Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Clinical Trial
. 2005 May;48(5):829-37.
doi: 10.1007/s00125-005-1733-3. Epub 2005 Apr 19.

Dietary manipulation of beta cell autoimmunity in infants at increased risk of type 1 diabetes: a pilot study

H K Akerblom  1 , S M Virtanen, J Ilonen, E Savilahti, O Vaarala, A Reunanen, K Teramo, A-M Hämäläinen, J Paronen, M-A Riikjärv, A Ormisson, J Ludvigsson, H-M Dosch, T Hakulinen, M Knip; National TRIGR Study Groups
Affiliations
Free article
Clinical Trial

Dietary manipulation of beta cell autoimmunity in infants at increased risk of type 1 diabetes: a pilot study

H K Akerblom et al. Diabetologia. 2005 May.
Free article

Erratum in

  • Diabetologia. 2005 Aug;48(8):1676. Riikjärv, MA [added]; Ormisson, A [added]; Ludvigsson, J [added]; Dosch, HM [added]; Hakulinen, T [added]; Knip, M [added]

Abstract

Aims/hypothesis: We aimed to assess the feasibility of a dietary intervention trial with weaning to hydrolysed formula in infants at increased risk of type 1 diabetes and to study the effect of the intervention on the emergence of diabetes-associated autoantibodies in early childhood.

Methods: We studied 242 newborn infants who had a first-degree relative with type 1 diabetes and carried risk-associated HLA-DQB1 alleles. After exclusive breastfeeding, the infants underwent a double-blind, randomised pilot trial of either casein hydrolysate (Nutramigen; Mead Johnson) or conventional cow's milk-based formula until the age of 6-8 months. During a mean observation period of 4.7 years, autoantibodies to insulin, anti-glutamic acid decarboxylase and insulinoma-associated antigen-2 were measured by radiobinding assays, and islet cell antibodies (ICA) by immunofluorescence.

Results: The feasibility of screening and identifying a cohort of first-degree relatives with HLA-conferred disease susceptibility, enrolling them in a dietary intervention trial and following them for seroconversion to autoantibody positivity is established. The cumulative incidence of autoantibodies was somewhat smaller in the casein hydrolysate vs control formula group, suggesting the need for a larger well-powered study. After adjustment for duration of study formula feeding, life-table analysis showed a significant protection by the intervention from positivity for ICA (p=0.02) and at least one autoantibody (p=0.03).

Conclusions/interpretation: The present study provides the first evidence ever in man, despite its limited power, that it may be possible to manipulate spontaneous beta cell autoimmunity by dietary intervention in infancy.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Diabetologia. 1991 Jul;34(7):534-5 - PubMed
    1. Diabetes. 1997 Apr;46(4):557-64 - PubMed
    1. Immunol Today. 1999 Mar;20(3):108-10 - PubMed
    1. Diabetes. 1993 Dec;42(12):1786-90 - PubMed
    1. JAMA. 2003 Oct 1;290(13):1713-20 - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms