267 Lactose Intolerance – a new treatment [12 May 2014]

About 70% of the world’s human population loses the ability, as adults, to produce lactase, the enzyme which breaks down lactose (milk sugar). In cultures such as ours where dairy is a part of the normal diet, this creates a problem. Typical symptoms observed within an hour or two of consuming milk sugar include abdominal pain, bloating, flatulence, nausea and diarrhea. There are two strategies to deal with lactose intolerance – dietary avoidance and lactase supplements.

Now there is a third option. Just this year a new product has been approved in Canada for the treatment of lactose intolerance. Sulmedol®, a special form of sulfur, actually restores the ability to digest lactose by reactivating lactase production in the intestine. It was accidentally discovered in 2003 by Dr Airudin Khan at the U. of Western Ontario, London, who was studying homocysteine levels. Sulmedol® works in two ways: by reactivating the genes that control lactase production, and by increasing the production of the amino acid L-Cysteine, an essential component of the lactase enzyme.

The treatment requires taking 2 capsules daily, while avoiding all sources of lactose, for 4 to 12 weeks. Lactose intolerance is tested at 4 weeks and every 2 weeks after that until symptoms have disappeared. The program is continued for another 4 weeks and then stopped. You should then be able to consume dairy symptom-free. Some people may need to repeat the treatment in a few years. The treatment is not effective for true dairy allergies involving the immune system.

In a clinical trial, 90% of 41 adults tested had their lactose tolerance restored after 12 weeks (some sooner). Most remained tolerant for a median of 76 weeks without further treatment. Side effects were minimal – three people experienced some bloating and flatulence during the treatment phase.

Sulfur is the third most abundant mineral in the body, after calcium and phosphorus. Other expected benefits from taking the sulfur supplement would be lowered homocysteine levels (implicated in heart disease, osteoporosis and brain dysfunction) and increased glutathione, arguably the most important antioxidant in our cells. Healthy skin hair and nails all require sulfur containing amino acids.

Source: www.sulmedol.com and lecture by Marva Ward, CNP.

For more information on this or other natural health topics, stop in and talk to Stan; for medical advice consult your licensed health practitioner.

226 Sugar in Milk [July 22, 2013]

Two Harvard medical doctors writing in the July 2013 JAMA Pediatrics question the evidence for recommending 3 cups of low-fat milk for children and adults. David S. Ludwig, MD, PhD and Walter C. Willett, MD, DrPH noted that while dietary recommendations typically limit consumption of calorie-containing liquids, they encourage 3 cups daily of reduced-fat milk (2% or skim) which contains 12g of sugar per cup.

Two possible rationales for this recommendation – to reduce calories and to reduce saturated fats – are not supported by available evidence. The few studies comparing whole milk and reduced fat milk show equal or even greater weight gain in the low fat group. Ludwig and Willett suggest the lower satiety of low-fat milk causes an increase in consumption of other foods which often contain high-glycemic carbohydrates (i.e. the child is still hungry so eats another cookie).

And reducing saturated fat to prevent heart disease may or may not be effective – it depends on what it is replaced with. If replaced by unsaturated fats or low-glycemic carbs (whole grains and vegetables), the blood lipids (cholesterol levels) should improve. But if replaced by high-glycemic carbs (sugar and starch), cholesterol may not change but triglycerides will increase and so will the risk for a heart attack.

The authors then discuss sweetened chocolate milk. Adding 14g of sugar per serving to encourage children to drink more, undermines the nutritional advantage of the milk. And the added sugar is sucrose (glucose + fructose) which is harder on the liver than the natural milk sugar lactose (glucose + galactose).

Finally the authors question the requirement of milk as a calcium source. They argue that the USA RDA for calcium is probably higher than it needs to be, and certainly higher than in other countries like the UK. They also point out that countries which do not eat dairy have a lower bone fracture rate than those that do; and that a recent meta-analysis found that milk consumption does not protect against fractures in adults.

Although they don’t come out with a conclusion or recommendation, it appears that Ludwig and Willett would prefer 1 or 2 cups of whole milk rather than 3 of low-fat milk, and certainly than sweetened flavored milk.

For more information on this or other natural health topics, stop in and talk to Stan; for medical advice consult your licensed health practitioner.

061 A1 & A2 Milk [3 May 2010]

I recently learned something interesting about milk. Keith Woodford in his 2007 book “Devil in the Milk: illness, health and the politics of A1 and A2 milk” explains the two types of cow milk based on the form of a protein called beta-casein. A single mutation in a European cow thousands of years ago resulted in a change to this protein which affects the milk we drink today.

Milk from African and Asian cattle breeds and some older European breeds such as Jersey and Guernsey contain A2 beta-casein. Newer European breeds including the Holstein produce milk containing A1 beta-casein. (Goats and sheep, by the way, produce A2 milk.) So what difference does this make?

The beta-casein in A1 milk releases, in digestion, a smaller protein called beta-casomorphin-7 (BCM-7) which is the “devil in the milk”. In his forward to Woodford’s book, Thomas Cowan MD writes that BCM-7 “…is the exact culprit in the myriad of symptoms [that he has observed in his patients who had problems with milk] …including joint and muscle pains, fatigue, digestive disturbances, and headaches”.

Woodford writes that BCM-7 selectively binds to the epithelial cells in mucus membranes and stimulates mucus secretion. (This may explain the persistent though often disputed belief that cow milk is “mucus forming”.) BCM-7 is also implicated in more serious health problems including: type 1 diabetes, ischemic heart disease, and neurological conditions such as autism and schizophrenia.

Woodford argues persuasively that much improvement in population health could be achieved by switching dairy production to A2 breeds. This process is quietly underway in New Zealand, where most of the research on A1-A2 milk has been done over the past decade, and A2 milk is widely available in Australia. There has been no such movement in the USA and Canada, and to date no acknowledgement of the problem. Dairy farmers can begin their own conversion by breeding with A2 semen. Meanwhile, if you are a farmer, you could buy yourself a Jersey cow and begin producing your own A2 milk. Raw milk is healthier for you anyway, but that’s a topic for a future column.

To read excerpts from Woodford’s book go to www.amazon.com and search for “devil in the milk”. For more technical reports see www.betacasein.net which references more than 80 published studies on BCM-7 and its effects on health.

This article is intended for educational purposes only; for medical advice consult your licensed health practitioner.