By Annabelle Tukia
Dairy cows tend to be milked at the same time every morning and afternoon without fail.
However they may soon find their routine is turned on its head, if a new product called Synlait night milk gets the green light for production.
Dr Tony McKenna of Synlait says it is at that time when the melatonin is coming up to its highest level.
Melatonin is a light sensitive hormone which helps to regulate the body clocks and aids sleep; just like humans, cows produce more of it at night.
Scientists at Synlait believe that by milking cows at night they have developed a product which has five to ten times more melatonin than regular milk and they are confident it will help people with sleeping troubles.
“If we can boost their melatonin levels, give them a nice drink of warm milk before they go to bed which will help them sleep, I think there’s going to be a great response to that,” says Dr McKenna.
He says the next step is to put the product through a clinical trial to prove its benefits.
Sleep expert Guy Earman says that will be critical to elevate the product from clever marketing ploy to genuine sleep aid.
“If a clinical trial can show that very low doses of melatonin can help sleep initiation then certainly it has a possible therapeutic effect,” he says.
As for the effect on the cows that have to wake up two hours earlier, vet David Campbell is confident it will be minimal.
“A lot of these girls are asleep in the middle of the day and they really actually enjoy coming in at night, it’s nice and cool and they get on with their routine.”
Routine being one aspect that many sleep deprived people would like to find themselves in.
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