Someone please explain this A2 milk thing

THAT’S it. Someone needs to explain this once and for all. Is A2 milk actually better for you? Shoppers love it, but most of them couldn’t tell you why.

A2 Milk. Supplied Picture: Supplied

OKAY. That’s it. Someone needs to explain this once and for all. Is A2 milk actually better for you? Shoppers love it, but most of them probably couldn’t tell you why.

We each drink roughly 87 litres of milk every year and Australia is one of the only major developed countries where that number has been steadily growing.

The dairy industry has put up a good fight against the soy-ification of society, and the Auckland-based a2 Milk Company, which looks set to list on the Australian Stock Exchange after gaining preliminary approval today, is happy to take credit for much of that growth.

Since launching in 2007, a2 has managed to take nine per cent of the grocery store fresh milk market, putting the frighteners on the major milk players Lion and Parmalat, which have both jumped on the A2 bandwagon.

In case that wasn’t clear: The a2 Milk Company makes ‘A2 milk’. Most milk contains two forms of the protein beta-casein, known as A1 and A2. A2 milk, made from specially-bred cows, contains only the A2 form of the protein.

Many dairy farmers such as Dan Cochrane in Nowra are annoyed by the implication that “regular milk” is somehow bad for consumers and their kids.

Its proponents claim the A1 protein is actually responsible for much of the discomfort many people mistakenly attribute to lactose intolerance, although it’s a pretty contentious issue.

The official position of the Dietitians Association of Australia is clear. “To date, there is no solid scientific evidence demonstrating that A2 milk is better for you than regular milk,” it says on its website.

Peter Nathan, chief executive of The a2 Milk Company Australia, naturally doesn’t appreciate that kind of talk. “We would certainly argue that that position does not actually take a full, balanced view of the research,” he said.

“We believe, quite frankly, that the Dietitians Association is a little behind the science. They haven’t taken account of recently published research. By no means do all dietitians share that view, and by no means does the Association represent the views of all its members.”

In response, the Dietitians Association said in a statement: “DAA stands behind our statements made on the website about A2 milk and we look forward to seeing more quality research in the area.”

So what’s this A2 thing all about? It’s all down to a genetic mutation, says Mr Nathan.

“We need to go back in time a bit to give some context: all cows used to produce milk with just A2 beta-casein. Then, due to a genetic mutation through selective breeding, some cows in Europe started to produce a different protein called A1.”

a2 now holds nine per cent share of the grocery milk market, with the company preparing to list on the Australian Stock Exchange in the coming months.

Roughly one quarter of the population reports some intolerance to dairy, while only a very small number is actually diagnosed as lactose intolerant. “We call it the lactose intolerance myth,” Mr Nathan says. “Often people just feel a little gluggy but they’re not sure why. They find when they switch to A2 that response is no longer there.”

To make A2 milk, cows are given a simple genetic test — “typically from the hair of the tail”, if you were wondering — to find the ones that naturally produce milk with only the A2 protein.

These genetically-superior cows are then rounded up to form an “A2 herd”, and presumably get invited to lots of parties.

The a2 Milk Company recently launched fresh milk into the UK market and infant formula in both Australia and China. It plans to begin selling fresh milk in the US by April, where Mr Nathan predicts it will eventually overtake sales in Australia.

He denies the success of a2 milk can be attributed solely to clever marketing. “We find a lot of people who trial a2 find they do feel better,” he said. “The consumer needs a reason to pay a premium.”

Professor Byron Sharp says many consumers probably don’t even know why they buy a2 Milk, and simply lump it together with other “healthy” products.

According to Byron Sharp, Professor of Marketing Science at the University of South Australia and author of the book How Brands Grow, it’s a little more complicated than that.

“I’m sure there are some people who say that’s true, and I’m sure there are other people who say, ‘I’m not actually sure why I buy A2 milk’,” he says.

Consumers have fairly high brand loyalty but it’s “very unemotional”, he says. “Most people will buy only two or three milk brands, but they’ll switch from one to another. They may not even be able to predict which one they’re going to buy when they walk in the store.”

For one reason or another, A2 milk has managed to cut through the clutter and “get into their heads”, he says. Human beings “naturally don’t want to do a lot of thinking” and so use heuristics, or mental shortcuts, to make decisions.

“Organic, healthy, low-fat, low-sugar — people just lump it all together and use heuristics to put it all together. A2 may be picking up on people saying, ‘I think it’s healthier’, in an unspecified way,” Professor Sharp says.

At the end of the day though, we have to put it in perspective, he adds. “Brand choice is fairly trivial for most consumers. Brands are all battling for attention, and this is just one way of doing it. You just have to say something.”

Do you stand by A2 milk, or is it a load of bull? Leave your comments below or email the writer at [e-mail]