Milk may set off diabetes for genetically vulnerable
The protein A1 beta-casein that’s found in cows’ milk could trigger type 1 diabetes in people with genetic risk factors, a new report warns.
There are 78,000 new cases of type 1 diabetes diagnosed worldwide in young people every year, with many additional cases in adults. More than 240,000 Kiwis have been diagnosed with diabetes and it’s the largest and fastestgrowing health issue Kiwis face, official figures show, though most people here have type 2.
Seven New Zealand and Australian researchers, including Professor Boyd Swinburn of Auckland University, have reviewed evidence on type 1 diabetes - which occurs when your body has stopped producing insulin - and the Journal of Nutrition & Diabetes has accepted their paper. There is ‘‘evidence but no definite proof’’ of a link. There have been no clinical trials done because they would be expensive and difficult to carry out.
‘‘People who are genetically susceptible to developing type 1 diabetes would need to be identified at birth and half of them randomly allocated to a diet free of A1 beta-casein for many years,’’ said Swinburn in an issued statement with co-author Professor Keith Woodford.
The evidence comes from 71 studies. Most cows’ milk globally contains the A1 beta-casein, but not A2 milk - which is produced in New Zealand by the a2 Milk Company. The A2 protein does not cause the discomfort some people experience when consuming A1, according to the company. A report first linked the A1 betacasein with type 1 diabetes in 2003. But the New Zealand dairy industry has argued against the findings since then. Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease often arriving during childhood, when the pancreas fails to produce insulin. Type 2 diabetes is primarily a disease of middle-aged and older people and is related to excess weight, diet and lack of physical activity.