Testing a Novel Dairy Protein to Counteract Immunosenescence

Inclusion criteria included participants be more than 60 years of age. Volunteers underwent a physical examination and health assessment by a physician to ensure the absence of exclusion criteria which were regular consumption of greater than one unit of milk and/or milk products (milk, yogurt, fresh cheese, etc.) a day at the time of enrollment, known milk allergy, food faddism, other non-traditional diet, prolonged consumption of dairy supplements (greater than one daily during the previous four weeks), use of tobacco products in the previous 10 years, underlying neoplasia or immunological disease, including hypergammaglobunemia, renal disease or failure, use of steroids or immunosuppressive drugs in the previous eight weeks, reduced physical activity (New York Heart Association classes III-IV). Having received a DTaP vaccine within the last five years was an exclusion criteria for the study, but patient records were incomplete for many volunteers on this aspect. Therefore, volunteers with an initial Tetanus antibody level above 3 IU/mL were excluded from the study results as the volunteer was assumed to have had the DTaP vaccine within the last 5 years.