Posted by Larry Hoover on January 6, 2005, at 18:12:25
In reply to need info on dairy and inflamation, posted by green willow on January 6, 2005, at 14:27:43
> I am interested in learning exactly what the substance is in dairy products that causes inflamation in some people. Someone told me it was the milkfat, and if that is true, then drinking skim milk and non-fat yogurt should not be a problem. However, from personal experience I have not found that to be the case.
It's not usually milkfat that is the problem. I suppose it could be, but then we'd think of it as a butter problem?
Most likely, it has something to do with the milk protein casein. One theory is that differences in the way protein is digested lead to different protein fragments being created. A large protein like casein could be broken down billions of different ways, just depending on which bonds are broken first. This breaking down, called hydrolysis, is usually done by enzymes. The fragments that are left are probably what is irritating.
The theories are: A) certain people tend to create particularly irritating fragments; B) certain people are particularly sensitive to the irritating fragments; C) a combination of the two.
One candidate for such an irritant is called beta-casomorphin. That is geek speak for the second identified casein fragment that acts like morphine. By incidentally creating a protein fragment (a peptide) that activates opioid receptors in gut cells, that initiates a cascade of inflammatory/paralytic processes. If the peptide is in high enough concentrations, or encountered recurrently before healing can occur, that might explain why some people can tolerate a bit of dairy once in a while, but not a lot at one sitting, nor a bit every day.
It's just a theory, but it seems to fit the facts.
Lar
poster:Larry Hoover
thread:438550
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/alter/20050101/msgs/438620.html