What I Found

 

The mechanistic and biological pathways related to multiple sclerosis demyelination are extremely complex and will likely require many years to be fully understood. However, causation of MS is far less complicated. It is not necessary to identify mechanistic pathways of MS to identify a viable treatment option. Identification of potential causation only requires an understanding of what needs to occur to initiate the MS autoimmune reaction.

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1. The precise location in the body that the immune system attacks must be known. MS is known to be caused by the immune system attacking proteins of the myelin sheath (MBP, MOG and MOBP) of the nervous system. Several potential specific locations that these attacks occur along the chain length of these proteins has been identified.
    

2. The mistaken targeting of the myelin sheath by the immune system requires the presence of an antigen that can be mistaken for the myelin sheath as a result of protein similarity. The milk protein butyrophilin has very high sequence similarity to MOG (46% along a 128 amino acid sequence) and has been identified as an MS antigen.
    

3. The level of exposure to the antigen must match the prevalence of MS in different populations. There is an excellent correlation between the worldwide prevalence of MS and the worldwide per capita consumption of milk proteins.
    

4. The antigen must be able to enter / be present in the body and be detected by the immune system. It is known that MS patients have a higher level of diet related antigens, specifically the milk protein casein, than the general population.

 

 

Coincidence versus pattern

 

A single observation supporting a conclusion can be coincidental. As the number of independent observations supporting a conclusion increases, the probability that the collection of observations is coincidental drops rapidly. The following pattern of observations strongly support the conclusion that milk proteins are a major factor in the initiation of relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis.
 

1. The milk protein butyrophilin has very high protein sequence similarity to the myelin sheath protein Myelin Oligodendrocyte Glycoprotein. High protein sequence similarity to myelin sheath proteins is required to induce an MS autoimmune reaction (i.e. butyrophilin is an MS antigen.
    

2. There is very good correlation between the worldwide per capita consumption of milk and the worldwide prevalence of multiple sclerosis.
    

3. The historical prevalence of multiple sclerosis has been higher in temperate zones. The consumption of milk has also historically been higher in temperate zones.
    

4. The worldwide prevalence of MS has been increasing. Worldwide consumption of milk products has also been increasing.
    

5. Prevalence of MS towards the equator has been increasing. Consumption of milk near the equator has also been increasing with the advent of refrigeration and powdered milk.
    

6. My RRMS was diagnosed a few years after a change in diet that quadrupled my consumption of milk proteins.
    

7. Progression of my RRMS halted completely within a year of completely removing milk proteins from my diet. I have had no MS progression for 14 years since I went milk free.
    

8. The autoimmune disease celiac has been proven to be initiated by diet (gluten). MS patients have higher levels of diet related antigens than the general population. This supports the possibility that MS is initiated by diet (milk).