Healthy Cows, Healthy Humans, Healthy Planet

Transcription

1 TSB,DRINC & MRC EVENT 2014 Healthy Cows, Healthy Humans, Healthy Planet Wednesday 16th April 2014 Speaker Profiles and Abstracts

2 WELCOME A warm welcome from the and National Milk Records, to the third of our one day events related to milk production, dairy products and human health. This event is a little broader than previously and stretches from the health of the dairy cow to that of the consumer and also looks at the environmental effects of milk production. This is a joint industry event organised by The and NMR, witch relates to research funded by key bodies including The Technology Strategy Board, BBSRC/DRINC, Medical Research Council and Dairy Co. We very much hope you enjoy the day and we look forward to hearing any feedback you may have. Chairman: Professor Patrick Wall Patrick Wall is Associate Professor of Public Health in University College Dublin's School of Public Health and Population Sciences. He qualified in Veterinary Medicine at University College Dublin and in Human Medicine at the Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland. He also has an MSc in Infectious diseases from the University of London and an MBA from the Michael Smurfit School of Business. His teaching and research interests include food borne diseases, lifestyle related diseases and health damaging consumer behaviour. He is a co-director of the UCD Centre for Behaviour and Health, which is engaged in research on behavioural economics, population health disparities and policy interventions. Dairy Pro is the register for dairy professionals to record their training and skill development. Healthy Cows, Healthy Humans, Healthy Planet has been awarded 4 Dairy Pro CPD points. Please ensure you have signed the register at the entrance desk in order for your points to be allocated. DISCLAIMER This programme, speaker profiles abstracts are provided for the delegates at this event. Every reasonable effort has been made to ensure that the material in this book is true, correct, complete and appropriate at the time of writing. The, NMR and the authors do not accept responsibility for any omission or error, or for any injury, damage, loss or financial consequences arising from the use of material contained in the book. Before using or quoting any of the information, or for further details, readers should contact the individual authors.

3 PROGRAMME Registration Welcome The Industry Challenge Prof Ian Givens/Julie Lovegrove Prof Patrick Wall University College Dublin Morning Session BEFORE THE FARMGATE Does a new era for monitoring cow condition beckon? Keeping an eye on ketosis Vicky Hicks NMR Richard Cooper EBVC Tea/coffee Genetic improvement in the fatty acid profile of cow s milk Prof. Mike Coffey SRUC Discussion Reducing saturated fatty acids in milk: The DRINC study LUNCH Led by Prof. Mike Coffey, SRUC Dr Kirsty Kliem Afternoon Session AFTER THE FARMGATE Effect of reducing saturated fatty acids in milk on CVD risk: The MRC RESET study Dafni Vasilopoulou Milk proteins and vascular health: The Way2Go study Ági Fekete Dairy products in the UK diet: Integrating nutrition, health, environmental and financial impacts Prof Ian Givens and/or Prof Julie Lovegrove Tea/coffee The role of the dairy supply chain for creating a sustainable, healthy future Dr Judith Bryans CEO, Dairy UK Discussion and closing remarks Close Prof Patrick Wall University College Dublin

4 Vicky Hicks Vicky Hicks joined NMR in April 2013 to head up their commitments on both the TSB and OptiMIR projects. As Product Manager, her role encompasses all things milk fatty acids for NMR; a role that has earned her the title of the fat lady! She graduated from Hartpury College with a BSc Dairy Herd Management in 2009 before going to work for a milk purchaser in the South West and then the NFU at Stoneleigh. Vicky has also recently started studying for a MSc in Ruminant Nutrition at Harper Adams. All of her spare time is taken up with young farmers activities in her role as County Chairman for Gloucestershire YFC. DOES A NEW ERA FOR MONITORING COW CONDITION BECKON? Body Condition Scoring (BCS) of dairy cattle has been around for many years but the subjectivity and time required to score cows on a regular basis is often used as an excuse for its lack of use on a commercial basis. Managing cow condition at key lactation stages has a considerable effect on cow health and thus profitability. Excessively thin or fat cows and those gaining or losing condition suddenly, are more prone to mastitis, milk fever, metabolic disorders, lameness and infertility. Despite the shortcomings of BCS, it still has a place in the transition cow management toolbox; helping to strike a balance between cow welfare, economic feeding and sustainable production. But what if the principles of condition scoring could be applied to a new tool that measures cow condition but without the aforementioned hassles? Applying the calculations from Banos and Coffey (2010) along with the MIR spectra and bio-modelling of individual cow phenotypic data, an estimation of cow body energy content and energy balance is produced. Work carried out as part of the TSB project, looked at cow condition on 13 Marks & Spencer farms over 2013 to validate spectrally calculated energy data. Altogether, 3,500 cows were recorded and the scores have revealed some interesting findings that will be presented on the day. The actual BCS results themselves will be matched up to their spectral counterparts in order to affirm whether the estimations of cow energy are indeed a true reflection of what is witnessed in the field. National Milk Records plc Phone Number: vickyh@nmr.co.uk

