Lack of association between duration of breast feeding and introduction of cows' milk and development of islet autoimmunity
Couper JJ, Steele C, Beresford S, Powell T, McCaul K, Pollard A, Gellert S, Jankulovski C, Harrison LC, Colman PG
Diabetes 48:2145-2149 (1999)
The hypothesis that early exposure to cow's milk or lack of breast-feeding predisposes to type 1 diabetes remains controversial. We aimed to determine prospectively the relationship of, first, duration of exclusive breast-feeding and total duration of breast-feeding, and second, introduction of cow's milk protein as infant formula, cow's milk, or dairy products, to the development of islet antibodies in early life. Some 317 children with a first-degree relative with type 1 diabetes were followed prospectively from birth for 29 months (4-73). Mothers kept a home diary and answered infant feeding questionnaires at 6-month intervals. No systematic feeding advice was given. Insulin autoantibodies (normal range <5.5%), anti-GAD antibodies (<5.0 U), and anti-IA2 antibodies (<3.0 U) were measured at 6-month intervals. Cox proportional hazards model of survival analysis detected no significant difference between children who did not develop islet antibodies (225 of 317 [71%]), children with one islet antibody raised once (52 of 317 [16.4%]), children with one antibody raised repeatedly (18 of 317 [5.7%]), or children with two or more antibodies raised (22 of 317 [6.9%]), in terms of duration of exclusive breast-feeding, total duration of breast-feeding, or introduction of cow's milk-based infant formulas, cow's milk, or dairy products (relative risk: 0.91-1.09). Four of the children with two or more islet antibodies developed type 1 diabetes. We conclude that there is no prospective association between duration of breast-feeding or introduction of cow's milk and the development of islet autoimmunity in high-risk children.
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Cows' milk and type 1 diabetes. The real issue is mucosal immune function
Harrison LC, Honeyman MC
Diabetes 48:1501-1507 (1999)
The hypothesis that early exposure of the infant to cow's milk (or lack of breast-feeding) predisposes the child to type 1 diabetes dates from the 1980s. It has important implications, but remains controversial because the evidence on which it is based has been indirect and is open to criticism. Two meta-analyses of multiple studies in which diabetes prevalence was associated retrospectively with infant feeding revealed only a marginal increase in relative risk. Two recent prospective studies found no apparent association between development of antibodies to islet antigens and feeding patterns in high-risk infants with a first-degree type 1 diabetic relative. Studies reporting increased humoral and cellular immunity to cow's milk proteins in children with type 1 diabetes often lack appropriate controls and standardization and do not, in themselves, establish a causal connection to disease pathogenesis. A review of published data leads to the conclusion that increased immunity to cow's milk proteins is not disease-specific, but reflects genetic predisposition to increased immunity to dietary proteins in general, associated with the HLA haplotype A1-B8-DR3-DQ2 (A1*0501, B1*0201), which also predisposes to celiac disease and selective IgA deficiency. We suggest that the cow's milk hypothesis could be productively reframed around mucosal immune function in type 1 diabetes. Breast milk contains growth factors, cytokines, and other immunomodulatory agents that promote functional maturation of intestinal mucosal tissues. In the NOD mouse model, environmental cleanliness may influence diabetes incidence through mucosal mechanisms, and exposure of the mucosa to insulin (present in breast milk) induces regulatory T-cells and decreases diabetes incidence. The mucosa is a major immunoregulatory barrier, and cow's milk happens to be the first dietary protein it encounters. The basic question is whether impaired mucosal immune function predisposes to type 1 diabetes.
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