Tag: Milk

Pesticides in dairy products linked to Parkinson’s disease

Pesticide Found in Milk Decades Ago May Be Associated with Signs of Parkinson’s

image of cow-grazing
A pesticide used prior to the early 1980s and found in milk at that time may be associated with signs of Parkinson’s disease in the brain, according to a study published in the December 9, 2015, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Cows Grazing.

2015 Study Abstract

Objective
To examine the relationship between midlife milk intake and Parkinson disease (PD) incidence through associations with substantia nigra (SN) neuron density and organochlorine pesticide exposure in decedent brains from the Honolulu-Asia Aging Study.

Methods
Milk intake data were collected from 1965 to 1968 in 449 men aged 45–68 years with postmortem examinations from 1992 to 2004. Neuron density (count/mm2) was measured in quadrants from a transverse section of the SN. Additional measures included brain residues of heptachlor epoxide, an organochlorine pesticide found at excessively high levels in the milk supply in Hawaii in the early 1980s.

Results
Neuron density was lowest in nonsmoking decedents who consumed high amounts of milk (>16 oz/d). After removing cases of PD and dementia with Lewy bodies, adjusted neuron density in all but the dorsomedial quadrant was 41.5% lower for milk intake >16 oz/d vs intake that was less (95% confidence interval 22.7%–55.7%, p < 0.001). Among those who drank the most milk, residues of heptachlor epoxide were found in 9 of 10 brains as compared to 63.4% (26/41) for those who consumed no milk (p = 0.017). For those who were ever smokers, an association between milk intake and neuron density was absent.

Conclusions
Milk intake is associated with SN neuron loss in decedent brains unaffected by PD. Whether contamination of milk with organochlorine pesticides has a role in SN neurodegeneration warrants further study.

Sources and more information
  • Midlife milk consumption and substantia nigra neuron density at death, AAN,
    doi.org/10.1212/WNL.0000000000002254, December 9, 2015.
  • Pesticide Found in Milk Decades Ago May Be Associated with Signs of Parkinson’s,
    American Academy of Neurology (AAN), December 09, 2015.

U.S. FDA’s survey of Milk finds some dairy Farmers breaking the Law on Antibiotics

Illegal Antibiotics Could Be in Your Milk, FDA Finds

cows-get-milked image
A small percentage of farmers are giving dairy cows antibiotic drugs that aren’t intended for them. Anders Porter image.

” A new report from the Food and Drug Administration reveals that a few farmers are using antibiotics that the routine tests don’t try to detect, because the drugs aren’t supposed to be used on dairy cows at all.

The FDA looked for 31 different drugs in samples of milk from almost 2,000 dairy farms. About half of the farms — the “targeted” group — had come under suspicion for sending cows to slaughter that turned out to have drug residues in their meat. The other farms were a random sample of all milk producers.

Just over 1 percent of the samples from the “targeted” group, and 0.4 percent of the randomly collected samples, contained drug residues. An antibiotic called Florfenicol was the most common drug detected, but 5 other drugs also turned up. Perhaps most disturbing: none of the drugs that the FDA detected are approved for use in lactating dairy cows. ”

Sources and more information

  • MILK DRUG RESIDUE SAMPLING SURVEY, fda, March 2015.
  • FDA Tests Turn Up Dairy Farmers Breaking The Law On Antibiotics,
    npr, MARCH 08, 2015.
  • FDA’s Survey of Milk Finds Few Drug Residues, fda, March 5, 2015.
  • Questions and Answers: 2012 Milk Drug Residue Sampling Survey, fda, 03/05/2015.

Baby formula can pose high arsenic risk to newborns, much more than breast milk

Arsenic in Well Water Can Raise Level in Baby Formula

In the first U.S. study of urinary arsenic in babies, Dartmouth College researchers found that formula-fed infants had higher arsenic levels than breast-fed infants, and that breast milk itself contained very low arsenic concentrations.

baby image
In the first US study of urinary arsenic in babies, Dartmouth College researchers found that formula-fed infants had higher arsenic levels than breast-fed infants, and that breast milk itself contained very low arsenic concentrations.

2015 Study Abstract

Background:
Previous studies indicate that breast milk arsenic concentrations are relatively low even in areas with high drinking water arsenic. However, it is uncertain whether breastfeeding leads to reduced infant exposure to arsenic in regions with lower arsenic concentrations.
Objective: We estimated the relative contributions of breast milk and formula to arsenic exposure during early infancy in a U.S. population.

Methods:
We measured arsenic in home tap water (n=874), urine from six-week-old infants (n=72), and breast milk from mothers (n=9) enrolled in the New Hampshire Birth Cohort Study (NHBCS) using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Using data from a three-day food diary, we compared urinary arsenic across infant feeding types and developed predictive exposure models to estimate daily arsenic intake from breast milk and formula.

Results:
Urinary arsenic concentrations were generally low (median 0.17 µg/L, maximum 3.0 µg/L) but 7.5 times higher for infants fed exclusively with formula than for infants fed exclusively with breast milk (β = 2.02; 95% CI: 1.21, 2.83; P<0.0001, adjusted for specific gravity). Similarly, the median estimated daily arsenic intake by NHBCS infants was 5.5 times higher for formula-fed infants (0.04 µg/kg/d) compared to breastfed infants (0.22 µg/kg/d). Given median arsenic concentrations measured in NHBCS tap water and previously published for formula powder, formula powder was estimated to account for ~70% of median exposure among formula-fed NHBCS infants.

Conclusions:
Our findings suggest that breastfed infants have lower arsenic exposure than formula-fed infants, and that both formula powder and drinking water can be sources of exposure for U.S. infants.

Sources and more information
  • Estimated Exposure to Arsenic in Breastfed and Formula-Fed Infants in a United States Cohort, Environ Health Perspect; DOI:10.1289/ehp.1408789, and full PDF.
  • Baby formula poses higher arsenic risk to newborns than breast milk, Dartmouth study shows, DARTMOUTH COLLEG, 23-FEB-2015.
  • Arsenic in Well Water Can Raise Level in Baby Formula: Study, health, February 23, 2015.

Milk: it does No-Body Good

Currently, dairy cattle are injected with rBGH (recombinant bovine growth hormone) which is banned in Europe and Canada but not in America

Milk: It Does No-Body GoodDid you know? In the 1950s the majority of dairy cattle were injected with diethylstilbestrol (DES). Currently, dairy cattle are injected with rBGH (recombinant bovine growth hormone) which is banned in Europe and Canada but not in America.

Read : Milk: It Does No-Body Good, it’s pretty bad, in fact,
patch, June 17, 2012.

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