Midlife milk consumption and substantia nigra neuron density at death

[JustJeff]

The researchers found that subjects who drank more than 2 cups of milk per day during their midlife years had approximately 40% fewer dopamine neurons

Interesting article re Dairy product consumption and associated risk of Parkinson’s,

scienceofparkinsons.com/202...

[Stillstandingstill]

Very interesting. I had my own daily pint of milk as a child because I was small for my age. Hmmmmm. Mind you, I can point to many potential factors in my life that have been linked to PD. I don't consume milk now, black tea/coffee and kefir (fermented milk) on my cereal so fingers crossed it is helping or at least less harmful.

[kaypeeoh]

Growing up I had Lucky Charms in milk every day for breakfast. Then abruptly at age 17 I lost the ability to digest milk. I had a quart of milk midday and by afternoon the flatulence was rattling the windows and drove everyone out of the house.

[rescuema in reply to kaypeeoh]

Did you take any antibiotics around the time?

[kaypeeoh in reply to rescuema]

No, it was sudden, abrupt lactose intolerance.

[rescuema in reply to kaypeeoh]

Sounds like an epigenetic event in your case. You might find the below article interesting. I was at one point in my life absolutely lactose intolerant and thought I lost the ability to produce lactase but noticed that I was able to tolerate it again just fine after slow and steady reintroduction populating the gut microbiome. cnn.com/2019/04/17/health/l...

[caitilin in reply to kaypeeoh]

Thanks for the laugh Kaypeeoh😁Just what I needed this evening 👍🏻

[Hikoi]

Thanks for posting this interesting article. I thought “oh bother” when I began reading, not another thing to consider. But it was good to read at the end :

The association between Parkinson’s and dairy intake does not appear to be a very strong. There is a clear pattern, but there are obviously other factors involved. And the Mendelian randomization study demonstrating reduced risk of multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer’s complicates the situation

I dont have much milk anyway but stopping it entirely would have been a pain, or I could have taken up smoking.

[DroppinIn in reply to Hikoi]

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I'd feel remiss in not sharing. Dr. Mischley has her own data showing a strong correlation between dairy and disease progression. And there is separate research that indicates that the fatty proteins from dairy may be the cause of the mis-folded proteins that clog the dopamine neuroreceptors. There is enough corroborating evidence that it convinced me to forego dairy. Plus, these days, there are a lot of great dairy substitutes, so I can honestly say that after 3 years I barely miss it.

[JustJeff in reply to DroppinIn]

Thanks very interesting

[Hikoi in reply to DroppinIn]

I guess you didnt read the article because he discusses Mishley’s work before the conclusion i copied. He nor I discount it. Waiting for more substantive studies.

[DroppinIn in reply to Hikoi]

No I didn’t read it so thanks for the added clarification. Not trying to convince you at all, because everyone has to come to their own conclusions on how to manage this complex disease. What I would add, is that I don’t think the way we study disease in the west will ever prove out things like dairy being the culprit. Because the fundamental structure of clinical studies is to isolate variables, and this seems to be a very heterogeneous disease, that may have a variety of sources and triggers that cause it. I work in the medical industry and have managed clinical studies, so I see the flaws in the system and our inability to deal with complex diseases with our current study design criteria.

[caitilin in reply to DroppinIn]

I don’t drink cow’s milk; but I do drink unsweetened almond milk. I find it works well as a substitute. I suppose regular yogurt would not be recommended?

[kaypeeoh in reply to caitilin]

In yogurt the sugars have been digested by bacteria. So there no problem with yogurt. However if the problem is milk allergy....BIG problem.

[Elephantlydia]

Very interesting observations and more research in this area would add but the Mendelian randomisation study is fascinating and certainly a step in the right direction.Perhaps a double blind placebo controlled study would be possible ? However funding for a large study would probably be difficult.

[PalmSprings]

Very interesting! Thanks for sharing!

[Ponieboy]

Good read. I have gone virtually dairy free.

[JustJeff in reply to Ponieboy]

Thanks Ponieboy yea im going to do the same

[Sonshineman1 in reply to Ponieboy]

Can you tell any difference in your symptoms since going dairy free

[JustJeff in reply to Sonshineman1]

Hi I'm just starting out on the dairy free journey but Ponieboy might have a better answer

[HekateMoon]

I was fully vegan 10 years prior to PD...before that dairy always gave me GI problems but i ignored it...now i use tahini and some egg for calcium...but dairy seems to trigger alot of reactions for humans...best stay away. Though i miss some cheese, vegan cheese is ok.

[JAS9]

I went vegan 6 years ago and I have had some improvements in PD symptoms, but I've done a lot of other things so I can't say, that it was eliminating dairy that helped the most. But here's a video that discusses several trials that looked at dairy and PD, including the one you mentioned above.

nutritionfacts.org/video/th...

[JustJeff in reply to JAS9]

Thanks very interesting

[HekateMoon]

Funny enough i was fully vegan about 13 yrs before Pd started showing its ugly face...but thinking back maybe i had little signs even before...

[Rhyothemis]

Some suggestions have been made in literature for the cause of the association between dairy consumption and PD, e.g., pesticides in dairy (mentioned in the blog post), the uric acid lowering effect of dairy, and the neurotoxic effect of galactose (galactose is used experimentally to simulate brain aging in mice).

I came across another possibility recently that I have not seen mentioned in published articles - the effect of dairy products on ghrelin levels. There is a peptide in milk that can lower ghrelin levels, and low ghrelin levels have been implicated in PD. While ghrelin has a bad rep for being associated with obesity (it's often called 'the hunger hormone') & addiction, it is also neuroprotective & has been shown to protect the liver from damage from carbon tetrachloride. Also protective in sepsis & has anti-inflammatory activity.

I have a twitter thread with links to relevant articles - sorry for not posting them here but I don't have much time & don't want to re-do the work:

twitter.com/RhyothemisP/sta...