cheese (O213) and using cultures with antimicrobial activity to inhibit mold and fungal growth in dairy products (P181) were other interesting topics that were discussed in this session. Paul Kindstedt finished with a message to the students in the audience “Plenty of things to do (research on) for the next 10-20 decades or a thousand years. This is where the action is at. Cheese science is the place to be”.
Aakash Varsha Swaminathan (Varsha) is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Food Science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is under the guidance of Dr. John Lucey and her research work is on Modeling functionalities of LMPS Mozzarella based on calcium balances during cheese manufacture.
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EAAP Exchange Symposium Evaluates the Role of Dairy in the Food System
By Conor McCabe
In anticipation of this fall’s United Nations Global Food System Summit, this timely symposium emphasized the importance of dairy. We hear many conversations about the nutrition challenges of global undernutrition and malnutrition, but the dairy industry has a strong role to play in the solutions. From evaluating events at the cow to the entire industry level, the conversations presented a plentiful opportunity for the dairy industry to meet widespread food system goals.
The first half discussed management opportunities at the cow or calf level to maximize milk production. World record cows have produced over 35,000 kg of milk in one lactation. Although only a handful of cows have achieved this, the industry average keeps increasing in milk production per cow year after year. While cows have the genetic potential to produce high levels of milk, the environment is also an important component. Strategies in implementing accelerated feeding programs, minimizing heat stress, and feeding high-quality feed, all contribute to lactation performance.
The latter half of the symposium discussed the dairy industry's role in environmental, economic, and food system sustainability. Dairy only contributes 10% of the global protein supply, yet it delivers 25% of the amino acid requirements for humans. Given the role the dairy industry plays around the world, the least productive countries account for 65% of the global dairy industry’s greenhouse gas emissions. While efficiency is an important consideration in deciding dairy production, other factors such as biodiversity, phosphorus flows, and freshwater use, should be considered in evaluating its role in sustainable food systems.
Finally, the concluding discussion was on circularity in the dairy industry. Through increasing circularity via reduced fertilizer imports and increased feeding of byproducts, the Netherlands dairy industry reduced its environmental footprint by 20% between 1990 and 2017. By adopting further circularity, the industry has the possibility to cut another 50% off its current carbon footprint by 2050. The discussion emphasized that the most efficient use of food system resources is to have 45% of all protein come from animal-source proteins to maximize human nutrition and reduce environmental impact. Thus, from farm-level management decisions to sustainability gains across the entire industry, dairy will remain a cornerstone for human nutrition, food systems, and environmental stewardship.
Conor McCabe is a 1st year PhD Student at the University of California, Davis working under the supervision of Dr. Frank Mitloehner on improving the sustainability of the dairy industry. He completed his undergrad at Cornell University in 2018 and master’s in 2020 at Purdue University. In the upcoming year, McCabe will be serving as the GSD Production Director and is looking forward to all to come next year in Kansas City.
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Can the use of material science approaches help solve dairy industry problems?
By Sheetal Jha
Dr. Prateek Sharma, assistant professor from Utah State University started the roundtable by discussing the design of manufactured food products by initially focusing on the product structure consisting of the ingredients, formulation, and process. Structure, process, and property show interlinking that ultimately changes the product behavior. The talk included the viscoelastic transition and critical shear work. It was reported that steady shear viscosity measurements are possible at higher temperatures and high shear rates, taking the example of Mozzarella cheeses. The evidence of Mozzarella cheese work thickening was evident as its viscosity was increased with an increase in shear work input. When the shear work input was at the level of 8.8KJ/kg for 5 minutes (frequency sweep 70°C), the viscous modulus was higher than the storage modulus and it behaved like viscoelastic liquid. However, when the level of shear work increased to 73.71KJ/Kg then the material is completely transformed from viscoelastic liquid to viscoelastic solid.
Salt diffusion in model cheese matrices plays a vital role in ripening, as wells as in the manipulation of protein-protein and protein-water interactions, development of flavor wells as microorganism control. They successfully developed a novel microscopical and spectroscopical-based technique to study the salt diffusion at a lower length scale (micron to mm). They tested it against MCC with 15% protein level and 4ml/20mL concentration of rennet addition with conditions of facilitated syneresis, temperature, and pressure to achieve desired conditions. Corona green dye was used for Confocal imagining. The slow diffusion of salt was be attributed to an isotropic dense protein network with the absence of structural irregularity such as the absence of free water and fat.
