Are Camels the Better Cows? Cancer, Heart Disease, High LDL and Triglycerides, Diabetes, High Blood Pressure, Allergies, Viral and Bacterial Infections and Trace Mineral Deficiencies, Camel Milk Prevents or Fixes Them All!

Image 1: To the average inhabitant of the Western hemisphere camels are probably not the most beautiful animals under the sun; but hey, cows aren't either, hah?

When muscle-heads think of dairy, they think of whey, they think of casein, they think of cottage cheese... but I bet few of them will think of camels! Even if you just went by the mere amino acid composition (see. figure 2 at the end of the article), of which you, as an educated SuppVersity student should by now be aware that it does not give you the 'whole picture', as far as the biological effects of a given protein and peptide containing foodstuff is concerned, it appears that camel milk would at least make an excellent alternative for cows milk, in case global warming is progressing and Europe and the US turn into desert wastelands... but all jokes aside, muscle is not everything and I bet that after reading this article you will be interested to register for the US' first official camel milking seminar *rofl*

7+1 reasons you may want to slaughter your grass fed cows and replace them with camels

While the idea of drinking the milk of an ugly desert ship may appear hilarious at first, I guess my compilation of purported and scientifically established benefits of camels milk will have you reconsider if the Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashed Al-Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, may not have made a very good investment, when he spent $16.5 million dirham ($4.5 million USD) on the winner of a 2008 beauty pageant in the United Arab Emirates’ capital city of Abu Dhabi (FYI, the guy in image 1 is not the Sheikh, just tom make sure I don't get sued, here ;-):

Image 2 (DrCate.com): Homogenization makes milk more convenient, but it disrupts the natural structure of the fat globules and releases the otherwise bound xanthine oxidase of which scientists hypothesized that it could trigger heart disease, a hypothesis, btw., that was not disproven, but simply kept quiet for the past 25+ years (Deeth. 1983)

• Little to no xanthine oxidase (=reductase) - While the idea that XOR (xanthine oxidoreductase), which is supposedly released during homogenization of bovine milk, could be a potential contributor to overall inflammation and cardiovascular disease has disappeared from the 'scientific radar' within the past couple of years (cf. Deeth. 1983; Berry. 2004) , it may still be of interest (and for certain populations such as people with increased gut permeability even of great importance) that camel milk apparently contains little to no xanthine oxidase - irrespective of whether you drink it raw, pasteurized or homogenized (Baghiani. 2003).
• Anticancer effects - Camels milk has been shown to trigger apoptosis (controlled cell death) in human breast cancer and liver cancer cells via epigenetic mechanisms (Korashi. Feb 2012; Korashi. May 2012).
• Antibacterial & antiviral effects -Camel milk prevents gram positive bacteria from growing and reduces the amounts and activity of gram-negative cultures (el Agamy. 1992). With the latter being among the primary drivers of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and endotoxin induced inflammation (Ulevitch. 1999), camel milk could thus help to reduce local and systemic inflammation. Aside from its activity against rotavirus, the lactoferrin faction from camel milk appears to have protective effects against hepatitis C, as well (Redwan. 2007).
• Camel milk whole- & beta-caseins act as natural anti-oxidants and ACE-inhibitors - As Salami et al have shown the whole casein and beta-casein (β-CN) faction(s) of camel milk exert Angiotensin Converting Enzyme (ACE)-inhibitory (=blood pressure reducing) and antioxidant activity after they were hydrolyzed in the stomach (Salami. 2011). In a previous study, the same researchers had already determined that the whey fraction of camel milk exhibits significant anti-oxidant and antimicrobial activities, as well, and that those were up to 100% greater (depending on the essay and fraction the scientists used) than those of bovine whey protein (Salami. 2010).



