Milk - It Doesn't Do A Body Good

I'm not much of a milk drinker, and I never really have been.  But I often poor it on my cereal or use it as an ingredient.  I use butter more frequently than I should, and don't get me started on ice cream.  Dairy is everywhere.  It has been placed as one of the main food groups in the recent years.  Growing up, it has always been encouraged to drink your milk.  Campaigns have ingrained into everyone that "Milk does a body good"  I'm afraid it doesn't

The media in several forms has painted a picture that certainly has no foundation.  We are told one thing while the research clearly demonstrates the opposite.  There's no debate.  This is no vague topic, it is clear cut.  Milk does the body great harm.

Now when I say milk, I am referring primarily to Cow's milk in all it's several forms.  It can be regular, whole, 1%, 2%, skim, unpasteurized and especially Milk based Baby Formula. Let me explain a few points that might make light on some issues.  Some (even myself) may ask, people have been drinking milk for centuries.  True . . . however, there are some differences especially the last 100 years and even in the recent years. First, people used several different sources of milk, not just cow milk, usually goat milk, coconut milk, or rice milk.  Second, milk wasn't consumed as much as it is now.  I thought of my wife who grew up in Haiti and had a few cows on their land.  She explained that they rarely had milk, and if they did, they usually boiled it into a pot and made things out of it, very rarely would they drink the actual milk straight.  Third, milk is being massed produced today.  Meaning the cows are fed cheaper foods and given hormones to produce more milk.  It is only in the last century that milk has been promoted has a health benefit and we have all fallen for it.

 Think about it, does a pig naturally drink cows milk, does a dog drink goats milk?  No, goat's milk is meant for a growing kid (a baby goat), and cows milk is meant for a growing calf . . . not for a growing child.  A human mother's milk has very different components than cows milk, and rightly so.  A cows milk is to help the calf grow into a large animal . . . and we are drinking it.  Human milk has Human Growth Hormone adequate for a growing child, and cows milk has Bovine Growth Hormone meant for a growing calf.  Cows milk also contains 3 times more protein than is necessary and is acidic, while human milk is alkaline.  But don't we need milk for our Calcium? Sadly, the truth is no, milk is a poor source of calcium.  It is true that cows milk does have 4 times more calcium than human milk, which initially looks like a great source.  Unfortunately the Dairy ads don't state the cows milk also have 7 times more Phosphorus.  Why is this important?  In our body, we need a calcium-phosphorus ratio of 2.5:1.  The ratio in cows milk is 1.3:1.  When this ratio is altered to the phosphorus side, the Parathyroid Hormone is activated to increase the Calcium levels back to a normal ratio. Where does the calcium come from? From our bones- this is what we call Osteoporosis.  Sadly, this is just the beginning.  Milk is associated with a long list of diseases and illnesses.  I don't have time to explain each one, but if there are any questions or thoughts, please ask and I will share more information.  Here is just a few:

1. Gastrointestinal bleeding- especially in infants
2. Iron deficiency
3. Type 1 Diabetes- mostly juvenile
4. Cataracts
5. Pancreatic cancer
6. Autism
7. Prostate cancer
8. Breast cancer- important to note the prostate cancer is the most common in men and breast cancer is the most common in women. 
9. Decreased average age of menstruation- the average not long ago used to be about 16, now it is close to 11
10. Allergies
11. Atherosclerosis- this is one thing I wanted to point out since I blogged about this not long ago.  Arterial disease has been seen recently with people fed cows milk as infants (formula).  This is due to the homogenization, which breaks down the fat in milk so small that it passes thru into the blood stream
12. Acute Lymphoid Leukemia (Lou Gerhig's Disease)
13. Rheumatoid Arthritis
14. Osteoporosis

What a list . . . and all we are told is that it does a body good.  Is milk the cause to all these conditions?  For several, no, milk is not the cause, but there is a significant association with each one.  Research has shown that though there isn't a cause and effect, there are things contained in the milk that provides an environment for all these conditions, and when Dairy is taken out of the diet . . . the symptoms are removed as well.  Research after research has been done all confirming the results.

I don't share this to cause a stir, or to "fight against the conspiracy".  I share it because it is important to become aware.  There are thousands of people who are suffering from these conditions (several of them are unknowingly) and it is dramatically increasing.  They are all told there is nothing to help them, or are given drugs to control but not eliminate their conditions.  Is milk the only cause for autism? No, but don't you think it would be worth trying.  And yet, no one is told that Dairy is the probability - most likely the possibility.  I know, because it is real in my own family.  Several years ago I wouldn't have thought twice about milk being a causative agent to illness.  But both my kids, especially my son had terrible respiratory problems.  When we were told to remove dairy from his diet, it seemed odd to me.  But I have seen the results.  We have made our milk source Soy milk, Almond milk, or Rice milk.  Do we need to be rid of dairy completely (even my favorite Rocky Road Ice Cream)? I may have a lenient perspective, but no, I don't think it needs to be eliminated completely.  If it is, the better, but we need to limit our intake, choose alternatives, and find better sources.  We need to become aware of what we are truly eating (and drinking), and Do Our Body Good