Absence of an effect of tolerance to milk protein on experimental atherosclerosis in rabbits.

Breeding rabbits were fed diets in which milk protein provided 30% of total energy, both before conception and throughout pregnancy and lactation. Twelve of their offspring were maintained on a similar diet containing 166 g/kg saturated fat. A second group, bred from a colony given a milk protein-free ration, was fed an identical diet. Anti-milk antibodies were higher in the group reared from mothers not exposed to dietary milk. There were no differences in circulating immune complexes and the extent of aortic atherosclerosis was very similar after one year's feeding. It was concluded that the magnitude of the immune response to dietary milk protein was insufficient to influence the development of experimental atherosclerosis.