5 Richard Cooper Richard Cooper is a veterinary surgeon at Evidence Based Veterinary Consultancy. He is involved in consultancy advice throughout the supply chain, from direct advice to farmer on technical nutrition and animal health to work with processors and large retail organisations. He has an interest in the statistical interpretation of datasets from both routine farm monitoring and clinical research, and in particular finds metabolic disease in dairy cattle fascinating. He is kept relatively sane and grounded by his wife Samantha and two children, Ned and Willow. KEEPING AN EYE ON KETOSIS Ketosis, either in its clinical or subclinical form, is a very common metabolic disease of dairy cattle. Subclinical ketosis is thought to effect around 10-30% of animals after calving on average, and in some affected herds lactational incidence may be substantially higher. There are different forms of ketosis described in the literature, with different suggested aetiopathegenesis: type 1 ketosis essentially represents a shortfall in metabolisable energy intake relative to output; type 2 is associated with transition cow mismanagement and often associated with early lactation growth hormone and peripheral insulin resistance. Regardless of aetiology, ketosis has been associated with reduced fertility, production and increased risk of other metabolic disease, such as abomasal displacement. As such, ketosis diagnosis and prevention is central to improved cattle welfare and production efficiency, and the environmental benefits that brings. One of the biggest hurdles to addressing ketosis is being able to diagnose and monitor herd prevalence. The gold standard test remains laboratory-based blood beta-hydroxybutyrate assay, but the time, practicalities and expense involved in obtaining samples arguably preclude its use as a monitoring tool. While cow-side testing is possible, commercially available tests generally either suffer from the same issues as the gold standard (e.g. cow-side ketone meters) or lack sufficient accuracy to be reliable. Opportunity exists to use milk MIR spectral data in conjunction with bio-modelling to develop tools for a system that can make accurate assessment of herd subclinical ketosis prevalence. This would provide farmers, veterinary surgeons, and nutritional advisors with an early warning system that cow management or diet needed critical assessment and prompt intervention. Evidence Based Veterinary Consultancy Phone: richardcooper@ebvc.eu

6 Professor Mike Coffey Geneticist with specific interest in providing knowledge, tools and support to farmers enabling them to breed better livestock. My area of expertise is related to cyclical body energy mobilization across lactation and how this affects health and fertility in dairy cattle. I also expend considerable time in handling national performance and pedigree data to produce genetic and more recently, genomic, evaluations. In the age of the genotype, the phenotype is king and so national datasets can become extremely powerful when merged into single datasets for genetic and genomic analysis. Future areas of interest include genomics of disease resistance, the genomic basis of ageing in animals and the genomics of drug response by farmed livestock. GENETIC IMPROVEMENT IN THE FATTY ACID PROFILE OF COW S MILK Despite contributing 15 25% of the total fat in human diets, dairy products deliver around 25 35% of the total saturated fat (Department of Health, 2011). High levels of saturated fat have been linked to the epidemic that is cardiovascular disease (CVD), including coronary heart disease (CHD, Astrup et al., 2011). Extensive and continued research in this field has shown that it s not just saturated fatty acids that are an issue: trans fats have been associated with CHD risk and the departure from an equal ratio of omega6:omega3 over time in Western diets has also been attributed to health concerns (Simopoulos, 2006; Brouwer et al., 2010). Exploring the fatty acid (FA) profile of milk is, therefore, likely to help us better understand the nutritional, physical and chemical properties of this dairy product, which will influence the quality and therefore price as a consequence. This study introduces the use of mid-infrared (MIR) spectroscopy to quantify the fat content of milk, avoiding the time and expense of traditional gas chromatography analysis. Following the application of calibration equations developed by Soyeurt et al., (2011) to milk spectra from routine milk recording samples, this approach provides a fast and effective quantification of the milk fatty acid profile. This study demonstrates the use of MIR to predict the fatty acid profile of a large dataset of National herd animals in the UK (c.60,000 records on c.30,000 animals) and estimates the heritability for a subset of fatty acids. Exploiting such additive genetic variation in selective breeding programmes could improve the nutritional profile of milk in a way that benefits consumers without having to change their dietary patterns. SRUC Phone Number: Mobile mike.coffey@sruc.ac.uk

