Role of Casein Noted in Mental Disorders

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Role of Casein Noted in Mental Disorders

 

Mental illnesses such as autism & schizophrenia may be linked to the improper

digestive breakdown of casein, a protein found in milk products. Recent study

findings

suggest a malfunction enzyme in the intestine may to be blame. This dysfunction

may

produce high levels of smaller protein compounds called exorphins that

infiltrate the

brain and cause hallucinations and other disturbances.

 

"We now have proof positive that they're getting into the brain involved with

the

symptoms of autism and schizophrenia," explained lead author Dr. Robert Cade of

the

University of Florida, Gainesville. The findings are reported in the journal

'Autism'. The

research team reports that the brains of rats injected with one casein-related

byproduct

-human beta-CM7- showed uptake of the protein in neurological centers previously

linked with autism and schizophrenia. Affected areas included those influencing

vision,

hearing, and communication. Cade said, "If part of the brain puts out a false

signal

because of [beta-CM7], it could result in a person seeing something's that not

really

there; either a visual or auditory hallucination could occur." In healthy

humans, casein

breakdown results in minimal production of beta-CM7 and other exorphins. Cade

speculates that this process may be impaired in schizophrenic and autistic

individuals.

 

Preliminary results of his team's studies in autistic and schizophrenic children

suggest that these children have up to 100 times the normal milk proteins in

their

blood and urine. The researchers also found that schizophrenic or autistic

symptoms of about

80% of these children fade or disappear after they are switched to milk-free

diets.