Over the last few decades we have become gradually more accepting of the modification of our food, whether through genetic modification or the use of artificial processes such as vertical farming to grow the things we eat.

Breast milk has long been sacrosanct however, and health authorities the world over have fought a long battle against formula manufacturers who endeavor to convince mothers that their product is comparable to breast milk, when the reality is it really is anything but.

This should be no surprise really, as breast milk is incredibly complex and is believed to contain over 1,500 distinct proteins.  Human breast milk is significantly more complex than its bovine peer, which contributes to the poor substitute formulaic milk usually is.

Bioengineering milk

A startup, called BioNascent, are attempting to close the gap between breast milk and formula by bioengineering the product so that it contains human proteins rather than bovine proteins.  They do this by inserting human genes into yeast and fungi in their labs to create the kind of proteins commonly found in breast milk.  They’ve already successfully engineered alpha-lactalbumin, which is a protein that makes up nearly 30% of breast milk, but very small percentages of bovine milk.

Suffice to say, the project is at an incredibly early stage, and they’re looking for commercial investment to help develop it further, and of course to try and secure approval from the medical regulators.

Whilst the technology is undoubtedly interesting, it does raise the question for me as to whether it is really needed.  Breast milk is already perfectly designed for the job at hand, and what’s more, it is completely free.  Whilst there are some instances where formula milk is required, most of the occasions when mothers resort to it could be avoided with support from trained lactation professionals.

So, attempting to replace this with an artificial alternative that is likely to be expensive to make seems to be attempting to tackle a problem that doesn’t really exist.  What’s more, the area is rife with companies using mass advertising to sow seeds of doubts in the minds of mothers as to just what is best, which can often prompt them to move away from breast milk to formula unnecessarily.

There are, therefore, a number of concerns surrounding the application of this technology in this particular area, but from a scientific point of view, it will be an area well worth tracking.