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Cows Milk Responsible For Destruction of Beta Cells in Type 1 Diabetes

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

One of my earlier posts (Think Twice Before Feeding Your Child Cows Milk) discussed the possibility that early ingestion of cows milk can increase the risk for type 1 diabetes.

Last month, an article in a journal of the American Chemical Society reviewed the literature for this association:

Relation of Time of Introduction of Cow Milk Protein to an Infant and Risk of Type-1 Diabetes Mellitus, Journal of Proteome Research, April, 2008

Its author, Marcia Goldfarb, described a set of conditions which could explain how pancreatic beta cells are destroyed - leading to type 1 diabetes - when cows milk products are fed to infants:
"The newborn intestine does not have complete "closure" and can pass food antigens. Beta Lactoglobulin could generate antibody to glycodelin undermining T cell regulation of beta cells."

Mechanism
  1. Beta-lactoglobulin is a protein present in cows milk, but not human milk. "It has the largest concentration of any whey protein in bovine milk. (Goldfarb)" Glycodelin is a human protein that affects our immune system, regulating our T-cells.

  2. The cow beta-lactoglobulin and the human glycodelin have similar structures, such that an infants body may generate antibodies not just for the foreign beta-lactoglobulin, but also for the endogenous glycodelin.

  3. Type 1 diabetes is thought to be caused by autoimmune destruction of pancreatic beta cells by T-cells. Destruction of glycodelin (by the antibodies generated to destroy the foreign cows milk protein) may allow proliferation of these beta-cell-destroying T-cells.
In a small investigation, Goldfarb indeed found antibodies to beta-lactoglobulin in the serum of children with type 1 diabetes. Those she tested who did not have diabetes did not have these antibodies.
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