Does Cow's Milk Cause Diabetes?

In a sense, scientists already know what causes juvenile-onset diabetes, a disease that afflicts about 1.5 million Americans. For some reason, the body's immune system attacks and destroys insulin-producing cells in the pancreas. Without insulin, the body is unable to process sugar into energy. Even with daily insulin shots, diabetics run a high risk of blindness, kidney failure and heart disease. But why does the immune system go on the attack?

A report in the New England Journal of Medicine says the culprit may be cow's milk, and the process a bizarre case of mistaken identity. Doctors at the Hospital for...