Laser-induced Breakdown spectroscopy was also used for studying the salt diffusion in model cheese matrices. It is a rapid technique with no prior sample preparation is required. It provides special distribution of minerals (such as Na, Ca, and K) at the microscopical level. The session concluded that novel analytical techniques can be developed by utilizing material science principles.
Sheetal Jha is a current graduate research assistant under the mentorship of Dr. Sanjeev Anand at the Dairy and Food Science Department, South Dakota State University. Her research focuses on formulating a natural antimicrobial to effectively clean the resilient biofilms on the separation membranes in the dairy industry.
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Animal Health joint with NMC Symposium review
By Arup Ratan Sen
The transition period is one of the most critical periods in a dairy cow’s life. Researches presented in this year’s Animal Health joint with NMC Symposium at American Dairy Science Association Annual Meeting reviewed different management strategies to improve dairy cows’ health and production during the transition period.
Researchers from Kansas State University reviewed the effect of reducing dietary cation-anion difference (DCAD) of diet on the postpartum health of dairy cows. Feeding acidogenic diets prepartum was reported to reduce disease incidence postpartum, as well as increase dry matter intake and milk yield. Feeding an acidogenic diet to nulliparous cows had neither benefits nor detrimental effects as reviewed by the researcher. However, they reported that prolong exposure (i.e. 42 days prepartum) to an acidogenic diet could reduce milk yield and reproductive performance. Supplementation of rumen-protected choline could help to improve milk yield and fatty acid metabolism by the liver during the transition period. In another study, a researcher from Cornell University reviewed the effect of starch, neutral detergent fiber (NDF), protein, specific fatty acids, and dietary supplements on transition cow health. Physically effective NDF with a high starch diet could potentially reduce the risk of subacute ruminal acidosis postpartum. Supplementing rumen-undegradable protein could help to balance the availability of amino acids in the body. This study also addressed the benefits of including choline, methionine, biotin, monensin, and several other supplements in the transition cow diet.
Researchers from Michigan State University stressed the importance of prevention and management of mastitis during early lactation in regards to udder health and herd profitability. Mastitis during early lactation could be the result of persistent chronic infection acquired during the preceding dry period or new infection caused by environmental pathogens. While prevention strategies were proposed to be the best way of controlling mastitis, interventions such as culling or use of antibiotics were also suggested for reducing mastitis prevalence in the herd. Similarly, researchers from the University of Sydney suggested that selective dry cow therapy (SDCT) could help to identify mastitis-affected cow or udder during the dry period and reduce the use of antibiotic to only those who are affected. However, they also advised the proper implementation of SDCT to avoid its negative impact on udder health postpartum. As suggested by the presenting researcher, the success of the SDCT program was dependent upon ensuring appropriate program selection for a specific farm with the help of a milk quality expert, a valid screening test, and continuous monitoring of the problems by the milk quality expert.
Arup Ratan Sen is from Bangladesh. He is currently a Master’s student at the University of Tennessee under the mentorship of Dr. Elizabeth Eckelkamp, focusing on producers’ perception of farm management that impacts their permanency in the dairy industry.
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Management Strategies to Enhance Health of Dairy Cows During Transition Period
By Leoni F. Martins
Although the scientific community has extensively debated the importance of the transition period on the performance and health of cows, and, consequently, on the economic success of the production systems, the way that we manage the animals in dairy operations still need to be discussed. Cows and farms have been changing over the years and management strategies must be constantly fine-tuned to attend to the increased demands of animals and society. Therefore, many experts on transition cow health and management presented the most recent information regarding the available strategies to enhance health of dairy cows at the second Animal Health Symposium hosted by the 2021 ADSA annual meeting.
