Crohn's Disease through Milk?

Researchers believe that Crohn’s disease, a bowel disorder that causes inflammation of the intestine leading to diarrhea, pain, weight loss and fatigue, may be caused by a type of bacteria that is passed to humans through milk.

The bacteria, mycobacterium avium paratuberculosis (MAP), was found in some 92 percent of patients with Crohn’s disease, compared to only 26 percent of patients in a control group. MAP is present in about two percent of commercial pasteurized milk.

As a solution, researchers recommend that people with Crohn’s disease, or those who feel at risk, drink UHT milk, which is pasteurized at higher temperatures that likely kill MAP.

The bacteria may also be associated with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), according to researchers.

Journal Clinical Microbiology July 2003l;41(7):2915-23