Milk-diabetes Connection

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, 23 JUNE, 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unpublished, which provides absolute proof of the missing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
fourteen diabetes centers across Canada.