Automated health monitoring systems, voluntary milking systems, and a wide variety of technologies have been released every year and can be used to improve herd health through non-invasive, quick, and accurate detection of disorders. Cows with clinical diseases, for instance, demonstrate alterations of their behavioral patterns, physiological, and performance parameters that can be identified by precision technologies and machine learning. Furthermore, the risen number of farms adopting robotic milking systems (RMS) highlights the necessity of better understanding how we can use RNS to manage mammary gland infections and better explore the performance of the cows either before the dry off or during the fresh period. Increasing our capacity to record disease incidence and to track operational costs also improve the economic evaluation on farms, contributing to the profitability of the dairy industry.
Strategies to treat mastitis and to improve the dry cow therapy were also discussed by the panelists. With the advance of scientific knowledge regarding antibiotic therapy and mammary gland diseases management, more tools become available to support producers in making better decisions about milk quality and mammary gland health. While prevention is the most important and cost-effective aspect of controlling mastitis, interventions such as culling and the use of antibiotics or non-antibiotics treatments can be adopted after infection has been established. Selective dry cow therapy is an example of how cows or quarters can be screened at the time of dry-off to identify candidates for antibiotic therapy. The use of somatic cell count and/or microbiological culture associated with farm records is the first step for the implementation of a successful program.
Nutritional management and genetics are also topics strictly related to the transition period of cows. The use of feed additives (e.g, choline), and the implementation of acidogenic diets during the prepartum period are some strategies that improve the performance of the animals and reduces the incidence of diseases such as mastitis and retained placenta during the postpartum. The investigation of starch, fiber and metabolizable protein levels in the diet of fresh cows remains necessary. Although recent works have demonstrated that cows maintain their performance and have a more attenuated inflammatory process when fed with lower starch diets, more focus should be given on the first 14 days of lactation. In addition, the use of a resilience index to identify cows with the capacity to cope with environmental disturbances such as pathogens or heat waves is a promising trait for the selection of animals.
Leoni F. Martins is from Brazil, and he is a research assistant at Penn State University under the mentorship of Dr. Hristov. He has a strong background in ruminant nutrition, and he is currently working on how precision feeding affects performance and enteric gases emissions of dairy cows.
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Breeding and Genetics: Genetics of Milk
By Bukola Adenuga
The Breeding and Genetics aspect of the American Dairy Science Association Virtual Meeting kicked off with a look into Milk Genetics. The Breeding and Genetics: Genetics of Milk symposium was chaired by Francisco Penagricano. It was divided into five sessions to include five presenters: Prof. Henk Bovenhuis of the Wageningen University of Research; Laurel Mastro, Staff Product Manager at Illumina; Derek Bickhart from the USDA ARS Dairy Forage Research Center; Jay Mattison at National DHI, Quality Certification Services; and Cees Jan Hollander, Global Farming Practices Manager at Danone Company.
Mr. Francisco started by introducing himself and after which he ushered in Professor Henk Bovenhuis. Prof. Henk took us through a lecture on genes that alter milk composition and their marketability.
According to him, there has been a steady increase in milk yield (kg) over the past seven decades with observable stability in milk fat since 1995, while milk protein has been indifferent over the years. Milk fat and protein measurement became of interest because of their relevance in butter and cheese production. However, these milk compositions vary based on several factors. For instance, milk fat was observed to differ between cattle and herd. Similarly, genetic differences affect the protein composition of the fat and mineral compositions except for selenium. Notable is the polymorphism observed in the Chromosome 14 containing DGAT1 gene in dairy cattle which causes low milk yield, increase fat, and reduced protein content. DAGT1 affects the manufacturing compositions of milk. Milk has six protein types. Mutation in these protein genes can result in a different protein type which is responsible for well-known milk protein variants. A popular example, A2 milk is produced by cows with the A2A2 genotype, and the European Food Safety Association reported in 2009 that there is no cause-effect relationship between A2 milk and diabetes. Professor Henk then summarized thus: Milk composition is affected by genes. It affects the nutrition and manufacturing properties of milk, and that selective breeding can be used for product differentiation.
