The China Study by Thomas Campbell

AUTOIMMUNE DISEASES 187

The immune system uses a very delicate process to decide which pro-

teins should be attacked and which should be left alone.ll The way this

process, which is incredibly complex, breaks down with autoimmune

diseases is not yet understood. We just know that the immune system

loses its ability to differentiate between the body's cells and the invading

antigen, and instead of using the body's cells for "training," it destroys

them along with the invaders.

TYPE 1 DIABETES
In the case of Type 1 diabetes, the immune system attacks the pancreas
cells responsible for producing insulin. This devastating, incurable
disease strikes children, creating a painful and difficult experience for
young families. What most people don't know, though, is that there is
strong evidence that this disease is linked to diet and, more specifically,
to dairy products. The ability of cow's milk protein to initiate Type 1
diabetes^12 -^14 is well documented. The possible initiation of this disease
goes like this:

• A baby is not nursed long enough and is fed cow's milk protein,
  perhaps in an infant formula.


• The milk reaches the small intestine, where it is digested down to
  its amino acid parts.


• For some infants, cow's milk is not fully digested, and small amino
  acid chains or fragments of the original protein remain in the in-
  testine.


• These incompletely digested protein fragments may be absorbed
  into the blood.


• The immune system recognizes these fragments as foreign invad-
  ers and goes about destroying them.


• Unfortunately, some of the fragments look exactly the same as the
  cells of the pancreas that are responsible for making insulin.


• The immune system loses its ability to distinguish between the
  cow's milk protein fragments and the pancreatic cells, and destroys
  them both, thereby eliminating the child's ability to produce insu-
  lin.


• The infant becomes a Type 1 diabetic, and remains so for the rest
  of his or her life.

This process boils down to a truly remarkable statement: cow~ milk
may cause one of the most devastating diseases that can befall a child. For