CHENNAI: If the National Institute of Nutrition has its way, you may soon be able to delay or prevent diabetes and hypertension by drinking milk.
After fortifying salt and wheat flour with essential nutrients to fight goitre and anaemia, the Hyderabad-based institute is planning to fortify milk with Vitamin D to prevent lifestyle disorders. Fortification is the scientific process through which micronutrients are added to staple food to bridge deficiencies. "We are looking at lowfat milk as an option to fortify Vitamin D, the deficiency of which is growing alarmingly in Indians," said NIN director Dr B Sasikeran. It is an irony that the vitamin, which is formed in the body due to exposure to sunlight, is in short supply in a country that has abundant sunlight.
Experts say this is because people avoid outdoors or use sunscreen lotions. Vitamin D deficiency can also cause bone degeneration and cancer. In five years, deficiency-related diseases will reach pandemic proportions in the country, Dr Sasikeran said at the inauguration of a two-day national conference on 'nutrition in metabolic disorders' in the city. "Milk is fortified with vitamin D in several countries. But we don't know if we will see the desired results in India as milk is not consumed in several rural pockets.
We will be able to see success only if we encourage more people to consume milk," he said. Since vitamin D can be blended well with fat, there are other options such as edible oil. "But we are recommending that even oil should be taken in very low quantities," he said. The sun's ultraviolet B rays absorbed through the skin trigger Vitamin D production in the body. "A 20-minute walk can give you adequate nutrition, but many people use sunscreens that have high SPF (sun or protection factor). This blocks absorption," he said. People with metabolic syndrome caused by vitamin deficiency are twice more likely to develop cerebrovascular disease (CVD) and about five times more likely to develop Type 2 diabetes compared to people without metabolic syndrome. "Nutrition has a vital role to play. We will be able to prevent a lot of diseases if we reduce vitamin D deficiency," he said.
Though genetics also have a role, metabolic disorders are predominantly caused by environmental factors in India, said Dr D Prabhakaran, executive director, Centre for Chronic Disease Control, Initiative for Cardiovascular Health Research in the Developing Countries, New Delhi. In the next two days, panelists will discuss the role of nutritional therapies in managing metabolic disorders.
My take
Instead of addressing the real issue that is deficiency vitamin D, the National Institution of Nutrition chooses to increase the problem by advising fortified MILK. Studies have suggested that bovine serum albumin is the milk protein responsible for the onset of diabetes. Deficiency of vitamin D does lead to lifestyle related diseases but prmoting milk with fortified vitamin D worsens the problem. Here are quotes from various studies:
"Patients with insulin- dependent diabetes mellitus produce antibodies to cow milk proteins that participate in the development of islet dysfunction... Taken as a whole, our findings suggest that an active response in patients with IDDM (to the bovine protein) is a feature of the autoimmune response." New England Journal of Medicine, July 30, 1992
"Introduction of dairy products and high milk consumption during childhood may increase the child's risk of developing juvenile diabetes."
Diabetologia 1994;37(4):381-387
"These new studies, and more than 20 well-documented previous ones, have prompted one researcher to say the link between milk and juvenile diabetes is 'very solid'." Diabetes Care 1994;17(12)
"Antibodies to bovine beta-casein are present in over a third of IDDM patients and relatively non-existent in healthy individuals." LANCET, October, 1996, 34
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