The next presenter, Ms. Laurel Mastro, took to the stage with the topic, Genomic Testing for Milk Composition: Past, Present, and Future. She chose to lecture us from the vantage point of what is practical and meaningful to the commercial dairy producer. She began by stating the compositions of milk, which are: water, lactose, fat, protein, and mineral. Protein is 3.4% of milk composition, and Casein makes up 76-80%. There are four casein proteins: Alpha S1 Casein, Alpha S2 Casein, Kappa casein, and beta casein. For these proteins to be candidates of genomic testing, they should have economic significance with their location on the gene of interest known. They must also have observable genetic variation. With increasing genomic testing in dairy cattle, microarrays and some Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms can be used to look at milk protein content to find out what other information is out there. Of all the Casein protein types, only the Kappa Casein and Beta Casein could stand alone for genomic testing. Beta casein has a large variation, and people are willing to pay more for milk containing this variant. It is also grouped mostly in 2 – A1 and A2 due to limited reporting or understanding of other variants. Bioactive peptide beta-casomorhin7 (BCM7) produced from metabolism is higher for the A1 group than A2. BCM7 has been linked with negative health events. Kappa Casein, on the other hand, shows significant variability, and it is economically important in cheese production, however, cheese producers still don’t pay more for its applicability. In her final remark, Ms. Laurel concluded that genomic profiling will increase knowledge on milk protein. She recommended that additional casein variants should be studied as a single prolific sire can increase such rare variants in the population even within 2 years.
After a few questions and answers series, the next speaker, Mr. Derek Bickhart, began his presentation on The Effects of the Rumen Microbiome on Milk fat Composition. He stated that the overarching goal of milk fat content improvement is related to human health. More specifically, to tackle cardiovascular diseases. Defining Fatty acids as chains of carbons terminated with a carboxyl group, he went on to talk about their types and significance. Saturated fatty acid (SFA) has single bonds, while unsaturated fatty acid (UFA) contains double bonds. Derek agreed with professor Henk on research that also found significant genetic heritability for shorter fatty acids. According to him, the Rumen microbe alters raw components through 2 functions: Lipolysis and hydrogenation. Through these processes, healthy UFA in forage gets converted to SFA. The rumen contains all major microorganisms. Bacteria has the largest population and responsible for SFA production in the rumen. For genomic selection for improved milk fat content, phenotypes are needed. Also, short and long-chain fatty acids are influenced by the genotype and can be modified. Selection models must incorporate microbial effects. He rounded up his presentation, stating that to improve milk fat content, interdisciplinary research at the interface of genetics, microbiology, and nutrition is of the essence.
Jay Mattison’s presentation on Future Milk Composition and Market Opportunities Driven by the DHI System followed next. Following a cheerful greeting, Mr. Jay started his session by stating that milk composition and component start and end with the cow. He gave a brief history behind the development of the Kjeldahl and Babcock method in milk component measurements. Still, on the history lane, he mentioned Dairy Herd Improvement was founded in 1905. Years later, it got changed to Dairy Herd Information in 2000. The Quality Certification Service, a subsidiary, was founded in the 1980s to ensure compliance with guidelines and a uniform operating procedure across dairy farms. The QCS has 25 field services affiliates, 17000 field assistance or technicians, Milk calibration centers, 4 dairy processing centers, 42 Laboratories, and 22 offer Elisa screening. The QSC ensures that all instruments and procedures are monitored for accuracy in all milk components. In anticipation of the future, new technologies should be validated, and all correlations checked. He concluded that the dairy industry relies on genetics, genomics, etc. however, it is very data-driven. Data is critical to information delivery, management and decision-making.
Finally, the last speaker was Mr. Cees Jan Hollander, and he led us through the session on Dairy processor’s view on milk marketing and the rise of plant-based products-can genetics help? He inferred that consumer perception is pivotal in their company mission as they are the source of their business. Danone seeks to connect its company goal to consumer needs. Not only that, but they also stay rooted and connected to the farming community to foster a great working relationship between the farmers and the company. Danone hopes to embrace regenerative agriculture, which was defined as renewing systems that are broken, but keeping what is good. In a regenerative agricultural system, farmer empowerment, environmental balance, and animal welfare are secured. The final presenter ended with a quote from the company’s client, Joseph Maria, in Spain. “Trust is the basis of our relationship. and together we can work successfully towards regenerative agriculture”.
