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Should You Drink Milk?
By Eliza Bicknell
Should you drink milk? We are a nation of milk drinkers so it seems like conventional wisdom that you should drink milk. Conventional wisdom holds that dairy foods are the best source of calcium, for strong bones, they also help prevent crippling diseases like osteoporosis and give us much needed and vitamin D. Milk is a healthy food choice, right? Images of healthy, beautiful people reassure us of this on television and billboards everywhere you turn. Let’s examine this conventional wisdom here for just a moment. First let’s look at the claim that milk provides us with the calcium we need and prevents osteoporosis. You might be surprised to learn that most of the world’s people do not consume cows’ milk and yet they do not experience high bone fracture rates or the rates of osteoporosis that we do here in the west.
The landmark Nurses Health Study, at Harvard University which followed 78,000 women over a 12-year period, found that the women who consumed the most calcium from dairy foods broke more bones than those who rarely drank milk. The Lunar Osteoporosis Update (November 1997) said in summary: "This increased risk of hip fracture was associated with dairy calcium … If this were any agent other than milk, which has been so aggressively marketed by dairy interests, it undoubtedly would be considered a major risk factor." One study funded by the National Dairy Council, involved giving three 8-ounce glasses of skim milk per day for two years to a group of postmenopausal women and comparing their bones to those of a control group of women not given the milk. The dairy group consumed 1,400 mg of calcium per day and LOST bone at twice the rate of the control group. Dr. John McDougall, upon examining all the available nutritional studies and evidence, concludes: "The primary cause of osteoporosis is the high-protein diet most Americans consume today. As one leading researcher in this area said, 'Eating a high-protein diet is like pouring acid rain on your bones.' Remarkably enough, if dairy has any effect, both clinical and population evidence strongly implicate dairy in CAUSING, rather than preventing, osteoporosis.” (Other factors such as smoking, alcohol consumption, vitamin D intake and exercise also contribute to osteoporosis.) American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (2001) said: "Women who ate most of their protein from animal sources had three times the rate of bone loss and 3.7 times the rate of hip fractures of women who ate most of their protein from vegetable sources." Why is this? As consumption of protein increases, so does the amount of calcium lost in the urine and this effect has been documented for over 70 years.
Calcium absorption from milk is 30% while calcium absorption from broccoli, Brussels sprouts, mustard greens, kale and some other leafy vegetables ranges between 40 and 65%. Let’s move on. Naturally cows produce about 25 lbs of milk at the peak of their milk production when their calves are around 7 months old. Modern dairy cows are not only impregnated at a much younger age than would occur in the wild, but forced to produce from 90 to 110 pounds of milk per day for a full seven to eight months. The enormous strain of being pushed so hard to produce such abnormally large quantities of milk quickly destroys the health of these cows and the quality of their milk. In order to get cows to produce milk at such an abnormally high rate, they are given artificially introduced growth hormones, milk increasing hormones (including rGBH), antibiotics, tranquilizers and feeds high in pesticide residues, including trace levels of dioxin. Natural toxins (to humans) are also found in cows’ milk (as humans were never intended to drink the milk intended for another mammal’s offspring.) These toxins include IGF-1 growth factor, casein, estrogen, soporific hormones, and lactase to name a few. Organic milk may contain smaller quantities of the artificial toxins but not the natural ones. Canada and all European governments have banned the use of rGBH, Monsanto’s genetically engineered, milk increasing recombinant bovine growth hormone, but the FDA has approved it for use in the United States. It’s been in our milk since 1985 despite scientific evidence that is causes cancer in both cows and in humans. Dioxin is one of the most toxic substances known to humans and The Washington Post reported that "the latest EPA study concludes that people who consume even small amounts of dioxin in fatty foods and dairy products face a cancer risk of 1 in 100.” Cows’ milk contains three times as much protein as human milk and about fifty percent more fat. The main protein in human milk, lactalbumin, has a molecular weight of 14k and the basic protein in cow’s milk, casein, has a molecular weight of 233K. Casein is a difficult protein to break down, causing a lot of acid residue when metabolized. Casein has been linked to cancer, namely breast and prostate cancer in adult humans. According to researcher T. Colin Campbell, “Cows’ milk protein (casein) may be the single most significant chemical carcinogen to which humans are exposed.” Childhood symptoms that have been linked to milk and dairy consumption include colic, earaches, sore throats, colds, fevers, anemia, diabetes, tonsillitis, appendicitis, allergies, inflamed mucus membranes, diarrhea, gas and cramps. IGF – 1 spurs unnatural growth in children and not just in height. Excess IGF – 1 from eating dairy products may also increase the risk of cancers in adults as it stimulates sudden rapid cell division and growth. The massive amounts of estrogen found in cows milk is causing girls’ bodies to sexually mature at a younger and younger age. Age of first menstruation instead of being seventeen is now around 12.5 years. In cultures that do not consume cows’ milk and dairy products such as those in African villages and the Chinese, the average onset is still seventeen years of age. Pushing young girls into puberty so early results in untold anguish due to physical and psychological social stress. A growing number of Americans are eliminating milk and dairy products from their diets altogether even though this may sound radical to those of us weaned on milk and the five basic food groups. It is difficult to change, especially since we have been conditioned since childhood to think of milk as a health food. As far as I am concerned, the only valid reason to drink milk is simply because you want to, because you like it and its part of our culture. Don’t drink it for health. Most of the people on the planet live very healthfully without cows’ milk and you can too if you want to.
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Contributor's Note
Some sources include: The World Peace Diet by William Tuttle and The China Study by T. Colin Campbell two excellent books. I am passionate about heatlth and nutrition and have read hundreds of books on topics such as this one. This article hardly scratches the surface of this issue. I hope this article will inspire some people to read more on this topic and possibly improve their health as a result.
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Some really good info here, thanks for sharing it. I'm going to regular milk with soy milk for morning cereal and see how it tastes.
Well, there has been other research (Alan Aragon from Men's Health for one) that refutes that milk is bad in the sense as a general "blanket" health risk. Other doctors and nutritionists that I have read on the web essentially state that it depends on the person. People who are lactose intolerant or who may become so due the potential allergy risks associated with milk in some people should find alternatives. But cows milk as a basic poison? ... There's a lot of conflicting information out there...
Recently, I was diagnosed with asthma. I went to an allergist who suggested I give up dairy for awhile. I've now been off dairy for about three weeks and, while I will still, occasionally, experience shortness of breath, I am much improved. I also gave up caffeine and wheat bread at the same time and I exercise every day, so I'm not sure it was only the dairy. Interesting to speculate.
I heard that if it wasn't for the bull there soon would be no more cows and no more milk. I drink milk because I like it!!
CONTRIBUTOR'S REPLY
I'd hate to think you are calling me a cow here...
I agree with much that you have written .. I don't drink as much milk as I used to but now and then there is nothing quite like a fresh cookie and a cold glass of milk.
I was raised on a dairy farm. Not sure how you came to the conclusion I was calling you anything.
I was wondering why girls mature sexually at such a young age. It seemed like either there was a massive design flaw in human functioning, or the legal age should be reduced to 12. So answer is milk?
 | | nick Jun 7, 2010 12:31 | |
I have enjoyed your writing. I have read another place on the internet that consumption of milk is responsible for some diseases affecting humans. Years ago, I said I would one day stop the consumption of milk and dairy products. That day has not come yet. Maybe it will come the day I draw my last breath.
A well written article, thank you for sharing.
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