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A new study suggests that consumption of cow's milk during childhood may increase the risk of developing type 1 diabetes in children who are genetically susceptible to the disorder.
Researchers found that children who had a sibling with diabetes were more than five times as likely to develop the disorder if they drank more than half a liter (about three glasses) of cow's milk a day, compared with children who drank less milk.
While it is not clear which component of cow's milk may increase risk of diabetes, researchers suspect that one of several proteins may be to blame by causing the immune system to attack insulin-producing cells in the pancreas.
Type 1 diabetes is usually diagnosed in children or adults under 30. People with type 1 diabetes usually take life-long insulin injections to control their blood sugar.
In addition to the milk connection, a greater number of children who developed diabetes were found to be genetically susceptible to the disease. Seventy-nine percent of these children carried a particular genetic variation associated with diabetes while only 30% of those who did not develop diabetes had the variation.
Diabetes 2000;49:912-917.
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