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Research on donkey milk · Study 28
Donkey milk kefir & tumour research
An animal study examined donkey milk and donkey milk kefir in a mouse model of Ehrlich ascites carcinoma. It revealed a decisive difference between fermented donkey milk and plain donkey milk.
The research question
Is donkey milk the same as fermented donkey milk kefir?
This distinction is crucial, especially in scientific studies on foods. Fermentation can change the composition of a food.
In this study, therefore, the researchers did not simply look at “donkey milk effects”. They compared a control group with animals that received donkey milk or donkey milk kefir.
They then examined, among other things, tumour volume, apoptosis, cell proliferation and markers of nitric oxide metabolism.
Experimental setup
Three groups – two different donkey milk products
Control
One group served as the comparison group in the experimental tumour model.
Donkey milk
Another group received plain donkey milk. This made it possible to examine whether its results differed from the control.
Donkey milk kefir
The third group received fermented donkey milk kefir – and showed different results in the model from the group given plain donkey milk.
The results must not be transferred wholesale to donkey milk as a food.
What stands out
The more favourable tumour parameters were observed with kefir.
According to the study, donkey milk kefir showed more favourable parameters regarding apoptosis and proliferation in the mouse model used.
Plain donkey milk, by contrast, did not show this result. On the contrary: in this study, tumour volume in the donkey milk group even increased compared with the control group.
Side by side
Three groups – different results
It is precisely this comparison that makes the study scientifically interesting: it argues against the simplified notion of automatically attributing all findings of a fermented donkey milk product to the plain milk.
Reference
The control group provided the comparison value for the tumour parameters examined in the animal model.
No corresponding advantage
Plain donkey milk did not reduce the tumour in this study. Tumour volume was even higher than in the control group.
Different tumour parameters
For the fermented kefir, the authors reported more favourable parameters regarding apoptosis and proliferation in the mouse model used.
Mechanistic research
Apoptosis, proliferation and iNOS
The researchers not only looked at the size of the tumour but also examined biological processes related to growth and cell death.
These included markers of apoptosis and proliferation as well as iNOS – inducible nitric oxide synthase.
Apoptosis describes a controlled biological process by which cells are broken down.
Proliferation markers help researchers examine the multiplication activity of cells.
The authors examined changes in inducible nitric oxide synthase as part of their mechanistic analysis.
Scientific context
What the study shows – and what it does not
Observed
Not proven
Why we show this study too
Good research information does not only show positive results.
This study is a good example of that. It provides interesting experimental results for donkey milk kefir, but at the same time precisely no evidence of a corresponding effect of plain donkey milk. This very distinction is part of a serious presentation of the research.
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Original publication
Donkey milk kefir induces apoptosis and suppresses proliferation of Ehrlich ascites carcinoma by decreasing iNOS in mice
Esener OB et al.
Biotechnic & Histochemistry. 2018;93:424–431.
DOI: 10.1080/10520295.2018.1448112
PubMed: PMID 29642726
The study was carried out in a tumour mouse model. The results do not constitute evidence of a cancer-preventing or cancer-treating effect of donkey milk or donkey milk kefir in humans.