In parts of the Middle East, people drink camel milk for its nutritional value. It boasts more vitamin C and iron than cow's milk and it's lower in fat.
But in Missouri, some people are starting to rub it on their skin: A Jordanian woman is bringing camel milk to the Midwest in the form of a skin care line.
The milk comes from a farm in Jordan, where seven camels produce about five liters a day. The farmer sends the milk to a biotech company in Amman called MONOJO. The scientists there analyze it, looking for three special antibodies.
Antibodies are proteins that help fight off infections, latching on to foreign pathogens and telling the body's immune system, "Intruder alert." Typically, these antibodies degrade in higher temperatures and acidic environments. But antibodies in camel milk are stronger.
"We found that those proteins are very, very stable against temperature, high temperature and against high acidity," says MONOJO founder Penelope Shihab, the woman behind the startup in Missouri.
"Maybe the reason [is] because the camel can tolerate high temperature in the desert," she says. "Some of the scientists say that, but we couldn't confirm any of those suggestions."
Shihab's research team tested these camel milk antibodies on acne. Immunologist Khaled Al-Qaoud, Shihab's research and development manager, says camel antibodies succeed where others fail because they remain intact longer at the site of inflammation, ultimately helping the body's immune system continue to fight the acne.
Al-Qaoud says the results of the study impressed them so much so that they concocted a camel milk treatment for the skin condition.
"We use skin formulas, like for example, gel or cream or serum — any type of formulation — and we put the whey of the camel that contains the antibodies in this formula," says Al-Qaoud.
The creams look similar to the ones you find at the drug store; milky white and floral scented. Shihab says she's commercializing this formula in the U.S. first because Middle Eastern consumers trust American brands.
A colleague directed her to Missouri, a small market where she could learn the ropes of the U.S. biotech industry.
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