The Milk – Diabetes Connection
Milk Proteins Can Trigger Diabetes
• Canada confirms the milk-diabetes connection.
• Early exposure to milk proteins is accepted as the cause of diabetes.
REPORT ON DIABETES AND MILK CONSUMPTION Wed, June, 23, 1999
Investigator Dr. John Dupre, M.D., at the London Health Sciences Centre in London, Ontario, has a new study, still unpublished, which provides absolute proof of the missing link that has been so controversial.
CANADIAN TELEVISION
CTV reported this story. “It’s a controversial theory that now has new scientific fuel . . . can cow’s milk trigger diabetes in children who are prone to the disease?”
The study suggests that if babies considered at risk of developing the disease are taken off cow’s milk formula they may be protected against getting diabetes later in life.
SCIENTISTS ASK THIS QUESTION
“Can juvenile diabetes be PREVENTED in children at risk of the disease simply by eliminating cow’s milk from their diet?”
THE ANSWER – Dr John Vandermullen
Dr.John Vandermuellen’s response: “The data is building that there may in fact be something there.”
Vandermuellen and a number of Canadian researchers helped design a study conducted on 200 infants in Finland. The children all had a family history of diabetes. After being breast fed, they were given either cow’s milk or an infant formula modified to eliminate cow’s milk protein. By the time the children were age two there was a striking difference between the two groups.
Among the children who avoided cow’s milk formula, nearly 2% showed signs of possible diabetes development. Among those given the cow’s milk, over 12% had signs that diabetes could be developing.
MILK PROTEINS CAUSE DIABETES
The theory is that milk proteins in the cow’s milk may trigger the child’s immune system to attack it, along with similar looking BETA-cells in the pancreas that produce insulin.
The data are so intriguing that Canadian researchers have begun an even larger study on thousands of children at 14 diabetes centers across Canada.
Source: Bob Ryziuk obtained a transcript of the report from CTV television. (416-332-5000).