Correlation between Milk and Dairy Product Consumption and Multiple Sclerosis Prevalence: A Worldwide Study

Abstract

Multiple sclerosis (MS) epidemiology suggests that different factors are involved in the clinical expression of the disease. Alimentary cofactors have already been considered, but mainly theoretically. We have studied the relationship between MS prevalence and dairy product consumption in 27 countries and 29 populations all over the world, with Spearman''s correlation test. A good correlation between liquid cow milk and MS prevalence (ρ = 0.836) was found; this correlation was highly significant (p < 0.001). A low but still significant correlation was obtained with cream or butter consumption (ρ = 0.619 and ρ = 0.504, respectively). No correlation was found for cheese. These results suggest that liquid cow milk could contain factor(s) – no longer present in the processed milk – influencing the clinical appearance of MS. The possible role of some dairy by-products is discussed in the light of a multifactorial etiology of MS.

T Cells of Multiple Sclerosis Patients Target a Common Environmental Peptide that Causes Encephalitis in Mice

“…In MS, this abnormality might contribute to the association of high cow milk exposure and the risk to develop MS or its relapses (11)(12)(13)50). The identification of the BSA 193 epitope in MS patient experiments now permits mechanistic studies of its encephalitogenic potential in mice, analogous to similar studies in diabetes-prone animals (23,37,51).…”

“…7-9), but the issue is not settled in either disease (10). In addition, epidemiological surveys identified nutritional elements as risk factors for the development of autoimmunity, specifically linking high exposure to cow milk protein (CMP) with the risk to develop MS (11)(12)(13)(14) or autoimmune diabetes, where the available literature is more recent and more extensive (reviewed in Refs. [15][16][17].…”

“…We asked whether the possible association between high cow milk exposure and MS risk suggested by epidemiological surveys years ago (11)(12)(13)24) was associated with abnormal immunity to CMPs. During these studies, we were encouraged by the recent report of Stefferl et al (25) that the milk protein butyrophilin can cause encephalitis in rats through antigenic mimicry with myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein.…”

Antibody Cross-Reactivity between Myelin Oligodendrocyte Glycoprotein and the Milk Protein Butyrophilin in Multiple Sclerosis

“…In fact, chance may play a major role in determining whether or not molecular mimicry between MOG and BTN leads to a detrimental or protective immune response in any particular individual. Intriguingly, epidemiological studies associate the prevalence of MS with the consumption of milk and dairy produce (41,42,43), but whether this is related to molecular mimicry involving MOG and BTN remains a matter of speculation. Table I.…”

“…Epidemiological studies repeatedly associate the prevalence of MS with dietary factors including the consumption of milk and dairy produce (41)(42)(43), and this has lead to speculation that molecular mimicry involving BTN may modulate MOG-specific autoimmune responses in humans (19,44). To examine this possible link in more detail, we investigated the Ab response to MOG Igd in patients with MS for evidence of molecular mimicry with BTN.…”