Figure 1: A certain part of the population in Rajasthan (India) who consumes camel milk on a daily basis has been found to have a significantly reduced incidence of diabetes (not a single one!), impaired fasting glucose (-6%/-11%) and impaired glucose tolerance (-10%/-10%) than both non-camel milk drinking parts of the Raica community or other non-camel milk drinkers from the same region (based on Agrawal. 2007)

• Profound and long-lasting anti-diabetic effects - Camel milk has a long history of being used to tread type 1 diabetes in the Middle East (see figure 1; cf. Mohamad. 2009). Studies from animal models (dogs, Sbou. 2010) and humans (Agrawal. 2009; Mohamad. 2009) improved blood glucose, microalbumenia and secondary symptoms such as diabetic neuropathy. Probably also as a consequence of the small, but biologically active natural insulin content of camels milk (Malik .2012), the type 1 diabetics in a 2009 study by Agrawal could even reduce their insulin medication by 32% from 41µ/day to 28µ/day. In the 2-year follow up, the researchers report that "out of 12 subjects receiving camel milk, insulin requirement in 3 subjects reduced to zero" (Agrawal. 2011) - try that with metformin, let alone some of the other 'diabetes prolongation drugs'.
• Improved lipid metabolism - The 24 type one diabetics who consumed 500ml of plain camel milk per day for 6 months in the aforementioned 2009 study by Agrawal et al. for example exhibited -30% decreases in LDL and -66% decrease in triglycerides.
• Camel milk is an extraordinary good source of trace minerals - According to Al-Awidi et al. Camel milk contains 7-20x and 1-10x higher levels of manganese and iron than human milk, more zinc and comparable amounts of selenium, copper and other protein bound and thus highly bioavailable trace minerals (Al-Awadi. 2001).

And best of all, based on studies on people with cow's milk allergy, we know that the incidence of allergic reactions to camel milk is not only much lower, but also that 80% of cow's milk allergy sufferers can actually ingest camel milk without any unwanted side-effects (Cardoso. 2010; Ehlayel. 2011).

Figure 2: Even if you go solely by the amino acid composition (here expressed relative to the total amino acids), camel milk protein could be a valid replacement for bovine proteins (data based on Davis. 1994 & Beg. 1987)

This is also worth mentioning, because the host of great effects I listed above do - at least in parts - also occur with the unwarrantedly vilified bovine (=cow's) milk, which also contains ACE precursors (Saito. 2008), exert anti-cancer effects (Gill. 2000), and so much more (see "suggested readings" at the end of this article).

So, in the unfortunate case that you "ain't got no camel handy" at the moment and, due to "the current economy" (I hate when people say that) lack the $1300 to $1700 (Debacle. 2006) to buy your own, obviously not  pageant winning $16.5 million dirham camel, and tolerate bovine milk, just stick to the milk of the farmer you trust. After all, even if Camels were the better cows, you better have a gallon of cows milk in the fridge than a camel in the Arabian desert, right? Ah, wait that was a bird in the hand, right? ... ah, whatever ;-)

Suggested readings:

• Ask Dr. Andro: Are Colostrum and Milk Products in General Healthy Muscle Builders, a Waste of Money or Toxic Waste?
• Childhood Asthma: Children Born to Mothers Who Consume Semi-Skimmed Milk 8% More Likely, Kids of Whole Milk Drinking Mothers 15% Less Likely to Develop Asthma
• The Fat Truth Behind the Dairy Weight Loss Miracle: MUFA and PUFA Impair, Saturated Fat and Plenty of Micronutrients Drive Full-Fat Dairy-Powered Fat Loss.
• Higher Calcium Intake Greater Fatty Acid Oxidation!? True: Chronic & Acute Effect Size Comparable to Caffeine
• Read all about milk here at the SuppVersity

References:

