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Effect of Abrupt Changes of Diet Upon the Yield and Composition of Milk

U. S. Department of Agriculture

Abstract

About 10 years ago it was shown, as the result of the work of a number of investigators, that the amino acids that are formed in the digestion of proteins pass into the blood and are taken up as such from the blood by the various tissues and organs of the body.

A few years ago in the Government laboratory at Beltsville, Md., we showed that the mammary gland actually makes the proteins of milk from amino acids which it takes from the plasma of the blood. The amino acid N in the blood plasma of milking cows is relatively low. The composition of the plasma mixture of amino acids is frequently quite different from that of the milk proteins. About 25 per cent of the total amount present is taken out in a single passage of the blood through the gland. This means a far greater depletion of some of the individual amino acids in the plasma mixture; and it suggests that the yield and composition of milk may frequently be affected by the concentration or composition of the plasma mixture of amino acids.