Milk: Doesn’t do a Body Good

Milk: Doesn’t do a Body Good!

As an infant, the benefits of milk are endless, especially if it is breast milk. However, when we were weaned off of this breast, ‘someone’ thought it was a good idea to just move to another. To a breast belonging to a species not even remotely similar to humans. I am asking you to step outside your box of norm for a moment and read this article from another angle. You may begin to see things from a different perspective.

The purpose of cow’s milk for its calf: Growth. That’s it. A cow grows to its full size by its first year of life which is approximately 1000 lbs! Unlike humans where it takes us any where from 15-21 years to reach our full size. Also, the protein in cow’s milk is completely different than that in human milk. Cow’s milk contains a much higher percentage of casein than whey with a ratio of 85%:15% respectively, where as human milk is much lower, 40%:60%. If one had to drink milk, goat’s milk is definitely a preferred source as the whey: casein ratio is much closer to that of human milk.

But, what I want to know is as adults, why do we need to drink milk at all? The answer I hear most often is for the calcium. What if I told you that there were much healthier sources containing even higher, more absorbable forms of calcium? You probably wouldn’t believe me. And why would you when all you heard up until now is cow’s milk will make you grow strong and healthy bones. And who were you hearing it from? Your Canada Food Guide and your school as they passed around a box of cow’s milk to every student each morning. Well, if I worked for the dairy industry, I would certainly be telling everyone that as well. The Canada Food Guide is fully supported & sponsored by the dairy industry.

There is a reason why over 7 million Canadians are lactose intolerant. Eventually, everyone becomes lactose intolerant as we stop producing the lactase enzyme shortly after puberty (when we are well weaned off the breast and don’t need the enzyme anymore). And yes, evolution certainly plays a part, helping us better tolerate milk as adults but does that mean its good for us? And while speaking of evolution, let me ask you this? Do you know of any other animal on the planet that has evolved to continue to consume milk as an adult? Or any other animal that voluntarily drinks milk from another species for that matter? I don’t.

 Dairy is the most allergenic food next to gluten, as well as being mucous forming and pro-inflammatory. Any one suffering from asthma, allergies, arthritis and especially any inflammatory bowel diseases would greatly benefit by eliminating dairy from their diet. And I won’t even get into all the antibiotics, pesticides and hormones you are also ingesting when you drink cow’s milk. Oh, and back to that point about milk building strong and healthy bones; if that were so, then why as the highest dairy consuming nation do we also have the highest rates of osteoporosis? Hmmm…

So next time you reach for that carton because you think you’re doing your body good, you may want to think again.

P.S For all of you wondering what food I was referring to that contains a higher, more absorbable source of calcium, well sorry, you’ll just have to visit me again. I’m saving that one for a future post!!

References taken from Nutrition Action Healthletter, June, 1993