Bukola Adenuga is a recent Msc graduate in Animal Breeding and Genetics, University of Ibadan, Nigeria. She expects to proceed to a Ph.D. on precision breeding in dairy cattle.
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The benefits of lactose, also for the intolerant.
By Rahul Venkatram
The consumption of lactose as a component of fluid milk has been facing a gradual downslope due to its direct association with lactose intolerance. While a significant percentage of the population suffers from an acute form of this intolerance, as a sugar carbohydrate, it exhibits innumerable benefits on the human body and can potentially act as a raw material in generation of high-value compounds. Join me as I walk you through this symposium which talks about the role of lactose and its future prospects.
The event began with Dr. Rani Govindasamy-Lucey, Dairy Foods Chair welcoming the attendees to the ADSA 2021 Virtual Symposium, Making Lactose the Carbohydrate of Choice. She recognized the National Dairy Council for sponsoring the symposium and thanked Dr. Rohit Kapoor for resourcefully arranging this symposium and convening his excellent selection of speakers.
Dr. Rohit Kapoor, Vice-President of Product Research at the National Dairy Council presented a warm welcome to the attendees and briefly introduced Dairy Management Incorporated and the work they have been doing with regards to spreading awareness on milk consumption.
The first speaker of this session was Prof. Thom Huppertz from Wageningen University and Research. His research topics range from biosynthesis of milk, dairy chemistry and physics to digestion of dairy products in the human body. As Prof. Huppertz provided a general overview of how lactose is perceived today – he mentioned that lactose is most commonly associated with lactose intolerance in recent times. Lactose, commonly referred to as “milk sugar” is a combination of glucose and galactose with a b-1,4 linkage which makes it unique. Lactose production in mammary glands is initiated by UDP-glucose combining with UDP-galactose in presence of galactosyltransferase and a-lactalbumin. Being a carbohydrate, it is an energy source and an important osmolyte. It exhibits low solubility but great stability with the ability to undergo supersaturation prior to crystallization. He mentions that carbohydrates are not all about sweetness – but an important energy source. It is free of analgesic and reward effects – which may be of use in ensuring infants are not exposed to a very high level of sweetness and subsequent cravings. Compared to most simple sugars, it is the least cariogenic and hence causes little or no harm to dental surfaces. The digestion or breaking down of lactose is influenced by the enzyme lactase – an enzyme whose production gradually ceases up to 95% post-weaning. The benefits of lactose are numerous: the ability to be stored as glycogen, reduce or eliminate rise in plasma galactose post ingestion, consist of a low glycemic index (GI = 46) and thereby keeps a check on post-prandial blood sugar levels and is associated with lower risks of cardiovascular diseases. Most importantly, little or no galactose is synthesized by the body hence making lactose a very important dietary disaccharide – generating glucose and galactose which are important building blocks for the immune and nervous systems. Lactose metabolism in an exercise context is not explored thoroughly but studies demonstrate it can match sucrose as an energy substrate and also permits metabolic flexibility while aiding in glycogen restoration. Benefits of undigested lactose can play an important role in shaping gut microbiota promoting growth of Bifidobacteria and Lactobacilli. It also enhances mineral absorption especially lactose in the GI tract. As a take-home message, lactose is more than lactose intolerance – it is an important energy source, benefits the gut microbiota and also permits metabolic flexibility due to its low insulinogenic behavior which explains its presence in human milk and is not something that should not be neglected!
The next presenter was Zhixin Wang, a PhD candidate under Prof. Julie Goddard at Cornell University who spoke about using novel technologies to convert lactose to a wide array of products with a focus on food valorization. Whey permeate is a lactose-rich element obtained after manufacturing cheese. Enzymes can be employed to convert these lactose-rich effluents into rare sugars like allulose, tagatose and sorbose which can eventually be used as sucrose replacers with potential health benefits. They have a GRAS status and do not count as added sugars! These sugars cost 5 to 10 times the cost of sucrose and hence are in dire need of new methods to generate these scarce, yet health-intensive products which can find potential applications in numerous dairy products. She spoke about enzymatic pathways to yield allulose and sorbose using whey permeate as the starting raw material. These enzymes require a wide range of optimum conditions which require the determination of a central condition favorable to most of these employed enzymes. Four enzymes in the presence of a cellulose-binding molecule (CBM) were incorporated into varied stages to yield allulose and tagatose as the end products. E. coli was used for the expression of the protein to carry out these chain reactions. The reaction can be described as lactose-yielding glucose and galactose which is isomerized to galactose and fructose, the galactose molecule upon enzymatic action yields tagatose which are then subjected to psicose-3-epimerase to yield a cocktail of tagatose and allulose. These recombinant enzyme systems can self-immobilize onto cellulose and present a simple and cost-efficient method to produce these rare sugars.
