Other Diseases

Crohn’s Disease: The Dairy Connection

Crohn’s disease is a gastrointestinal condition that plagues victims with extreme stomach pain and diarrhea. One reporter described Crohn’s disease this way: “[T]hink of the worst stomach flu you ever experienced. Then imagine trying to live with that every day. ...This is a disease characterized by pain and extreme embarrassment. Those who have it don’t talk about it.”¹

More than 500,000 Americans are ill with Crohn’s disease; the United States has the highest incidence of the disease in the world.^2,3 There is strong evidence suggesting that many, if not most, of these people were infected by drinking milk from cows infected with a similar illness known as Johne’s disease. Johne’s disease is caused by a type of bacteria called Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis, or MAP.⁴ Medical reports show that up to 75 percent of patients with Crohn’s disease test positive for MAP bacteria.⁵ A national study of U.S. dairy farms found that 22 percent of U.S. dairy cow herds have at least a 10 percent infection rate of MAP.⁶

Professor John Hermon-Taylor of St. George’s Hospital in London and an expert on Crohn’s and MAP states, “The risk that viable MAP is being transmitted to people via the milk supply is very, very high. The evidence is overwhelming.”⁷ He states further, “[MAP] is certainly responsible for between 60 per cent and 90 per cent of all cases and I would think that it is more likely to be 90 per cent.”⁸

To protect yourself from the misery of Crohn’s disease, it is wise to avoid consuming any animal bodily fluids, especially dairy products. Learn more about the connection between dairy products and Crohn’s disease from this report by Dr. Michael Greger.

SARS

In 2003, Asia battled an outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS. The disease eventually spread to 17 countries; patients developed a high fever, and most developed pneumonia. Within a short period, 8,098 people became sick with SARS, and 774 died.⁹ Most researchers suspect that the disease spread to humans via pigs and other animals raised for food.¹⁰

Health experts all over the world are bracing for the next disease to be spread from farmed animals to humans. Many fear that with today’s animal factories serving as an ideal breeding ground for disease, it’s just a matter of time before far more deadly viruses jump from chickens, pigs, turkeys, or cows to humans.

¹Chris Bennett, “Crohn’s Disease, Sick Cows and Contaminated Milk,” WorldNetDaily.com, 1 Oct. 2004
²MayoClinic.com.
³Bennett.
⁴Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Veterinary Services, Johne’s Disease Factsheet
⁵Johne’s Information Center, University of Wisconsin, School of Veterinary Medicine, “Frequently Asked Questions”
⁶Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
⁷“UK Food Standards Agency Demands Dairy Industry Rid Milk of Suspect Crohn’s Bug,” London Daily Mail 20 Jun. 2001
⁸Michael Greger, M.D., “Paratuberculosis and Crohn’s Disease: Got Milk?” Mad-Cow.org, Jan. 2001
⁹Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Basic Information About SARS,” 3 May 2005
¹⁰John Pomfret, “In Chinese Village, Few Clues to Illness,” The Washington Post 9 Apr. 2003