1. Consumption of unprocessed cow's milk protects infants from common respiratory infections
- Author
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Loss, G., Depner, M., Ulfman, L.H., van Neerven, R.J., Hose, A.J., Genuneit, J., Karvonen, A.M., Hyvärinen, A., Kaulek, V., Roduit, C., Weber, J., Lauener, R., Pfefferle, P.I., Pekkanen, J., Vaarala, O., Dalphin, J.-C., Riedler, J., Braun-Fahrländer, C., von Mutius, E., and Ege, M.J.
- Subjects
Respiratory Infections ,Rhinitis ,Otitis ,Fever ,Inflammation ,C-reactive Protein ,Infancy ,Milk ,Prevention ,Epidemiology ,food and beverages - Abstract
Background: Breast-feeding is protective against respiratory infections in early life. Given the co-evolutionary adaptations of humans and cattle, bovine milk might exert similar anti-infective effects in human infants. Objective: To study effects of consumption of raw and processed cow's milk on common infections in infants. Methods: The PASTURE birth cohort followed 983 infants from rural areas in Austria, Finland, France, Germany, and Switzerland, for the first year of life, covering 37,306 person-weeks. Consumption of different types of cow's milk and occurrence of rhinitis, respiratory tract infections, otitis, and fever were assessed by weekly health diaries. C-reactive protein levels were assessed using blood samples taken at 12 months. Results: When contrasted with ultra-heat treated milk, raw milk consumption was inversely associated with occurrence of rhinitis (adjusted odds ratio from longitudinal models [95% CI]: 0.71 [0.54-0.94]), respiratory tract infections (0.77 [0.59-0.99]), otitis (0.14 [0.05-0.42]), and fever (0.69 [0.47-1.01]). Boiled farm milk showed similar but weaker associations. Industrially processed pasteurized milk was inversely associated with fever. Raw farm milk consumption was inversely associated with C-reactive protein levels at 12 months (geometric means ratio [95% CI]: 0.66 [0.45-0.98]). Conclusions: Early life consumption of raw cow's milk reduced the risk of manifest respiratory infections and fever by about 30%. If the health hazards of raw milk could be overcome, the public health impact of minimally processed but pathogen-free milk might be enormous, given the high prevalence of respiratory infections in the first year of life and the associated direct and indirect costs.
- Published
- 2015