Breathe easy moms: Baby formula made from cow’s milk does not cause diabetes

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A 15-year global study of children genetically predisposed to developing Type 1 diabetes found that drinking formula made with cow’s milk did not increase such children’s risk for developing the disease.

“Previous studies have indicated that early exposure to complex foreign proteins, such as the proteins in cow’s milk, may increase the risk of Type 1 diabetes in people with genetic risk for the disease,” said one of the study’s authors, Neil H. White, MD, a Washington University professor of pediatrics and of medicine. “The question was whether delaying the exposure to complex foreign proteins will decrease the risk of diabetes. The answer is no.”

Beginning in 2002, White and his research colleagues examined 2,159 infants in 15 countries. Each infant had a family member affected by Type 1 diabetes, as well as a genetic propensity for the disease that was determined with a blood test given at birth.

Of the infants who consumed the conventional cow’s-milk formula, 82 (7.6 percent) eventually developed diabetes. For those who received the hydrolyzed-casein formula, 91 (8.4 percent) developed the disease.

“This study shows no statistically significant difference between the groups in terms of how many of these children developed diabetes; therefore, it helps provide a long-awaited, definitive answer to the controversy regarding the potential role of cow’s-milk formula in the development of Type 1 diabetes,” said White.

Read full, original post: Formula made with cow’s milk does not increase diabetes risk

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