Think Twice Before Feeding Your Child Cow's Milk

In my previous post I discussed a recent study that reported an association between vitamin D supplementation and risk for type 1 diabetes (Preventing Diabetes - Can Vitamin D Protect Against Type 1?)

I wanted to add a note for those looking to vitamin D-fortified cow's milk for that supplementation. That may be problematic. Some studies, notably this 1992 investigation that appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine:

A Bovine Albumin Peptide As A Possible Trigger Of Insulin-Dependent Diabetes Mellitus

... documented the ability of cow's milk protein to initiate type 1 diabetes.

Here's how that is thought to work:

Children fed cow's milk at an early age may develop antibodies against a specific protein in that milk which resembles a protein on the surface of pancreatic beta cells. The child's immune cells may then attack not only the foreign cow's milk protein, but also the similar-looking beta-cell protein.

In the study above, the serum of 142 children with type 1 diabetes, 79 children without diabetes, and 300 adults were analyzed for antibodies against bovine serum albumen (anti-BSA antibodies). Findings:

• All of the children with type 1 diabetes had elevated levels of anti-BSA antibodies (all were above 3.55, averaging 8.5 kfU/microliter).
  
• None of the children without type 1 diabetes had elevated levels of anti-BSA antibodies (all were below 3.55, averaging 1.3 kfU/microliter).
  
• The 300 adults also had much lower levels of anti-BSA antibodies.

A few years later, researchers in Canada performed a meta-analysis of relevant studies and concluded:¹

"Early cow's milk exposure may be an important determinant of subsequent type I diabetes and may increase the risk approximately 1.5 times."

Although some find the body of evidence indicting cow's milk in the development of type 1 diabetes convincing, the scientific community still has not reached consensus.

In looking for a recent study addressing this link, I found the following article by investigators from Finland reporting in the ADA's journal Diabetes in 2005:

Environmental Triggers and Determinants of Type 1 Diabetes, Diabetes, 2005

In it, they continued to present evidence that early feeding of cow's milk ... when coupled with a genetic predisposition or to exposure to an enterovirus at a young age ... can lead to type 1 diabetes.

As long as there is a strong dairy industry, there is likely to be controversy over this issue. It doesn't hurt, though, to be informed.
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¹ Cow's Milk Exposure And Type I Diabetes Mellitus. A Critical Overview Of The Clinical Literature, Diabetes Care, 1994