Milk Saint or Sinner?

The dairy industry would have you believe that all dairy products are good for you, lower blood pressure, increase calcium in the bones and this in turn aids fractures to heal quicker. We have all seen the adverts which stick in your mind as more than half the population will not have read any reports by the dairy industry into these claims, think back to your childhood which advert do you remember.

The old adverts of milk is kind to your teeth, milk the original fast food, CP3V (Calcium, proteins and 3 vitamins) Milk the white stuff: So good the cows want it back!

Most of us would and have been led to believe that drinking milk regularly does not cause coronary artery problems and can actually protect against poor health, as this is what scientists have told us.

These scientists went to say that concerns regarding to much milk and dairy products could be harmful to health as it leads to high cholesterol levels. In fact heart disease death rates among regular milk drinkers were even found to be lower.

The 25-year study of 5,700 Scottish men found that heart disease death rates among men drinking more than a third of a pint of milk each day were 8% lower than those who drank less.
Deaths from cancer and strokes were 10% lower among the regular milk drinkers.
The benefits of milk could be linked to its high calcium levels and that this might counteract the adverse effects of the saturated fat content of milk. The latter was a claim by the dairy industry who tried to say that saturated fats are good for you.

However there are two sides to every story. Diary products are a health hazard. They contain no fiber or complex carbohydrates and are laden with saturated fat and cholesterol. Milk in some cases has found to be contaminated with cow's blood and pus and frequently contaminated with pesticides residue, hormones, and antibiotics. Dairy products covers cheese, eggs, milk, yoghurt etc can be linked to constipation, obesity, heart disease, cancer, allergies and other diseases. Worldwide reports claim that 7 out of 10 adults are lactose intolerant and drinking cows milk would seriously bloat them or cause diarrhea.

Yet despite the above we as humans drink milk, some consider it weird that we drink milk beyond the ‘weening’ stage after birth, other people just find it weird that we drink the milk of another animal and we feed animal milk to our children on a daily basis, think back to school when most of us were given a free bottle of milk on a daily basis in our first primary years.

A report by Dr B Spook* openly warned against the feeding of milk to young children owing to the high protein, cholesterol and saturated fat content often found within milk, he stated that milk can cause allergies and insulin dependant diabetes amongst other conditions.

A report from America the Harvard Nurses Study which began in 1980 and lasted 12 years followed a control group of women mostly aged 34 to 59 and the report clearly showed that in most cases milk does not prevent osteoporosis, In fact just the opposite milk can be a contributor in the formation of the condition owing to the fact that the body draws calcium from the bones to aid in the neutralization of proteins and lactic acids found within milk.. The study also concluded that 67% who drank two or more of the diary industries recommended daily intake were more likely to have heart attacks than those that didn’t drink whole milk.

Low-fat milk is an exception to this, the Harvard nurses study did show that those who drank low fat milk and not whole milk did show a reduced risk of heart disease.

The report showed that low fat milk is good for you in that it can aid in lowering blood pressure.

This is where we as consumers need to be aware that the diary industries marketing campaigns and promises that all diary products inclusive of whole milk are not true as we have read in this report. So the next time you go to buy milk think low fat and remember everything in modesty!




Refernces
* Dr Benjamin Spook, America’s former leading authority on child care.