Question:
There is curiously quite a bit of scientific suspicion about milk in termsof exacerbating the symptoms of DS through the failure of cells to eliminatecalcium properly. My son hates milk as a drink, (unless heavily disguised)preferring fruit juice. As a baby he had lots of little white spots on hisskin, which have since entirely disappeared, and these may be related toinability to process calcium. I take a fairly relaxed attitude, and let thechild do his own thing, believing that the child knows best. Does anyonehave any info on this?

Actually that is what I was asking for some help on. But the "symptoms" arethose of early onset dementia, and developmental delay and intellectualimpairment generally.

Answer: are you saying that drinking milk has been linked to the above"symptoms" of DS? Are you saying that drinking milk "exacerbates"developmental delay and cognitive impairment? are you saying it causesor is implicated in early onset dementia?

The only "milk and DS" literature I'm familiar with is the higher incidenceof milk intolerance (ie. allergy to milk proteins - whey, I think, butdon't quote me on that part) in children with DS compared to typicalchildren. Some 14% in children with DS under 5yrs, compared with 5% intypical children also under 5. That was in the journal "DS Research andPractice" in an issue delivered to me in the past year - not on thedownsnet.org website when I last checked about a week ago.

I read some research years ago about calcium build up in the brain but thecause was thought to be a nootropic drug, not dairy products. One of thedoctors I shared the article with told me damage done by this type of buildupis not reversible.