Wednesday March 2, 2022 – Author:
ham
Is milk healthy or unhealthy? There are controversial views in science about this. MS researchers from Bonn have now been able to prove that casein from cow’s milk damages the myelin layer. The researchers also assume dangers for healthy people.
A controversial debate has been going on for years about the health value of milk. Some still see dairy products as a healthy source of calcium. Others claim that make milk sick can. This faction includes Dr. Bodo Melnik from the University of Osnabrück. The medical doctor says that growth factors in cow’s milk can even lead to cancer.
Causal relationship found
It is therefore interesting what MS researchers from the Universities of Bonn and Erlangen-Nuremberg have now discovered. The starting point for their study was that people with multiple sclerosis (MS) often complain of stronger symptoms after consuming dairy products. The research team wanted to know: Is there a causal connection? And if so, which substance in the milk triggers the symptoms of the disease?
Neurological disorders observed in mice
To find out, they injected mice with various proteins from cow’s milk. In fact, it turned out that if the animals were given the cow’s milk ingredient casein together with an active enhancer, the mice then developed neurological disorders. “Under the electron microscope it was shown that the insulating layer around the nerve fibers, the myelin, was damaged,” explains MS researcher Stefanie Kürten from the University Hospital Bonn.
Antibodies against casein destroy myelin sheath
Exactly these Myelinummantelung is also destroyed by the body’s own immune system in MS. Nerve stimuli can then no longer be transmitted properly, which can lead to discomfort, problems with vision, and movement disorders. In the mice, too, the insulating shell was massively perforated – apparently caused by the administration of casein. “We suspected that the reason was a misguided immune reaction, similar to that in MS patients,” explains Rittika Chunder. “The body’s own defense actually attacks the casein, but also destroys proteins that are involved in the formation of the myelin.”
Fatal cross-reactivity
Further investigation revealed that a protein called MAG was also attacked by the immune system. This protein is important for the production of myelin and looks very similar to the casein found in cow’s milk in some ways. So the immune system seems to confuse the two molecules with each other.
According to the researchers, this so-called cross-reactivity explains why many MS patients react so violently to dairy products. The immune system therefore produces large numbers of casein antibodies, which also damage the myelin layer around the nerve fibers due to cross-reactivity with MAG. However, this only affects MS patients who are allergic to cow’s milk casein. “We are currently developing a self-test that people can use to check whether they have the appropriate antibodies,” explains group leader Kürten. “At least this subgroup should refrain from consuming milk, yoghurt or quark.”
Where a lot of cow’s milk is drunk, there is more MS
The MS researcher also thinks it is possible that cow’s milk also increases the risk of MS in healthy people. Because casein can also trigger allergies in them – theoretically, there could also be cross-reactivity with the myelin. Although these findings are not yet certain, the researcher refers to studies according to which more cases of multiple sclerosis occur in population groups in which a lot of cow’s milk is consumed.