I love milk. My family went through about 4 gallons a week before we all went off to college. But when I got to college, I realized that not everyone loved it as much as we did. I am the only one of my roommates that keeps milk in our refrigerator. I have heard claims that it isn’t good for you; this breaks my heart and so this post was a little difficult for me to write.
I found 2 articles on the subject: Milk: Good or Bad? and Does Milk Really Do a Body Good?. There have been large efforts by doctors and industry to campaign for people to drink more milk. The "got milk?" campaign was a huge media effort that everyone has seen.
The first article suggests that raw, organic milk from grass-fed cows is good milk. Because of the business and economic demands, the milk industry has become more unhealthy. First, as everyone has probably heard, rBGH (Bovine Growth Hormone) is given to many cows to make them produce more milk than they normally would. This seems unhealthy but there have been studies that show that there is not effect on humans. Believe what you want.
Second, pasteurization is said to destroy the good (probiotics) and bad bacteria in the milk. It also destroys the key enzymes that help us digest milk properly. It changes the calcium quantity and solubility. The body is thought to absorb less calcium when processed milk is consumed.
Next, homogenization is the process that breaks fats up into smaller sizes so that it does not collect at the top of the milk. This is thought to allow the enzyme xanthine oxidase to pass into the blood stream intact. It causes buildup of cholesterol in the arteries.
Grain-fed cows (as opposed to grass-fed) have an imbalance in fat and fatty acid ratios. Grass-fed cows have much more omega-3, which is good for your health.
The second article references Cornell University’s study that shows that high animal calcium and animal protein intake is the primary cause of degenerative disease!! This seems exactly opposite from what we have been hearing all along from our doctors and the media.
I’m not sure how I feel about this topic yet. I haven’t found any good articles that are pro-milk that address all these concerns. However, I have found several sources that tell different reasons for not believing milk is healthy. This stirs me up a little bit. Let me know if any of you have heard these anti-milk (if you will) arguments before or if I have just been in my own little world full of milk.
Crazy stuff, not good though because I love milk as well. I bet if you keep looking there's gotta be some pro-pasteurized/homogenized milk articles.
ReplyDeleteSo is the whole "need to drink milk to get calcium" thing legitimate? Maybe we can get enough calcium from other parts of our diet.
I have actually heard the milk being bad for you debate several times. There's a book called "Skinny Bitch" that has a whole section of it saying that milk is bad for the same reason you've listed. Along with that it was saying that drinking milk past childhood is bad since after that we lack the enzymes to process lactose.
ReplyDeleteI'm not entirely sure on this, but I believe it was something along the lines of while milk contains a lot of calcium it's a type our bodies have a very high difficulty absorbing. Raw milk is ok though because the enzyme phosphatase is what makes calcium easily absorbable however is completely destroyed during the pasteurization process.
I drink it anyways though because I agree that it is quite delicious!!!
You should look up articles about chocolate milk. There are many articles that say drinking chocolate milk after workouts is a good way to replenish the body and aid recovery. I have been doing this for the past 3 years but who really knows if it works.
ReplyDeleteI think it is the same as eggs. Someone didn't make enough money one year so they have to fight competing agendas (maybe orange juice or soy milk). I grew up on both 2% and whole milk. I'm one of the healthiest people I know and have never broken a bone. One time I came close, but the bone never broke through. I'd like to think it was due to daily milk consumption.
ReplyDeleteThis is an area where there is lots of confusion and no clear answer--a lot of it has to do with values, not science, which is reflected in your comments. I've read a lot about nutrition and have a lactose-intolerant kid, so here's where I've come down:
ReplyDeleteMilk is important for kids to drink, especially growing kids--many studies suggest it does protect their bones as their growing and later in life. This may be more true for girls than for boys.
As we grow older, however, ingesting more dairy products (including milk, cheese, ice cream, etc.) can contribute significantly to heart problems, obesity, diabetes, and so on. This is even in otherwise healthy people. You can see some longitudinal studies on this in the book The China Study.
So, I make sure my girls get milk (or milk substitute for my oldest) but my husband and I limit our intake. We know it's not perfect, but being vegan is just too difficult for us right now.
Jen, I'm glad you have more knowledge in this topic. There is so much information out there it was hard for me to choose what to include. You're comment is a great overall summary/ conclusion for my post. Thanks for the input!!
ReplyDeleteOne comment that I hear often times from my father (and I know he is no expert on the subject, but his comments do sometimes make sense) is that milk from any animal is meant solely to provide nutrients and immunity to the offspring of that animal and it's not meant for ingestion by other animals.
ReplyDeleteAnd there is also the growing number of people that are lactose intolerant or have dairy allergies. I know that these tend to run in my family. And there are so many alternatives to traditional milk now because of these allergies such as almond milk, soy milk, and rice milk. Some of these even have more calcium and nutrients in them than cows milk such as my favorite Silk PureAlmond Dark Chocolate almond milk.
L.A. Briggs, I have heard that argument too. It has made me wonder why then adults drink milk. If we look at what we naturally do, it seems that only babies (and arguably young children) even NEED milk. Jen's comment supports this theory. Maybe we should stop trying to mess with our biology and just go back to hunting and gathering and only drinking our own milk.
ReplyDelete