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the rest had two or more. The precise cause of diabetes remains unclear. The children in the study were genetically predisposed to it, but most will never get the disease. Something in the environment or diet may trigger it. Some researchers suggest that changing a predisposed child's diet might derail the disease. However, the proteins and calcium in cows' milk impart great benefits, Akerblom says. "None of this [research] is strong enough ... to start changing habits about how mothers raise children," he warns. Dosch agrees but notes that the evidence against cows' milk is piling up. As an example, he cites research from Puerto Rico. There, fewer than 5 percent of mothers breast-feed their children. Instead, nearly all use formula made from cows' milk. Meanwhile, type I diabetes incidence in Puerto Rico is roughly 10 times the rate seen in Cuba, where breast-feeding is nearly universal. Such findings suggest that the problem may be cows' milk ingested in the first few months of life. After all, Dosch says, "we are the only species that drinks another species' milk. It's a weird thing. We have not evolved to be exposed to [bovine insulin] protein."
References: Akerblom, H.K., S.M. Virtanen . . . O. Vaarala, et al. 1999. Emergence of diabetes associated autoantibodies in the nutritional prevention of IDDM (TRIGR) project. 59th Annual Scientific Sessions of the American Diabetes Association. June. San Diego. Further Readings: 1996. Cow's milk: New link to diabetes? Science News 150(Oct. 19):249. 1995. Cow's milk for infants: No longer regarded as "nature's most perfect food." Health Facts 20(January):3. Harrison, L.C. 1996. Cow's milk and IDDM. Lancet 348(Oct. 5):905. Sternberg, S. 1996. Cow's milk not linked to early diabetes. Science News 150(Sept. 7):151. Sources: Hans K. Akerblom University of Helsinki Department of Medicine Hallituskatu 8 00100 Helsinki Finland Hans-Michael Dosch Hospital for Sick Children Division of Immunology and Cancer Research 555 University Avenue
Toronto, Ontario M5G 1X8 Canada Outi Vaarala University of Helsinki Department of Medicine Hallituskatu 8 00100 Helsinki Finland Suvi M. Virtanen University of Tampere School of Public Health P.O. Box 607 (Medisiinarinkatu 3) FIN-33101 Tampere Finland
From Science News, Vol. 155, No. 26, June 26, 1999, p. 404. Copyright 1999, Science Service.