There has been a contentious debate for years over the health value of milk. Some still view dairy products as a healthy source of calcium. others claim that make milk sick can do. In this group Dr. Bodo Melnik from Osnabrück University. The doctor says that growth factors in cow’s milk can also cause 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 relationship? And if so, what substance in milk triggers the symptoms of the disease?

Neurological disorders seen in rats

To find out, they injected rats with various proteins from cow’s milk. In fact, it has been found that if animals are given casein, a component of cow’s milk, with an active enhancer, rats develop neurological disorders. “Under the electron microscope it was shown that the insulating layer around nerve fibers, myelin, had been damaged,” explains MS researcher Stephanie Kurten from the University Hospital Bonn.

Antibodies against casein destroy the myelin sheath

absolutely this myelin sheath In MS, it is also destroyed by the body’s immune system. Nerve stimuli can no longer be transmitted properly, causing discomfort, vision problems, and movement disorders. Even in rats, the insulating shell was extensively perforated—apparently due to the administration of casein. “We suspected that the cause was a misguided immune response, as is the case in MS patients,” explains Ritika Chander. “The body’s own defense actually attacks the casein, but also destroys the proteins that are involved in the formation of myelin.”

lethal 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 in some respects resembles the casein found in cow’s milk. So the immune system begins 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 a large number of casein antibodies, which also damage the myelin layer around nerve fibers due to cross-reactivity with MAG. However, it only affects those 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 Kurten. “At least this subgroup should avoid milk, yogurt or quark.”

Where cow’s milk is drunk more, MS. Is greater

MS researchers also think that it is possible that cow’s milk increases the risk of MS even in healthy people. Because casein can also trigger allergies in them—theoretically, cross-reactivity with myelin can also occur. Although these findings are not yet definitive, the researcher refers to studies that found more cases of multiple sclerosis occurred in population groups that consumed a lot of cow’s milk.