Milk...it does a lobby good! - Prescriptive Optimization

My daughter recently had a well-visit at the pediatrics office. The next day I had a chance to review the handout they provided my wife. The common item I saw on both pages was the emphasis on milk:

3 milk

Is milk good for all kids and beyond debate? I think not.

Most milk protein in mass distribution is called casein A-1.

About two thousand years ago, a spontaneous mutation in Northern European cows caused them to make the protein casein A-1 in their milk instead of the normal casein A-2. During digestion, casein A-1 is turned into a lectinlike protein called beta-casomorphin. This protein attaches to the pancreas’s insulin-producing cells, known as beta cells, which prompts an immune attack on the pancreas of people who consume milk from these cows or cheeses made from it.5 This is likely a primary cause of type 1 diabetes.6 Southern European cows, goats, and sheep continue to produce casein A-2 milk ¹

Ok, so strike one is casein A-1 can produce an immune response, often termed autoimmunity, or attacking the host.

Not a positive, next?

Research published in 2014 demonstrated that digesting gluten (found in grain) and casein (found in dairy) results in the release of peptides with opioid activity. These peptides cause changes to cystein methylation in the DNA, leading to epigenetic changes as well as having negative effects on glutathione and the overall oxidative burden in the brain. Gluten- and casein-containing diets lead to changes in the epithelial cells of both the gastrointestinal tract (leaky gut syndrome) and the brain (leaky BBB) via these opioid pathways.

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In many people, casein breaks down into casomorphin, which binds to the opiate receptors in your brain and makes you feel sedated.

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Now, we can see that that lectin in A-1 is also a defacto opiate. Yes, affecting the same receptors as heroin and morphine. Comforting!

What makes these details relevant to tease out their role in causation is when their removal is evaluated in how diseases are impacted. There is copious amounts of information out there on Casein Free (CF) diets helping autism:

Children diagnosed with these food sensitivities were routinely placed on strict gluten-free/casein-free (GF/CF) diets. A study of 500 autism cases showed that 85% of families adopting the special diet reported major benefits. Hundreds of parents told me of very rapid and striking improvements in their children. A study of the 15% nonresponders revealed that about half had a family history of Crohn’s disease or other inflammatory bowel disorder. This experience has convinced me that all autism spectrum children deserve a trial of the GF/CF diet, with or without the benefit of special laboratory testing.

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Removal appears to help autism, but what if you don’t have that? Well, we discussed folic acid metabolism briefly before, and these casein antibodies also play a role here as well. You see, dairy antibodies can also block folate receptors, as evidenced again by studying their removal. This is something I have seen in my own child, milk products change her personality within an hour, even she recognizes this now and avoids on her own…even chocolate milk. That is science!

This info is not meant to trash all milk and dairy, rather to briefly demonstrate that it is reasonable to assert firmly that it is not uniformly beneficial to all. If this is true then why would the American Academy of Pediatrics instruct parents and kids to religiously consume 3 glasses of milk per day?

It took me literally 3 minutes riding in the car to develop a hypothesis, most of that was because the cell signal was unreliable on that stretch of road. Here are the steps:

Look at organization producing the document:
Google
Analyze funding page:
See Nestle and realize they make milk while also contributing at least $50,000
Google Nestle Milk Sales

With this short inquiry, it seems as though the world’s largest milk company is one of the leading contributors to the AAP and also gets official recommendations to buy/consume their product 3 times daily. Fair?

It is important in this discussion to point out that the doctors are not the focus here. They, like pharmacists and other medical professionals, belong to organizations that provide a variety of roles in practicing their discipline. What is needed here is to understand where the power lies, and that is with the patient. Developing an understanding of the interests that reside behind the information being distributed is powerful and critical. I personally believe providers should engage in this analysis as well, however, it will take time as the way providers are paid does not allow sufficient time for investigation of all claims, although as I have shown here it took 3 minutes to find this connection. Until the proper context in all of this medical advice is fully transparent patients must drive the conversation by asking many questions before committing to accepting corporately distributed information at face value.

We are happy to help, please don’t hesitate to reach out.

Steven R. Gundry M.D., The Plant Paradox: The Hidden Dangers in “Healthy” Foods That Cause Disease and Weight Gain, pg. 32, loc. 561
Linda Elsegood, The LDN Book: How a Little-Known Generic Drug — Low Dose Naltrexone — Could Revolutionize Treatment for Autoimmune Diseases, Cancer, Autism, Depression, and More, loc. 808
Dave Asprey, Head Strong: The Bulletproof Plan to Activate Untapped Brain Energy to Work Smarter and Think Faster-in Just Two Weeks, loc. 1880
William J. Walsh, Nutrient Power: Heal Your Biochemistry and Heal Your Brain, pg. 104, loc. 1924

Milk…it does a lobby good!

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