Milk

[jeeves19]

Hi gang. Am a bit concerned about the connection between milk and PD. Any thoughts on this? I could probably give it up (although I have to admit I love the stuff!) but have started making my own kefir for gut health. If kefir is so good for the gut how can I rationalise this with causing the disease? Bit confusing.

[soup]

The only work I have seen on a connection between milk and Parkinson's was from an old study in Hawaii.

When looked at carefully it was discredited because the milk wax from cows who were routinely fed on vegetation affected by high evils of pesticide connected with with the pineapple crops.

What have you seen?

[jeeves19 in reply to soup]

That one mainly but there seem to be some supporting research being added to this. I read an article on a website entitled 'scienceofparkinsons'.

[park_bear in reply to jeeves19]

Laurie Mischley also found associations between dairy consumption and PD progression: hindawi.com/journals/omcl/2...

full paper: hindawi.com/journals/omcl/2...

[windhorsepixy]

Isn't kefir the Best ?!!! But kefir isn't really milk - I would think the healthy bacteria in it would be of help. I'm envious that you are making your own. That's so great.

[jeeves19]

It's quite easy to make your own. Just buy the grains (not dry granules which aren't nearly as good) through the post and add to milk! Leave or 24 hours and there you go. What could be easier? But your starting point has to be getting some live culture from an existing 'grower'. Good luck.

[munchybunch in reply to jeeves19]

Hi does that mean technically that it's not dairy? We've gone dairy free and I'm a bit confused about whether kefir counts as dairy. Where do you get the grains from and then what do you do pls? Thanks so much

[jeeves19]

See post above as regards what to do. I'm in the UK and am unsure your location. I get my grains from Raw and Pure here in England. Just Google for grains wherever you are. But they need to be moist when they arrive, not dry granules.

[michaela13]

Is it okay to have kefir with selegeline?

[jeeves19 in reply to michaela13]

Sure. Why not?😀

[healthabc]

ok, so-

No, it has nothing to do with dairy intake-

Reason:

my own case- diagnosed with pd at 48 yo, diagnosed the same month as my mom, who is 36 yrs older. We live 30 mins apart. My son has been anaphylactic to dairy since birth, 18 yrs ago. Therefore we eliminated dairy from our home. I would eat dairy only occasionally when out, but didn't care to b/c then when I kissed him, he would hive up wherever my lips touched. My mom ate dairy a lot thru her life, she's from a dairy farming family. The biggest difference between my mom & I has been dairy in our diets.

The common thread between us, though, has been our exposure to extreme familial stress- and genetics, of course. If dairy had anything to do with pd, I would certainly not have pd.

[jeeves19 in reply to healthabc]

Thanks so much. Very helpful and really appreciate the insight!

[Beemacs]

I quit drinking milk when I was a baby (18 months old) after being ill with meningitis. I do use it in cooking & on cereal but I was dxed in 2004 at 52 years of age.

[jeeves19 in reply to Beemacs]

Thanks. Wonder if we all have a different cause to this infuriating disease?

[Beemacs]

I did read that coffee helps to prevent PD but I don't remember where or when I read it & I don't remember what else was suggested, I just remembered this because I was glad my son drinks coffee!

[HealthSeeker7]

If there is any connection to getting PD from drinking milk, I suspect it is most likely due to pesticides in the cow's feed being passed on in her milk, as shown in the Hawaii study mentioned above. If that's the case, then the solution is to only drink organic milk (if you want to drink animal's milk) or plant 'milks'. Organic milk comes from cows who eat pesticide-free feed.

Putting the pesticide aspect aside, many people have an allergy to cow's milk and some are unaware of the connection between drinking milk and their symptoms. If you think about it, cow's milk is designed for baby cows. Our digestive systems struggle to digest it. In nature its unlikely you would ever see a human suckling a cow, so it seems unsurprising that milk can cause health problems in humans.

We're quite certain my husband's PD (dx 12 years ago) was caused by inhaling lots of pesticides when he worked on a farm as a young man. He recently gave up animal milk and other dairy products because the protein in dairy interferes with the absorption of his PD medication. He now happily uses a range of plant 'milks' on his cereal (organic soya, almond, coconut, oat, etc), soya or oat 'cream' in his coffee, and he eats dairy-free ice cream made from ingredients like these. (Even Ben and Jerry have come out with a vegan ice cream.) I have yet to find a vegan kefir here in the UK, but I have seen vegan yoghurt made of soya and coconut milk.

[jeeves19 in reply to HealthSeeker7]

A lovely post, very detailed. Appreciate it and thanks.

[silvestrov]

11 reasons why milk is bad for Parkinson’s Disease

linkedin.com/pulse/11-reaso...

[jeeves19 in reply to silvestrov]

Heavy. Shame but thanks for posting.

[HeartSong]

I have read some of the things about milk and PD. And, even though I have PD, I don't touch any milk products for a different reason. A number of years ago, I developed severe, disabling arthritis in both hands. My doctor said there was no cure for it, and that all I could do was take medication to control it. At the time, I was drinking two yogurt smoothies every day (organic yogurt, pomegranate juice, almonds) plus I was eating cheese. I remembered reading somewhere that some people have a problem digesting the proteins in milk (this is different from lactose intolerance) and these undigested proteins could cause arthritis. So, I went cold turkey and immediately stopped all milk products. My hands were noticeably better in two weeks. In two months, they were completely healed. That was 15 years ago. The arthritis has never come back in my hands or anywhere else in my body, and I have never gone back to consuming milk products.

As a side note, the above is one of the reasons that I take it with a grain of salt whenever anyone tells me that there is no cure for PD.

[jeeves19 in reply to HeartSong]

Thanks Heartsong. An interesting observation

[Lumpy12]

I was a child who lived in Mont Apica, Quebec Canada. ( RCAF base). I remember they routinely fogged the base (semi isolated)

with DDT to make it

Liveable due to the black flies. I often wondered if it would come back to haunt me. I guess this is it!