The latest weird food idea: osteoblast milk product
I had never heard of OMP (osteoblast milk product or protein) until this morning when a reporter from the Associated Press in Beijing sent me an e-mail about it. A milk company in China, it seems, is adding OMP to its milk and the Chinese food safety agency is investigating. The companies say OMP is safe and FDA-approved.
It didn’t take long to find out what this is about. Japanese investigators isolated a protein, kininogen, from milk and demonstrated in laboratory experiments that it promotes bone growth. These and other experiments in rats and people also show that it stimulates bone formation (I haven’t read them so I can’t comment on their quality).
FDA approved? Not exactly. In response to a petition from a company called Snow Foods, the FDA agreed that the use of milk proteins as additives to dairy foods is GRAS (generally recognized as safe) for human consumption. But its “approval” letter assumes that the proteins are mainly lactoferrin and lactoperoxidase, which are pretty well known to be safe. The FDA’s letter says nothing about the use of kininogen as a bone-promoting agent.
I can see why the Chinese government is concerned. It is one thing to demonstrate the effects of a protein in experiments, and quite another to add that protein to a food likely to be consumed by children. The protein is already in milk and there is no evidence that adding more of it will make any difference to bone growth. Without further studies to make sure that adding this protein does no harm, putting it into milk seems like a bad idea.
This seems like more about marketing than health, and it sounds like it is part of the huge current effort to sell more milk to the Chinese people. I am bewildered by the pressure on the Chinese population to drink more milk and eat more milk products. Aren’t most Chinese sensitive to undigested lactose? None of this makes any sense to me. Milk is not an essential nutrient or food and the Chinese have done fine for millennia without it.
I will be watching the unfolding of this story with much interest. Stay tuned.
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Comments
Seriously, what is with China and milk lately? That’s exactly what I was thinking as I read this post. What’s wrong with regular old milk, no melamine or extra proteins added?
OMP stands for Osteoblast Milk Protein. It is a term coined by Mengliu Milk Corporation in China. The original study in 2003 on this protein was done by Snow Brand Milk Company, one of the largest milk producer in Japan. They called this bone growth factor “Milk Basic Protein”. It is a case of marketing strategy gone wrong for Mengliu. Reports also mentioned that Mengliu has been adding IGF-1(insulin like growth factor) to milk. Athletes, especially body builders have been injection IGF-1 for many years as a performance enhancing drug. There are studies linking excessive IGF-1 level with cancer. However, IGF-1 is not active taken orally, so Mengliu hasn’t done their homework right.
ANY CONNECTION between MBP (Milk Basic Protein) and OMP？
THEY SAID THAT IN JAPAN AND US OMP KNOWN AS THE MBP
I FOUND MBP FROM:
http://sciencelinks.jp/j-east/article/200309/000020030903A0129881.php
I think nutritional science has been too western-centric. When I was in Hong Kong doing my internship a couple months ago, I was looking forward to hearing what the dietitians had to recommend to the people they were counselling about dairy. I was shocked to find that no one (dietitians and clients alike) mentioned anything about lactose intolerance, and the “food pyramid” in Hong Kong is basically the 1992 US food pyramid! (Except using metric/Chinese units of measurement). I don’t know what the Chinese recommendations are, but I think scientists around the world should take a look at their traditional patterns of eating and make recommendations based on those. Despite all the evidence we have on western eating patterns, I think a lot of that evidence is starting to say that it’s not working and that different cultures should go back to their traditional eating habits.
I basically agree with Vincci. I have been active in the Chinese food industry sincce 1985. Apart from my business activities, I also occasionally write and speak about in influence of culture on food and nutrition. I have actually also combined both in participating in a study about fortified food in China. Regarding the latter, most Western dieticians seem to oppose it, using the argument that people should be forced to eat a wide variety of food to get all the nutrients needed. This is a typical Western-oriented line of thinking, showing no insight into the actual problems in many parts of the world. The Chinese are not a traditional dairy nation and calcium deficiency is a big problem, also among children. Adding calcium to foods and ingredients that can be expected to be present in all kitchens is a very good way to ensure a sufficient calcium intake. I makes sense that Chinese food manufacturers are experimenting with the best carriers for various nutrients. Last year, iron enriched soy sauce was launched, to mention another example.
Thank you for stating clearly that milk is not an essential nutrient or food. I spent years thinking that milk and dairy products are essential. It is only in the past few years, through my own research, that I have learned that is not true and other foods can supply the nutrients that are found in milk and milk products.
I’m no expert, but if I recall correctly, melamine was added to children’s formula to increase the reading for protein levels. Would this have a similar effect? Could that be part of the explanation of why anyone would want to do it?
No, I don’t think it is anything like that. In China you can buy biscuits with added calcium, noodles + calcium, bread + calcium, candy + calcium, etc. The problem with Mengniu (one of the companies) is that they failed to indicate OMP as an ingredient on the label. Here in Europe, and in the US as well, you can buy a number of calcium enriched foods. There is no problem, as long as you properly indicate the ingredients on the label
How does one get enough calcium without milk products? I barely consume any milk products and my doctor just told me to go on calcium supplements. Are there dietary sources that could supply this calcium or are supplemente necessary?
No, you should be able to get all the calcium you need from a properly balanced diet. Many varieties of cabbage are a good source of calcium, but you will need to eat a lot of them to make up for your low dairy diet. I am not particularly fond of dairy products myself, but have made it a habit to start the day with a glass of cold milk from the fridge, as a kind of wake up drink.
Well, the root here, as always with industry expansion, is money. China is a relatively untapped market regarding milk and milk products.
As for additives of ANY kind, I am opposed. What happened to pure, simple, fresh, natural foods in their natural state? I don’t want to eat any more Frankenfood, and others who aren’t even aware that their food IS Frankenfood should not have to, either.
For those of us in the U.S., this further points to the need to eat local and find local, trusted sources for our food and dairy products or to grow and raise our own.
People suffer a lot in China, no possibility guarantee their health. What should they do ? waiting for die or stave to death? they’s rather choose to eat it regardless what kind of thing in it .
What’s wrong with the OMP situation is not that food additives are necessarily bad (political/philosophical issues notwithstanding), but that OMP was added to milk without any safety assessment of human health effects. This is a failing of government regulation and corporate negligence.
There is nothing wrong with increasing dairy consumption in the Chinese diet. This is not about globalisation and Westernisation. Dairy consumption is not culturally exclusive to Western societies, nor is there a direct link between lactose intolerance and Asian ethnicities. Lest we forget, Mengniu is short for Mongolian Cow, and is based in Inner Mongolia, where meat and dairy are an essential part of the local diet.
Jesse, one supplement free way to increase your calcium intake without dairy products is to regularly consume tofu. Calcium carbonate or calcium hydroxide is added to soy milk in the tofu making process, causing the proteins to curdle.
I am currently living in Beijing with two children and am a recent graduate in Human Nutritional Sciences. I have been trying to research all this milk controversy because I want to know what name brands to watch out for. Its all well and good to say what company is producing this milk, but it doesn’t help when selecting milk brands at the store. Does anyone know if there is a comprehensive list of milk brands that have been tested for OMP? I know there was one for the whole melamine scandal.