FI111324B - Process for producing milk with high melatonin content - Google Patents

Description

111324

A method for producing melatonin-containing milk

The invention relates to a method for producing milk with high melatonin content in milk producing mammals, especially cows.

5 Interest in melatonin has recently been shown to be involved in many physiological processes in the body. Melatonin supports the body's immune system, acts as an antioxidant and, for example, relieves intestinal cramps. In animal studies, it has been found to protect against the toxic effects of environmental toxins, extending the life span of experimental animals. Melatonin has also been found to help you fall asleep. Younger melatonin secretion is more abundant than older people or animals. Indeed, falling asleep is more common in old age.

Melatonin is secreted into the bloodstream during the night and the light that hits the eye in the morning causes a rapid decline in production. Circulating melatonin is rapidly cleaved in the liver, so its concentration decreases immediately with reduced synthesis. In addition, it has been observed that melatonin levels increase slightly after the start of the body's expected night time and decrease slightly before the body's expected morning.

When milk is produced in a mammal, such as a cow, some of the circulating substances are excreted in the milk. Such substances include many hormones such as Example-20. However, their concentration in milk is, in most cases, so low that their physiological significance is neither obvious nor of particular nutritional value. One of the hormones that is easily transferred to milk is melatonin, which is secreted from the mammalian pineal gland during the dark and regulates the circadian and seasonal rhythms of the body.

25 It has now been found that milk milked at night (night milk) contains more melatonin than milk milked at daylight. It is an object of the present invention to provide a method for obtaining enough melatonin in the milk of a milking mammal such as a cow to be used as a natural source of melatonin in man. This is achieved according to the invention as set forth in the appended claims.

In the following, the invention will be described as applied to a cow of known photosensitivity, but the method of the invention is also applicable to other milking mammals once their species-specific photosensitivity has been determined.

BNSDOCID: <FI 111324B1 I> 2 111324

Of the milk constituents, melatonin is found to be relatively the most abundant in its protein fractions. Outside the body, melatonin is not easily degraded and is retained in milk when frozen and pasteurized, so that night milk can be used to make melatonin-containing dairy products, such as cheese. A kilo of 5 cheeses made from night milk contains more than twice as much melatonin as a liter of night milk.

Usually the day of dairy cows starts at 5-6 am with feeding and morning milking. Upon entering, the producer turns on the lights and, on leaving, turns them off again. When Iltalypsy goes on around 3pm to 5pm, the producer lights up again. During the day, the barn is visited occasionally, when the lights are usually on. During the rest of the day, the cows 10 spend in the natural light.

Generally, at about 9 pm to 11 pm, an evening inspection of the animals is made in the barn. During the inspection the lights are on and when leaving the barn they are left lit. night light that illuminates the barn to the extent that cows and humans can perceive shapes and movement. The purpose of the night light is to reduce the damage to the puller due to the strangulation of the cows. During the grazing period, changes in the barn routines may occur with respect to the time spent in the pasture. Some producers only bring in cows for milking while the cows spend the rest of the time grazing outdoors.

According to the season, the natural light rhythm fluctuates dramatically and results in large changes in melatonin excretion time and concentration in blood and milk respectively. Milk melatonin levels are also influenced by the cow's reproductive stage and milking. As the daytime darkness increases, the maximum level of melatonin excretion decreases and, accordingly, the peak excretion decreases accordingly.

Figure 1 is a graph of melatonin excretion in different seasons. The winter curve is the lowest and longest. The autumn and spring secretion curves 25 are higher and shorter than the winter curve. The summertime release curve is the highest and the shortest.

In the context of the invention, it has been found that in normal milk production, the milk concentration of a single cow's milk milked at night is uncontrollably between 10 and 60 pg / ml, with a herd concentration of between 10 and 25 pg / ml. However, the daily daily and milking rhythms of Ta-30 only occasionally produce night milk with a melatonin concentration above 20 pg / ml.

In order to be profitable, efficient and easy to collect milking in the dark, the daily rhythm of the cows must be changed from the natural environment and desired. It should be possible to regulate the daylight hours BNSDOCID: <111124B1 I> 3 111324 because in the northern summer, for example, the daylight hours are very short. The light rhythm can be adjusted e.g. barn with timed interior lights and sliding and closing shutters. The method of the present invention for the production of night milk is based on maintaining the producer's normal circadian rhythm and, at the same time, altering the circadian rhythm of the cows for optimal production of night milk.