After a deeply informative session about by-product valorization, Dr. Tonya C. Schoenfuss from the University of Minnesota gave an enriching talk on polylactose as an emerging ingredient for human health. Dietary fibers are advantageous for health and is a growing market. The predominant ones in the USA are inulin and fructooligosaccharide (FOS). Galactooligosaccharides or GOS is another ingredient developed from lactose and has beneficial roles in infant nutrition. Fibers can be generated from disaccharides using melt condensation or enzymes. The process starts off with mixing lactose, glucose and citric acid and is blended in an extruder which yields a caramel. The caramel is then cooled and grinded to yield a crystalline powder. Using HPLC and an ion-exchange resin to remove non-fiber components, they obtained a fiber with a degree of polymerization (DP) between 2-5. Alternate lactose sources such as acid whey, with its high intrinsic acidity and stickiness, yielded a powder with no polymerization whereas permeate, which has a high concentration of minerals, generated a powder with a low fiber concentration ~ 4%. She briefly talked about the clean-up procedures and its effect on powder coloration. This diet when fed to rats resulted in a reduction of obesity markers observed in the rats compared to the control feed. Polylactose also generated a high quantum of gas in rats but would not pose a threat to humans. The gut microbiota underwent a favorable change with reduction in overall body fat as measured by the fat pad. Polylactose also reduced liver fat which may help tackle fatty liver diseases. Hence, polylactose can act as a prebiotic with no digestion in the small intestine, ferments in the large intestine and increases the proportion of beneficial bacteria demonstrating an overall positive effect on the host.
The final presenter for the session was Dr. Daniela Barile from the University of California, Davis who spoke about lactose-derived oligosaccharides. She briefly touched base with the topic of molecular targets for health improvement with gut microbiota as a central point and its impact on the body. Human milk has demonstrated how inoculation of the gut with the right organisms could act as an important tool to prevent infections and inflammation. There has been an immense upwards trend in childhood obesity and immune disorders, hence there is a pressing need to change food habits to those that promotes health while being sustainable and reducing waste. Oligosaccharides are the third most abundant component in human milk and yet humans do not have the enzymes to digest many of them! So, the underlying question is, what is their purpose? They feed the gut microbiota, utilize this carbon source, populate the gut and provide a wide range of health benefits. Over 100 oligosaccharides from breast milk have been successfully characterized and they impart a number of important biological functions such as prebiotic activity, act as immune modulators, prevent infections and promote brain development. The impending challenge is to determine biological functions of these oligosaccharides and formulate novel therapeutic ingredients and subsequently fixate amounts to be added in infant formula while being economical at the same time. Complexity and heterogenicity of these oligosaccharides pose a hurdle to characterization and isolation. She concluded by introducing her collaborators and the work they have been doing in linking the consumption of various oligosaccharides and their beneficial effect on human health. As part of her final remarks, she presented a new potential application – one linking oligosaccharide in conjunction with specific bacteria to promote and maintain health. This could find potential application in tackling a number of health concerns like inflammatory bowel disease, irritable bowel syndrome, celiac disease, allergies, asthma and obesity.
The symposium concluded with a Q&A session from the attendees with some interesting queries about extension and versatility of lactose outside the dairy or research industry, comparison of enzymatic and fermentation approaches for the production of rare sugars and status of commercialization of these oligosaccharides and hurdles in obtaining a regulatory approved health claim.
Rahul Venkatram is a first-year master’s student in the Department of Food Science and Technology at The Ohio State University advised by Dr. Rafael Jimenez-Flores. We currently work on exploring novel processes to reduce the antigenicity of dairy proteins and enhance the versatility of dairy products.
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