7 Dr Kirsty Kliem Following a period of employment at the Institute for Animal Health as a dairy scientist, Kirsty has been part of animal science research at the since She completed a PhD titled Improving the health quality of bovine milk by reducing the saturated fatty acid content using supplemental oilseeds. As a Research Fellow in the Food Production and Quality division Kirsty has been involved in numerous research projects; all based around improving the fatty acid profile of animal products. Kirsty was workpackage leader for the on-farm study in the BBSRC-DRINC project, Reducing saturated fatty acids in the food chain. REDUCING SATURATED FATTY ACIDS IN MILK The UK exceeds its target for saturated fatty acids (SFA) in the diet, and dairy products are the single largest source contributing about 30-40% of the total. However reducing milk consumption to reduce SFA intake may be counterproductive, as evidence suggests there are likely to be benefits in terms of reduced vascular disease and some cancers from increased milk consumption. The diet of the cow can be changed to produce milk with reduced SFA and increased monounsaturated fatty acids although often with a small increase in trans fatty acids (TFA). These TFA are different to those produced industrially and are unlikely to be harmful to health. Such diet changes will often reduce methane produced by the cow, thus also reducing the carbon footprint of milk. This BBSRC/DRINC (Diet and Health Research Industry Club) funded project was a three year study at the that also involved the input of eleven industry partners. The project examined potential dietary strategies to reduce SFA in milk, both on-farm using commercially available oilseed supplements, and in experimental situations using novel products. The on-farm study aimed to demonstrate that reducing SFA by supplementing whole herds with oilseed preparations was feasible. Most work to date has been only in research centres and it is important to understand what happens in a commercial situation with many different factors (e.g. cow breed, background diet etc). In parallel with the on-farm study, several experiments were conducted at the Centre for Dairy Research. Two focused on the effects of feeding increasing amounts of novel supplements to individual cows on milk fatty acid profile. Two further studies assessed the impact of feeding the oilseed supplements used in the on-farm study on reducing milk SFA, and methane production. The project as a whole and the key findings from it will be discussed. Phone Number: k.e.kliem@reading.ac.uk

8 Dafni Vasilopoulou Dafni Vasilopoulou is a first year Doctoral Researcher at the, UK. She graduated from the University of Edinburgh with a BSc in Biotechnology followed by an MSc in Nutrition and Food Science from the. Her PhD work is investigating, through a human dietary intervention trial, the impact of modified dairy products, in an acute and chronic setting, on vascular function and biomarkers of cardiovascular disease (such as lipid metabolism, inflammatory markers and insulin resistance) in an at-risk population. EFFECT OF REDUCING SATURATED FATTY ACIDS IN MILK ON CVD RISK Cardiovascular disease (CVD) remains the most common cause of death in the UK and worldwide, a figure which is expected to increase in the next decade. Due to the social and economic burden associated with such high mortality rates, there is a need to act and implement practical ways of modifying contributors to CVD risk, such as reducing the high intake of saturated fatty acids (SFA). At present, the UK population exceeds the dietary SFA recommendation of <10% total energy intake. As milk and dairy products are a major contributor to SFA intake in the UK diet, they are often targeted for reducing SFA consumption. At the same time, it is acknowledged that milk is a complex food containing several nutrients essential for maintaining an adequate diet from an early age. Evidence from prospective studies that have investigated the link between dairy consumption and cardiovascular health suggest that consumption of milk, in particular, may be beneficial. This association is weaker when considering butter and cheese but it nevertheless illustrates how dairy products are not as detrimental as traditionally thought and further reducing their consumption would not be an ideal strategy. Fat-reduced dairy products have become a popular choice for consumption in contrast to their full-fat counterparts, but an alternative strategy for achieving dairy products with lower SFA concentration is through manipulation of the cow s diet. The present study aims to investigate, in a randomized, cross-over, double-blind controlled manner, whether modified, saturated fat reduced dairy products will have a beneficial impact on vascular function and markers of lipid metabolism, insulin resistance and inflammatory status in an at-risk population. This research was supported by the Medical Research Council (MR/K020218/1) Contact Details Phone Number: d.vasilopoulou@reading.ac.uk

