Aphthous Ulcer Mystery Solved

Lichen planus is not the same thing as aphthous ulcers (also known as canker sores), which are much less serious, but much more common. Some people have recurring problems with them, where they keep coming back over and over—and we didn’t know why, in most cases, until last year.

An immune reaction against cow’s milk proteins and wheat proteins—gliadin is a gluten protein—within the cause of recurrent aphthous ulcers? You tell me—dairy, gluten, both, or neither?

Gluten had nothing to do with it. It was the dairy. Two-thirds of the recurrent canker sore sufferers had high levels of anti-cow’s milk protein antibodies in their bloodstream.

The thought is that the cow’s milk proteins themselves penetrate deep into the lining of the mouth, inducing a major immune disorder—where our body attacks the foreign cow proteins, and in doing so, ulcerates our mucosal lining.

To test this, a few of the patients stopped eating all dairy; a cow’s milk protein-free diet. And the ulcers disappeared, with no reappearance of clinical disease—until they tried adding back dairy.
Same thing with the next patient—went into complete remission, with a reappearance of ulcerations only after some ice cream had been consumed. This is really exciting news for sufferers of this painful condition.

To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video. This is just an approximation of the audio contributed by veganmontreal.

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• Oral Dis. 2009 Nov;15(8):560-4. Epub 2009 Jun 29. Humoral immunity to cow's milk proteins and gliadin within the etiology of recurrent aphthous ulcers? Bsu I, Jankovic L, Magdu IU, Konic-Ristic A, Raskovic S, Juranic Z.

• allergies
• animal products
• aphthous ulcers
• canker sores
• dairy
• gluten
• immune function
• milk
• pain
• wheat