1. Agrawal RP, Budania S, Sharma P, Gupta R, Kochar DK, Panwar RB, Sahani MS. Zero prevalence of diabetes in camel milk consuming Raica community of north-west Rajasthan, India. Diabetes Res Clin Pract. 2007 May;76(2):290-6.
2. Agrawal RP, Dogra R, Mohta N, Tiwari R, Singhal S, Sultania S. Beneficial effect of camel milk in diabetic nephropathy. Acta Biomed. 2009 Aug;80(2):131-4. 
3. Agrawal RP, Jain S, Shah S, Chopra A, Agarwal V. Effect of camel milk on glycemic control and insulin requirement in patients with type 1 diabetes: 2-years randomized controlled trial. Eur J Clin Nutr. 2011 Sep;65(9):1048-52. doi: 10.1038/ejcn.2011.98. Epub 2011 Jun 1.
4. Al-Awadi FM, Srikumar TS. Trace elements and their distribution in protein fractions of camel milk in comparison to other commonly consumed milks. J Dairy Res. 2001 Aug;68(3):463-9.
5. Baghiani A, Harrison R, Benboubetra M. Purification and partial characterisation of camel milk xanthine oxidoreductase. Arch Physiol Biochem. 2003 Dec;111(5):407-14.
6. Beg OU, von Bahr-Lindström H, Zaidi ZH, Jörnvall H. Characterization of a heterogeneous camel milk whey non-casein protein. FEBS Lett. 1987 Jun 1;216(2):270-4.
7. Berry CE, Hare JM. Xanthine oxidoreductase and cardiovascular disease: molecular mechanisms and pathophysiological implications. J Physiol. 2004 Mar 16;555(Pt 3):589-606.
8. Cardoso RR, Santos RM, Cardoso CR, Carvalho MO. Consumption of camel's milk by patients intolerant to lactose. A preliminary study. Rev Alerg Mex. 2010 Jan-Feb;57(1):26-32.
9. Davis TA, Nguyen HV, Garcia-Bravo R, Fiorotto ML, Jackson EM, Lewis DS, Lee DR, Reeds PJ. Amino acid composition of human milk is not unique. J Nutr. 1994 Jul;124(7):1126-32.
10. Deeth HC. Homogenized milk and atherosclerotic disease: a review. J Dairy Sci. 1983 Jul;66(7):1419-35.
11. Gill HS, Cross ML. Anticancer properties of bovine milk. Br J Nutr. 2000 Nov;84 Suppl 1:S161-6. Review.
12. Ehlayel MS, Hazeima KA, Al-Mesaifri F, Bener A. Camel milk: an alternative for cow's milk allergy in children. Allergy Asthma Proc. 2011 May-Jun;32(3):255-8.
13. el Agamy EI, Ruppanner R, Ismail A, Champagne CP, Assaf R. Antibacterial and antiviral activity of camel milk protective proteins. J Dairy Res. 1992 May;59(2):169-75. 
14. Gill HS, Cross ML. Anticancer properties of bovine milk. Br J Nutr. 2000 Nov;84 Suppl 1:S161-6. Review.
15. Korashy HM, El Gendy MA, Alhaider AA, El-Kadi AO. Camel milk modulates the expression of aryl hydrocarbon receptor-regulated genes, Cyp1a1, Nqo1, and Gsta1, in murine hepatoma Hepa 1c1c7 cells. J Biomed Biotechnol. 2012;2012:782642. Epub 2012 Feb 27.
16. Korashy HM, Maayah ZH, Abd-Allah AR, El-Kadi AO, Alhaider AA. Camel Milk Triggers Apoptotic Signaling Pathways in Human Hepatoma HepG2 and Breast Cancer MCF7 Cell Lines through Transcriptional Mechanism. J Biomed Biotechnol. 2012;2012:593195. Epub 2012 May 13.
17. Debacle J. Long or Short Capital. Camels, The Next Big Thing. August 1, 2006. < http://longorshortcapital.com/camels-the-next-big-thing.htm > received on July 13, 2012
18. Malik A, Al-Senaidy A, Skrzypczak-Jankun E, Jankun J. A study of the anti-diabetic agents of camel milk. Int J Mol Med. 2012 Sep;30(3):585-92.
19. Mohamad RH, Zekry ZK, Al-Mehdar HA, Salama O, El-Shaieb SE, El-Basmy AA, Al-said MG, Sharawy SM. Camel milk as an adjuvant therapy for the treatment of type 1 diabetes: verification of a traditional ethnomedical practice. J Med Food. 2009 Apr;12(2):461-5.
20. Salami M, Moosavi-Movahedi AA, Ehsani MR, Yousefi R, Haertlé T, Chobert JM, Razavi SH, Henrich R, Balalaie S, Ebadi SA, Pourtakdoost S, Niasari-Naslaji A. Improvement of the antimicrobial and antioxidant activities of camel and bovine whey proteins by limited proteolysis. J Agric Food Chem. 2010 Mar 24;58(6):3297-302.
21. Salami M, Moosavi-Movahedi AA, Moosavi-Movahedi F, Ehsani MR, Yousefi R, Farhadi M, Niasari-Naslaji A, Saboury AA, Chobert JM, Haertlé T. Biological activity of camel milk casein following enzymatic digestion. J Dairy Res. 2011 Nov;78(4):471-8.
22. Redwan el-RM, Tabll A. Camel lactoferrin markedly inhibits hepatitis C virus genotype 4 infection of human peripheral blood leukocytes. J Immunoassay Immunochem. 2007;28(3):267-77.
23. Saito T. Antihypertensive peptides derived from bovine casein and whey proteins. Adv Exp Med Biol. 2008;606:295-317. Review.
24. Sboui A, Khorchani T, Djegham M, Agrebi A, Elhatmi H, Belhadj O. Anti-diabetic effect of camel milk in alloxan-induced diabetic dogs: a dose-response experiment. J Anim Physiol Anim Nutr (Berl). 2010 Aug 1;94(4):540-6.
25. Ulevitch RJ, Tobias PS. Recognition of gram-negative bacteria and endotoxin by the innate immune system. Curr Opin Immunol. 1999 Feb;11(1):19-22.