9 Ágnes A. Fekete Ági Fekete is a third year Doctoral Researcher at the University of Reading, UK. She graduated from the University of Debrecen, Hungary with an MSc equivalent degree in Agricultural Sciences with major in Animal Science. She continued her studies at the, where she obtained an MSc degree in Nutrition and Food Science. Her PhD work is a human dietary intervention trial, which investigates both the long and short-term effects of milk proteins specifically on blood pressure and vascular function, as well as on other important biomarkers of cardiovascular diseases (e.g. inflammatory markers, lipid metabolism and insulin resistance). MILK PROTEINS AND VASCULAR HEALTH: THE WAY2GO STUDY Evidence from epidemiological studies suggests that increased milk consumption does not lead to an increased cardiovascular disease risk and indeed may provide long-term benefits particularly in relation to reducing hypertension. Milk contains a wide range of bioactive components including calcium and high quality protein. The proteins (whey and casein) release bioactive peptides, which are reported to possess a wide range of biological properties. Evidence from human intervention studies suggests that both whey and casein may be effective in blood pressure-lowering. However there is very limited data on the impact of milk proteins on vascular function. Only one study has investigated the differential effect of whey and casein on vascular function and reported that only whey protein appeared to improve it. Nevertheless, although there is growing evidence that whey protein has a beneficial effect on blood pressure and vascular function, further controlled and suitably powered human dietary studies are required. This research to be presented aims to provide valuable information on the relative effects of whey protein on 24-hour blood pressure and on detailed aspects of vascular function compared with casein and a control substance. Furthermore, this project is investigating the effects of these proteins on markers of insulin resistance, lipid metabolism and inflammatory status in at-risk individuals. This project directly addresses the need to develop a non-pharmacological strategy to tackle the significant public health burden of hypertension, since its high prevalence has implications not only for social and economic welfare, but for the UK s healthcare system. Phone Number: a.a.fekete@reading.ac.uk

10 Professor Ian Givens and Professor Julie A Lovegrove Ian Givens is Professor of Food Chain Nutrition, Director of the Food Production and Quality Division and an Associate of the Centre for Food Security. His research interests focus on the relationship between consumption of animal derived foods, nutrient supply and chronic disease outcome. Current work centres on lipids, proteins and vitamin D in dairy products, eggs etc. and their influence on cardiovascular disease risk. He also sits on a number of external committees including the one of the Food Standard Agency s Advisory Committees (ACAF) and on the Scientific Advisory Committee of The British Nutrition Foundation (BNF). Julie Lovegrove is Professor of Human Nutrition, Head of the Hugh Sinclair Unit of Human Nutrition and Deputy Director of the Institute for Cardiovascular and Metabolic Research (ICMR). Her research interests are the investigation of nutritional influences on the metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular disease risk, including nutrient/gene interactions. Of particular note are the effects of dietary fats and phytochemicals, including flavonoids and nitrates, on vascular reactivity, insulin resistance and lipid metabolism. She also sits on a number of external committees including the Government s Scientific Advisory Committee for Nutrition (SACN) and she is Chair of the Accreditation Committee for the Association for Nutrition (AfN). DAIRY PRODUCTS IN THE UK DIET The nutritional benefits of dairy products in the diet are well recognised, especially for children. In addition, there is good evidence that increased consumption of milk is associated with a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease and some cancers. Despite these benefits there is increasing concern about the environmental cost of milk and dairy food production, processing etc. including carbon cost, water footprint and effects on land use and biodiversity. Another consideration is financial cost. For foods to be sustainable sources of energy and nutrients, they must compete economically with other foods and be able to provide key nutrients at a competitive cost. Traditionally, the nutritional contributions of foods to the UK diet, and their environmental and financial costs, have been considered independent of one another. Clearly this approach is not sustainable given the many potentially competing forces at work. Accordingly, the overall objective of this study is to model the impact of varying the amounts of dairy products in UK diets on nutrient supply, nutritional adequacy and the financial and environmental cost of the whole diet and individual nutrients. The project is in two stages. Stage 1 has reviewed the literature on the role of dairy products in nutrition and health along with the environmental costs of production to the point of sale and food prices at retail. It also used data from the UK National Diet and Nutrition Survey for dietary pattern analysis to assess diet differences between high and low consumers of dairy products. All these data have been used to develop a conceptual framework for modelling effects of diet changes in Stage 2. In addition to modelling effects of simple dietary change, Stage 2 will also use a novel linear programming approach to produce diets that are nutritionally adequate but optimised for environmental and financial costs. Phone Numbers: and s: d.i.givens@reading.ac.uk and j.a.lovegrove@reading.ac.uk

