Diet, cow's milk protein antibodies and the risk of IDDM in Finnish children

Abstract

Summary Associations of infant feeding patterns and milk consumption with cow's milk protein antibody titres were studied in 697 newly-diagnosed diabetic children, 415 sibling-control children and 86 birth-dateand sex-matched population-based control children in the nationwide "Childhood Diabetes in Finland" study. IgA and IgG antibody titres to the proteins of cow's milk formula, BLG and BSA, and IgM antibody titres to cow's milk formula proteins were measured by ELISA. Several inverse correlations were observed between the duration of breast-feeding or age at introduction of dairy products and antibody titres, and positive correlations were observed between milk consumption and antibody titres in all three populations studied. Multivariate analyses which included the infant feeding variables, milk consumption and current age simultaneously showed that the earlier the introduction of dairy products and the greater the consumption of milk was, the higher several antibody titres were. High IgA antibody titres to cow's milk formula were associated with a greater risk of IDDM both among diabeticpopulation-control and diabetic-sibling-control pairs when adjusted for other cow's milk antibody titres, dietary variables and in diabetic-sibling-control pairs also for ICA. The results suggest that young age at introduction of dairy products and high milk consumption during childhood increase the levels of cow's milk antibodies and that high IgA antibodies to cow's milk formula are independently associated with increased risk of IDDM. [Diabetologia (1994) 37: 381-387]

Significance of cow's milk protein antibodies as risk factor for childhood IDDM: interactions with dietary cow's milk intake and HLA-DQB1 genotype

“…The finding of an independent association of BSA IgG antibody levels with IDDM differs from our earlier results from Finnish and Swedish populations [20,21]. In those studies, the HLA genotype was not included in our multivariate analyses.…”

Improvements in Human Health Through Production of Human Milk Proteins in Transgenic Food Plants

“…Animal experiments have indicated that development of IDDM can be prevented in diabetes-prone rodents if animals are provided a bovine milk-free diet in early life (Daneman et at., 1987). Shorter duration of breast-feeding and early introduction of dairy products was found to be associated with an increased risk ofIDDM in Finnish and Brazilian children (Virtanen et at., 1991(Virtanen et at., , 1994Oimeno and de Souza, 1997). It has also been reported that patients with IDDM have elevated levels of serum IgO and IgA anti-BSA (bovine serum albumin) antibodies which cross react with p69, one of the target ~-cell antigens in IDDM patients (Karjalainen et at., 1992).…”

Intervention at neonatal age: can we intervene?

“…Recently, antibodies to various protein constituents present in cow's milk, such as bovine serum albumin, b-lactoglobulin and bovine b-casein and T-cell reactivity to some of the same constituents have been documented in newly-diagnosed IDDM subjects. [9][10][11] Epidemio-logical studies show a strong correlation between the per capita intake of cow's milk and the incidence of IDDM. The incidence of IDDM has also been shown to be inversely related to the duration of breast feeding.…”