A²Β-CASEIN DAIRY
Following our son's autism diagnosis and finding out the potential harmful effects of A¹ β-casein in dairy products, we as dairy farmers had no choice but to change to A² β-casein producing cows. This took many years as it takes generations to change the genetics of the dairy herd. In the meantime, our son had his own vision of a place for kids like him and their families to connect and experience what nature has to offer.
OUR EXPERIENCE
Our son Jeron was developing no different than any of our other children. Things began to change slowly after I stopped breastfeeding him at 14 months, and he was started on store-bought milk. He seemed to regress into his own world. He stopped babbling, we lost eye contact with him, and he began to display some behaviours we never saw with our other kids. One concerning thing was that he seemed to be addicted to the milk. He cried constantly for a bottle and would have at least four bottles of milk during the night, which was strange because he had previously slept through the night. He would need to be in his swing for hours at night after he had his bottle, and he began to rock his head back and forth in a specific way. By the time he was 18 months old, he seemed to show little difference whether I was in the room or not, and wasn't talking at all. After much research, we've found that these behaviours are consistent with the effects of consuming A¹ β-Casein dairy, the type of milk most commonly produced and sold in North America. Harmful effects have been associated to the release of the BCM-7 peptide during digestion.
WHY A² Β-CASEIN MILK?
Because of our experience with Jeron's reaction to dairy when he was first introduced to it, we had a choice to make as dairy farmers. Learning that approximately 25% of the population, including our sensitive children, can experience negative impacts of A¹ β-casein in dairy products, we knew our business had to change. We began changing the genetics of our herd, and 10 years later, our milk contains only A² β-casein. This type of protein is not associated with harmful effects on sensitive individuals, such as those on the autism spectrum. Because of the negative impacts of A¹β-casein, many nutritionists, doctors, and experts recommend to their clients to go dairy-free. By consuming A²β-casein dairy, one can still have all the nutritional benefits of milk but none of the harmful effects of A¹β-casein dairy. Thankfully, there is more and more research going into this area. Here are a couple of examples.