Cow’s milk allergy in multiple sclerosis patients

Abstract

• Background: Exposure to some environmental agent such as different nutrition and contact with allergens may have a role in developing multiple sclerosis (MS). The present study was aimed to evaluate the cow’s milk allergy (CMA) in MS patients compared to healthy controls.
• Materials and Methods: Between March 2012 and July 2012, 48 MS patients were selected and compared with 48 healthy subjectsto assess the frequency of CMA in MS patients compared to healthy control.Cow’s milk specific immunoglobin E (IgE) was determined by Immuno CAP. Sex and the frequency of CMA were compared between study groups by Chi-square test.
• Results: Total of 96 subjects were assessed (22% male and 78% female). The mean age of the study subjects was 30.8± 6.6 years. Mean age of case and control groups was 30.7 (±6.9) versus 30.9 ± 6.3, respectively (P value = 0.83). There were no detection of cow’s milk specific IgE in serum of MS patients and healthy subjects.
• Conclusion: There was no difference between MS and healthy subjects regarding CMA.
• Key words: allergy, cow’s milk, multiple sclerosis