Exercise Supplementation Quickie: Optimal Protein Blend for Protein Synthesis & Gout Drug for Muscle Protection. Plus: 3 Suggestions for "Optimal" Protein Blends

Don't obsess about "optimal" supplement regimen, start training, eating, sleeping and exercise the patience it takes to reverse years of sedentary pizza eating.

I thought it would be nice to take a closer look at some of the news I would otherwise "waste" in form of a three-liner in the SuppVersity Facebook News and decided that it was about time for yet another "news quickie" on exercise supplementation and exercise & supplementation ;-)

For today's installment of these "Short News", I've selected a study that discusses the impressive effects of a "gout drug" on exercise induced muscle damage and a study that takes another look at the ever-so-popular issue of "optimal" protein supplementation - an issue some of you are investing so much energy in that it is no wonder that they're not making the gains they would want to.

You can learn more about protein intake at the SuppVersity

Are You Protein Wheysting?

Cod protein for recovery

Protein requ. of athletes

High EAA protein for fat loss

Fast vs. slow protein

Too much ado about protein?

• Interesting observation: Xanthine oxidase inhibitor Allopurinol, which is usually used to treat conditions that are cause by increased uric acid levels (e.g. gout), dampens exercise induced muscle damage in trained individuals.
  
  The results of a recent study from the University of Valencia clearly demonstrate that the use of 300 mg of allopurinol 4h before a soccer match, lead to significant reductions in all measured markers of muscle damage in those six out of twelve professional soccer players who had been randomized to the active arm of the study (Sanshis Gomar. 2014).

  

  Figure 1: Changes in markers of muscle, heart and liver damage, as well as MDA levels, amarker of lipid oxidation due to soccer match with our without xanthine oxidase inhibitor (Sanshis Gomar. 2014)

  Now, unfortunately, a reduction in muscle damage that is facilitated by the inhibition of an enzyme that generates reactive oxygen species is - as you should by now have learnt from the dozens of posts on hormesis and the beneficial effects of exercise induced increases in reactive oxygen specie, not exactly desirable.
  