It is essential in the method of the invention to adjust the circadian rhythm of a milk-producing mammal, regardless of the season, to include a substantially constant dark period and a substantially constant light period, 10 and to recover the milk before the end of the dark period. In the method of the invention, the cows are kept under conditions that include 2 to 11 hours of dark time and 13 to 22 hours of light time per day. By night, we mean conditions in which the amount of light is not more than about 40 lux, preferably about 10 lux, and light conditions in which the amount of light is greater than about 150 lux, however, at least 7 times the night light, preferably above 250 lux. However, the minimum value for daylight is 50 lux. Even with this light, the body's melatonin levels can be lowered, assuming it is darker at night.

The daily rhythm of the cows is adjusted so that their second daily milking occurs just before the end of the dark period. In practice, this milking is aa-20 mulping, but the cows are allowed to be exposed to light only about 30 minutes after milking so that melatonin secretion that begins in the dark does not stop before milking. In the case of milking, the light entering the cow's eyes is limited to 40 lux. This ensures the highest possible level of melatonin in the milk.

In one preferred embodiment, the lightness of the barn is maintained at 10 lux at night between 23 and 7 25, before the evening milking is normally performed to obtain ordinary milk. The morning milking is done so that it is completed before 6.30. In the summer, the cows can be outside, except during the night, and in the winter daylight must be at least 150 lux.

Within the limits described above, night milk production can be stabilized 30 so that the milk melatonin content is maintained at more than 20 pg / ml in all seasons, at all stages of the milking season, by all producers complying with the scheme. It is possible to achieve concentrations well above this concentration.

The invention will now be described by way of example.

BNSDOCID: <FI 111324B1 I> 4 111324

Example 1

The effect of the method according to the invention on the melatonin content of farm milk was investigated. The cows were milked under the conditions of the invention and under normal conditions in the control experiment. In both cases, lighting conditions were kept within the limits of the method of the invention: at night the light was less than 4 lux and the daylight was at least 250 lux. In the experimental situation of the invention, the length of the night was adjusted to 7 hours and the day to 17 hours respectively. In the comparison, night and day were 12 hours. The other circumstances were the same. The results and experimental conditions are tabulated below.

Table 1

Comparative experiment Arrangement according to the invention experimental arrangement Night Length (h) 12 7 Night Lighting (lux) (maximum) 4 4 Day Length (h) 12 17 Day Lighting (lux) (minimum) 250 250

Milking time (6am) 6am

Lightness during milking (lux) 10 10 (maximum)

The beginning of the daylight hours (8am to 8am)

Volume tank melatonin content 8.88 56.4 mouth (pg / ml)

From the table it can be seen that only by shortening the night time the milk melatonin concentration increased to 56.4 pg / ml.

Some embodiments of the invention have been described above. Naturally, the invention is not limited to the above examples, but the principle of the invention can be modified within the scope of the claims.

BNSDOCID: <FI 111324B1 I>

Claims (6)

Method for producing milk with a high melatonin content, characterized in that, irrespective of the season, the diurnal rhythm of the mammal producing the milk is processed so as to contain a dark period of substantially constant length, lasting from 2 to 11 hours and during which the amount of light is halls for about 40 lux, and a light period of substantially constant length, which lasts for 13-22 hours, during which the amount of light is about 150 lux and the amount of light is at least 7 times the dark period's light quantity, and that the milk is added before the dark period 30 ends. 3NSDOCID: <FI 111324B1 I> 111324 Method according to claim 1, characterized in that during the dark period the amount of light is below 10 lux and during the light period the amount of light is above 250 lux. Method according to claim t or 2, characterized in that during the collection of the milk, the light is as if the eyes of the mammal are at most 40 lux. Method according to any of claims 1-3, characterized in that the dark period is about 7 hours and the light period about 17 hours. Method according to any of claims 1-4, characterized in that the mammal is exposed to light only about 30 minutes after the milk has been collected. 10 6. A method as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the mammal is a cow. BNSDOCID: <F1 111324B1 I>