Cow’s milk can prevent allergies – naturopathy & naturopathic specialist portal

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According to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), the frequency of allergic diseases has increased significantly in countries with a western lifestyle since the 1970s. According to the experts, more than 20 percent of children and more than 30 percent of adults will develop at least one allergic disease in the course of their lives. According to a new study, to protect yourself from allergies, it may make sense to consume cow’s milk at a young age.

Milk is full of important nutrients

Even if there are some indications that milk could harm health, many experts recommend regular cow’s milk consumption. After all, it contains high-quality protein, easily digestible fat and carbohydrates in the form of milk sugar lactose that are easy for the body to use, explains the Federal Center for Nutrition (BZfE).

Of particular importance is the high content of the minerals calcium and phosphorus, the water-soluble vitamins of the B group (especially vitamin B2) and the fat-soluble vitamins A and D.

AdvertisementA certain protein in cow’s milk also has an impact on human health. According to a recent study from Austria, this can protect against allergies.

Key molecule for the so-called farm protection

As the Medical University (MedUni) Vienna writes in a communication, numerous studies prove that growing up on a farm and drinking unprocessed, natural cow’s milk in the first years of life protects against the development of immunoglobulins E (IgE), which are important for allergic symptoms are responsible.

AdvertisementIn a current study led by Franziska Roth-Walter and Erika Jensen-Jarolim from the Institute for Pathophysiology and Allergy Research at MedUni Vienna and from the inter-university Messerli Research Institute – a joint institution of Vetmeduni Vienna, MedUni Vienna and the University of Vienna – has now been shown that a protein secreted by cows, beta-lactoglobulin, which is also found in milk, is a key molecule for so-called farm protection against allergies.

The study was recently published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (JACI).

Rural environment trains the immune system

AdvertisementThe rural environment trains the human immune system. According to the experts, children who play in the cowshed and drink unprocessed milk are less likely to suffer from allergies and asthma. This effect is called farm protection.

In laboratory and animal model studies, the Austrian research team showed that beta-lactoglobulin, when carrying its natural ligands, such as plant pigments from green grass, prevents allergies. In contrast, the protein behaved like an allergen without its natural ligands.

“The anti-allergic properties of natural beta-lactoglobulin can be explained by the fact that this protein specifically brings its ligands to the immune defense cells and thus prevents inflammation. The natural ligands also prevent IgE antibodies from docking to beta-lactoglobulin protein, which should make them more tolerable by milk-allergic children, ”explains Roth-Walter.

New key molecule for the protective effect

With the cow protein beta-lactoglobulin, the study therefore presents a new molecule which, according to the experts, together with its natural ligands, is of interest for the farm protective effect against allergies.

However, circumstances that can lead to a loss or deficiency of these ligands, for example due to industrial milk processing or poor animal feed quality, can convert the well-tolerated milk protein beta-lactoglobulin into an allergen.

“Our study gives hope that the farm allergy protection effect can be made more practical and used to prevent the allergy epidemic,” says Erika Jensen-Jarolim. (ad)