A recent study shows a link between drinking milk and Parkinson's disease. The contaminants found in milk poses a risk in developing brain disorder.
The calcium rich dairy product has been part of our daily diet since birth and up to adulthood. A new research has shown there is a connection between our favorite dairy drink or its similar products and the risk of developing Parkinson's disease.
Parkinson's is a neurological degenerative disorder that causes motor malfunctions for the person affected. Researchers suspect that chemicals found in cow's milk might be responsible for promoting the debilitating illness. However, these are but speculations as there is little evidence to prove how these dairy products can actually affect people's risk for the illness.
Now, researchers have figured out a possible clue to the link. Robert Abbott, a researcher from Shiga University of Medical Science in Japan and his team wrote in the journal Neurology about an environmental scandal in the 1980s that can prove the connection. During that time, farmers in Hawaii used an organochlorine pesticide on their pineapple crops. It could have possibly made its way to the cows when fed with gruel mixed with pineapple bits. The study eventually involved Japanese-American men with detailed information including the quantity of milk they have ingested at the time. At the conclusion of their lives, they have pledged their brains for scientific research.
Abbott and his team studied 449 brains and have found affected neurons in specific areas that are only known to be linked with Parkinson's.
They found that men who drank twice as much milk had thinner nerve networks compared to those who drank little or less.
Although they were not able to obtain samples the men drank, Abbott and his team cannot say for certain that the contaminated milk was the source of the pestide residue found in the men's brains but it's the closest explanation that they can find.
The pesticide is no longer being used in the United States so there's no reason for everyone to stop drinking milk. Calcium is still best for the bones, as reported online.
