Here’s some more news from the Agricultural Biotechnology International Conference, ‘Unlocking the potential of agricultural biotechnology,’ that’s going on in Melbourne, Australia. We know milk does a body good and apparently some researchers have discovered some new ways.

The health benefits of milk continue to grow with Victorian scientists discovering bioactive proteins that could treat gut inflammation and help skin repair. Visiting the Victorian stand at the International Biotechnology International Conference (ABIC) being held in Melbourne, Innovation Minister, John Brumby, said the discovery of two bioactives in cow’s milk could lead to treatments for conditions such as inflammatory bowel disease and damaged tissues.

“Milk is a remarkable product, which we are just beginning to understand better, especially now that we can identify many of its beneficial components due to the recent mapping of the cow genome,” Mr Brumby said. “Having identified these two healing proteins, methods are currently being developed to generate significant quantities of them in a pure and active form, increasing the potential for a product that can be made available to benefit the community with human trials being planned. “This latest discovery has emerged from a collaborative program between Department of Primary Industries’ (DPI) research in proteomics and cell biology and advanced milk processing technology at the Murray Goulburn Co-operative.”