11 Dr Judith Bryans Dr Judith Bryans is the Chief Executive of the dairy industry trade association - Dairy UK. Judith has a PhD from King s College London. She joined the world of dairy in She is a Board member of the European Dairy Association, The Dairy Council, Dairy Energy Savings and the Milk Marketing Forum. Judith is also the representative for nutrition within the Science Programme Coordination Committee of the International Dairy Federation. THE ROLE OF THE DAIRY SUPPLY CHAIN FOR CREATING A SUSTAINABLE, HEALTHY FUTURE Consumption of dairy foods is associated with good overall diet quality. Products like milk, cheese, yogurt and milk powders are nutrient rich foods and are therefore important in terms of future nutrient and food security. In a 2012 report, the Food and Agriculture Organisation stated that, in principle, there is sufficient global aggregate food consumption for almost everyone in the world to be well-fed. It went on to point out that this principle had not translated into practice. For some countries an abundance of food is associated with overconsumption of calories while in many others people do not have enough to eat. As the world s population increases so too does the demand for dairy foods. It has been estimated that the demand for raw milk will increase from the current 704 to 1077 million tons by Addressing this need will be challenging because globally the dairy supply chain is characterised by a high degree of diversity. Cow herd size, the ability to utilise natural resources efficiently, local infrastructure, ability to market effectively and the regulatory environment all vary from region to region. The world will need milk from Europe to help meet the demand. This presentation will provide an overview of the steps that the dairy supply chain is taking to ensure that the growing global population is supplied with safe, traceable, sustainable and healthy foods. Dairy UK Phone Number: jbryans@dairyuk.org

12 The Projects: DRINC The BBSRC/DRINC funded study looked at different approaches for changing the diet of the dairy cow to replace saturated fatty acids in milk with mainly mono-unsaturated fatty acids. We have been aware for some time that despite many studies with dairy cow diets there are very few studies which have taken the modified milk/milk products into a human intervention study to examine in detail the effects on markers of cardiovascular disease risk. RESET The RESET (REplacement of SaturatEd fat in dairy on Total cholesterol) study, which is funded by the Medical Research Council, has recently started is a long term intervention study in both acute and chronic settings. So RESET really is a follow-on study to DRINC and despite the title goes way beyond just measuring total cholesterol (which by itself tells you little). TSB The objective of the project is to develop new measures for cow health, fertility and environmental impact through the use of spectral data gained through mid-infrared (MIR) testing of individual cow milk samples. This project, co-ordinated by NMR and involving M&S and Scottish Rural University Colleges (SRUC), will be assessing the scope to use new information capture through MIR testing to measure key health characteristics in dairy cows. The four year project will look to use this information to develop new tools to help farmers improve the efficiency of milk production. Taxi: If you require a taxi for your onward journey we recommend the companies below: Reading Taxi Services: YellCars: / manager@yellcars.com On University Campus Loddon Cars: bookings@loddoncars.com Chiltern Taxi: bookings@chilterncars.com