Got Milk? Drink at Your Own Risk.

Miley Sirus has milk. Superman has milk. Even wolverine has "got milk". For decades, milk has been promoted as a way to delay or even prohibit osteoporosis, the best way to get daily consumption of calcium and vitamin D, and the "healthier" choice of drink in comparison with sugary drinks. In addition, consumption of various forms of dairy is not only mentioned, but highly encouraged by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) 's infamous "food pyramid" with dairy granted their own significant sliver of the pyramid. But is milk really all that its cracked up to be? Are we perhaps "milking" milk to the point where we are over-stating its benefits and over-looking potentially dangerous health concerns?

Now, I am going to be the first to admit that I love everything that dairy has to offer. Cheese, cream sauces, yogurt, milk, and, my personal favorite, ice cream has been a very large part of my diet since I was very little. So why go dairy free? It was not until I met Jace, my oh so handsome and oh so allergic to dairy boyfriend, a year ago that I began my research into all things dairy. What I have found in my year of research was enough to convince me that a switch to a dairy-free lifestyle is not only a loving way to better serve Jace, but the pros of said lifestyle outweigh the taste of momentarily savored dishes laced with possible health concerns later in life.

The dangers of mass consumption of dairy are as bad as they come: obesity, cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and even osteoporosis. Besides the said health defects listed, what is actually in the milk (that is, the components that make up cow milk) is appalling. First, lets discuss the sole reason milk is created: for baby cows. It may be shocking to remember that out of every mammal on earth, humans are the only ones who continue drinking milk after infancy. Even baby cows discontinue drinking their mothers milk! Even more ridiculous is that, out of all animals, we chose a mammal that physiologically has nothing in common to man to provide us with "the best source of calcium". Truth is, there is no "best source of calcium" and calcium is available in non-dairy forms too, such as: broccoli, cabbage, and spinach (just to name a few). There is also truth in the previous statement that dairy can cause many dire health problems. The human body was not made to process the milk from other species save the breast milk from our own human mothers. This said, when consuming milk in high doses, it puts great stress on our body. I mean, your body probably is not made to ingest large amounts of cow udder pus and blood so I can understand the apprehension your organs may have in digesting dairy. Wait, what?! Yes, it is true. Every cupful of milk straight out of the cow contains somatic cells, a.k.a pus. Why the heck is there cow pus in my milk? Well, when conventional dairy farmers need to produce milk to the masses, they inject their dairy cows with "bovine growth hormones" (rBGH), or Posilac to increase the amount of milk that the already maxed-out cows produce. Because cows were not made to produce such massive amounts of milk, they often develop an infection of the utter called mastitis and voilà, pus and bacteria leak into the milk when collected. Then, the dairy farmers inject the sick cows with antibiotics to reduce the somatic cells, thus letting not only blood and pus in drinking milk, but antibiotics, as well. In fact, if you live in Texas, there are 342,000,000 somatic cells in each glass of conventional milk. Oh, and don't get too cocky, organic milk drinkers! You're milk has somatic cells, too, just in lesser numbers and without the hormones and antibiotics. Oh, and pasteurizing the milk does NOT rid the milk of the pus, blood, antibiotics, and hormones. It just "kills" the somatic cells and blood. Mmm, mmm, mmm!


As for the risk of obesity and the horrible diseases that go hand-in-hand with it, a study featured in Washington Post showed that children who consume more than three servings of dairy a day were about 35% more prone to become overweight. A daily serving, according to Food Pyramid, at any age should be no more than 3 cups of dairy per day. Servings are broken up into 1 cup of milk or yogurt, 1 1/2 ounces of natural cheese, and 2 ounces of processed cheese per serving. In addition, 8 oz of whole milk contains 150 calories, many from fat. Dairy increases the risk for heart disease due to its high saturated fats, animal protein (casein), and milk carbohydrates. Even the process of sterilizing the milk that is supposed to keep you "safe", the composition-altering process that happens during pasteurization of the milk, increases the risk of diabetes. When pasteurization occurs, the high heat kills enzymes like lactase, galactase, and phosphatase. Without these enzymes, our pancreas cannot easily process milk and is put under great stress. When the pancreas is overtaxed, diabetes can occur.

Cancer. The more we learn about this devastating disease, the more we find the culprits that aid its development. Dairy is no exception. Breast, prostate, and colon cancer has been linked to consumption of dairy. As we described before, cows are injected with the rBGH hormone to produce more milk. Studies have shown that this hormone, rBGH, accelerates the development of the hormone IGF-1. Both hormones increase the chance of cell division, thus increasing our chance to develop cancer. Unfortunately, organic milk drinkers are not saved from these dangers, either. The over consumption of animal proteins (casein for milk) is proven to raise the chance of breast cancer in women significantly. In a study where scientists observe women living in a virtually milk-free environment, China, compared to America where dairy consumption is extremely high, the breast cancer related deaths per 100,000 women (ages 35-65) for China were less than 9 while 44 American women per 100,000 women died due to breast cancer. As for prostate cancer, men who consumed high amounts of dairy increase their risk for prostate cancer by 70%. Remember, "high amounts" of dairy would be anything over the 3 cups max of dairy servings per day: 2 ounces of processed cheese per "cup", 1 cup of milk or yogurt per "cup". With these restrictions, I think its safe to say that nearly everyone is over doing dairy. I mean, who just puts 2 ounces of cheese on their pizza or nachos and skips out on that glass of milk with cookies because they "will go over the recommended daily servings"?

Finally, it is ironic that the one disease the media claims consumption of dairy eradicates, osteoporosis, is actually caused by dairy! The reason is because the high protein content in dairy, the casein in the dairy, actually leeches the calcium right out the milk! In addition, the West's familiar high-protein diet adds to this leeching of calcium. For more information on the study between osteoporosis and dairy consumption, visit the links below.

You may be asking (that is, if anyone reads this) " Why have I never heard of this before?" Well, that is probably due to the large, billion dollar companies pushing billion dollar advertisements promoting milk. However, as people become more and more educated about the dangers of milk, especially non-organic milk, the formerly "don't know, don't care" sentiments of consumers today will turn into demands pointed at the shady food industries that love to make a buck off of our ignorance. Sad, isn't it?

Sources:
http://www.mypyramid.gov/pyramid/milk_counts.html
http://www.whymilk.com/strong_bones.php
http://www.naturalnews.com/028111_milk_dairy.html
http://www.naturalnews.com/002695.html
http://www.milksucks.com/pus.asp
http://www.milksucks.com/osteo.asp
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/06/AR2005060601348.html
http://www.extension.org/article/18645