Milk Powder Production: Is A New Occupational Disease Emerging?
Main Category: Respiratory / AsthmaAlso Included In: Pediatrics / Children's Health
Article Date: 25 Mar 2008 - 4:00 PDT
| Patient / Public: | ![]() |
5 (2 votes) |
| Health Professional: | ![]() |
|
| Article Opinions: | 0 posts |
Occupational exposure to milk powder inhalation increases the risk of respiratory complaints, including wheezing, breathlessness and nasal symptoms, and reduces lung function. So reveals an original study undertaken in a Thai baby milk factory by a British team, due to be published in the forthcoming issue of the European Respiratory Journal (ERJ), the peer-reviewed publication of the European Respiratory Society (ERS). Exposed workers need to be monitored to ensure timely identification of such hypersensitivity to milk powder, the authors recommend.
It is already known that oral consumption of milk powder can lead to the development of an allergy in children intolerant to cow's milk proteins. The potential risks of inhaling milk powder have, however, never been studied specifically. This led Maritta Jaakkola and her team (Institute of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, University of Birmingham, United Kingdom) to focus on the issue and analyse the effects of occupational exposure to milk powder via the airways.
The study, undertaken jointly with Thailand's Mahidol University, covered 167 workers in a Thai baby milk factory. They included 130 workers involved directly in product manufacture and packaging, 22 responsible for adding vitamins to the milk and 15 quality controllers. By way of a control group, 76 office workers employed in this factory or in other Thai plants were also included in the study. A total of 142 men and 101 women were recruited, aged between 18 and 60 years.
All of the participants were asked to complete a health questionnaire on respiratory, nasal, eye and skin symptoms experienced in the past twelve months. These data were complemented by systematic spirometric tests.
Twice as many symptoms as the control group
Jaakkola and her team conclude that the workers exposed to the milk powder suffer a significant increase in wheezing, breathlessness and various nasal symptoms (blocked or runny nose, itching of the nasal passages and sneezing) as compared to the control subjects. Indeed, the levels of wheezing and breathlessness (24% and 33% respectively) were twice those of the control group (12% and 16%). After adjustment for other variables, such as smoking, the relative risk for those two symptoms remains high (1.74 and 2.20), the ERJ article's authors explain. Admittedly, the latter figures were no longer statistically significant, but the increased risk of nasal symptoms (2.3) remained statistically significant, even after readjustment.
In addition, the exposed workers were apparently twice as likely to have suffered from asthma. It was also found that the workers responsible for adding vitamins complained of eye and skin symptoms twice as frequently as the other employees.
Allergy more probable than irritation
The respiratory function tests recorded a significant reduction in forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) among milk powder- exposed workers who complained of respiratory symptoms. Jaakkola and her team believe that the symptoms observed are much more typical of a hypersensitivity reaction than a simple irritation. They point to the low levels of particles (mainly milk powder) measured in the air within the factory. Even in the packaging areas, where particle levels were higher, they remained far below the permitted concentration for respirable dust.
"Milk powder contains milk proteins including casein, alpha- lactalbumin and beta-lactoglobulin, compounds with a high molecular weight which typically induce hypersensitivity reactions," the authors explain in their ERJ article. They admit, however, that the debate remains a speculative one, since immunoglobulin E antibodies were not measured in the subjects.
"It would be important to provide careful monitoring of respiratory symptoms and respiratory function tests for workers in milk powder factories, even where air quality checks are satisfactory," Jaakkola concludes.
Along similar lines, she believes that respiratory tests could be of benefit to bakers and nannies, who may also suffer occupational exposure to milk powder. A number of cases of occupational asthma have already been recorded in these occupational groups.
"Respiratory effects of occupational exposures in a milk powder factory"
The European Respiratory Journal is the peer-reviewed scientific publication of the European Respiratory Society (more than 8,000 specialists in lung diseases and respiratory medicine in Europe, the United States and Australia).
http://erj.ersjournals.com
|
Please rate this article: (Hover over the stars then click to rate) |
Patient / Public: |
or |
Health Professional: |
Add to:
Contact Our News Editors
For any corrections of factual information, or to contact the editors please use our feedback form.
![]()
Please send any medical news or health news press releases to:
| Back to top | Back to front page | List of All Medical Articles |
| Privacy Policy | Terms and Conditions | © 2008 MediLexicon International Ltd |