  The authors' conclusion that their observation was a great thing and could be used by athletes all around the world is thus probably only valid with respect to in professional soccer players and other elite athletes who are trying to avoid overuse injuries... and even for their health blunting the ROS response to exercise permanently probably isn't going to be exactly conducive to their health.
• Further evidence for the superiority of protein blends (vs. single sources as whey) for muscle building
  
  Scientists from the University of Texas Medical Branch, the Texas A&M University, the Arizona State University and the University of Utah found that a blend of soy and dairy protein slightly prolonged net amino acid balance across the leg as compared to whey protein alone, when it was ingested right after a workout.

Remember? Only recently you've learned here at the SuppVersity that Whey + Casein outperform Whey + BCAA + Glutamine and you bet that this combo will also outshadow the combination of whey, a fast digesting protein and soy, with an only minimally more sustained digestion pofile (for suggestions see bullet-points below).

• In the soon-to-be-published paper, to which I do unfortunately not have access, the scientists emphasize that it is not the fractional protein synthesis rate or the mRNA expression of selected amino acid transporters (LAT1/SLC7A5, CD98/SLC3A2 SNAT2/SLC38A2, PAT1/SLC36A1, CAT1/SLC7A1) which made the difference, but rather the fact hat "the ingestion of the protein blend resulted in a prolonged and positive net phenylalanine balance during post-exercise recovery as compared to whey protein" (Reidy. 2014).
  
  Now, eventually this is no news. I wrote about a similar phenomenon with whey protein only recently (learn more) and some of the researchers who were part of the study at hand have actually presented very similar results (albeit from a rodent study) in the August edition of Clinical Nutrition last year.
  

  

  Figure 2: Fractional protein synthesis 0-270min after the ingestion of pure whey or soy isolate of blends containing soy, whey and caseinate in the given ratios (Butteiger. 2013)

  In this study Butteiger et al. observed that a mixture of 1:1:2 of soy protein, whey protein and caseinate (="broken" micelar casein which has a significantly faster digestion rate than the original) produced the maximal increase in protein synthesis (dotted line in Figure 1), but with "fake casein" and soy, I am 100% sure that you can do better than that with whey hydrolysate, whey concentrate and micellar casein (1:1:1 would mean an identical ratio of the three). As far as the ratios goes, I would suggest the following combinations for specific purposes:
  
  • 5:5:1 - immediately post workout, if you have a meal within the next 1h
  • 1:1:1 - immediately post workout, if you have a meal within the next 2h
  • 1:3:5 - as a snack, of if you don't have a meal within 4h of the workout
  Please keep in mind, though that I have no scientific evidence to confirm that this would be "optimal" - it's just what I would say appears logical based on the current evidence we have. Instead of whey hydrolysate you can also replace this and the whey concentrate by an isolate. So that you would end up at whey isolate : micellar casein ratios of 10:1, 2:1 and 4:5 - got that?

Bottom line: Eventually, there is just one practical conclusion to be drawn from today's news potpourri: There is no need to limit your net protein synthesis with "pure" whey proteins, because this is what most studies use and many of the bros recommend.

 +43% Muscle Glycogen With Whey vs. Amino Acid Mix | learn more

As far as the use of xanthine oxidase inhibitors are concerned, I have my doubts whether that is not going to produce more problems than solve. And as far as the "optimal" ratio of fast- to slow-digesting proteins for maximal protein anabolism is concerned, I can only tell you that it would require 100 studies to get a decently reliable idea of what the "real" optimum for a certain population and training style was.... but don't grudge. In the end those few %-ages of FSR certainly won't be the reason you are not making the gains you are aspiring - so keep looking for excuses and start removing the true obstacles that are standing between yourself and the physique of your dreams.

References:

• Butteiger, D. N., et al. "A soy, whey and caseinate blend extends postprandial skeletal muscle protein synthesis in rats." Clinical Nutrition 32.4 (2013): 585-591.
• Reidy, et al. "Soy-Dairy Protein Blend and Whey Protein Ingestion After Resistance Exercise Increases Amino Acid Transport and Transporter Expression in Human Skeletal Muscle." Journal of Applied Physiology April 3, 2014 jap.01093.2013 
• Sanchis‐Gomar, F., et al. "Allopurinol prevents cardiac and skeletal muscle damage in professional soccer players." Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports (2014).