An increasing amount of research challenges the out-dated notion that cow’s milk is the best source of calcium and in fact shows that our consumption of dairy products is doing us much more harm than good. So why do we all believe that we need to drink milk to get our calcium? It’s simple: similarly to meat industry, milk industry has spent millions and millions on advertisement and campaigns, selling milk is a profitable industry after all.
What the milk industry doesn't want us to know about is the long list of problems related to milk. Here are some of them:
- milk encourages mucus and catarrh
- pasteurised milk can aggravate candidiasis
- the process of pasteurising milk destroys 50% of Vitamin C
- milk is the main cause of infant colic and of allergies in infants and children
- milk drinkers have shown to have higher incidences of ovarian cancer as well as other cancers
- excessive dairy consumption can cause you to loose calcium through the urine and hence actually cause osteoporosis.
- milk contributes to poor liver function
and the list goes on.
But, milk is a natural food, it’s always been there and nobody has ever questioned the consumption of milk? Ok, look at it this way: All mammals drink the milk of their mothers until they are weaned. Unlike all other mammals though, humans continue to drink milk after weaning and even into adulthood, and not only that, humans drink the milk of another species! If you start to think like this, it’s quite disgusting, isn’t it? You wouldn’t drink cats or dogs milk so why cows?
But why then, do so many doctors and 'experts' insist on drinking milk? Traditional thinking, or ignorance perhaps. Being a doctor does not necessarily make one a nutrition expert and even doctors fall for the industry’s hype.
The calcium in dairy products is not absorbed into the body as easily as that in many dark green leafy vegetables. For example, calcium is much more easily absorbed from kale than cow’s milk. And the amount of calcium we get from plants is much higher, for example sesame seeds (670mg/100g, more than 5 times!), sardines (540), Nori seaweed (470), both more than triple, almonds (240, double!), figs (230), parsley, spinach, watercress, kale (200-170), even hazelnuts and oysters (140).
Note: caffeine and smoking has been shown to reduce calcium absorption.
But milk is good for your bones? No, actually osteoporosis occurs most commonly in countries where people drink the most milk! Calcium loss from the bones is promoted by high intakes of animal protein. Research suggests that the more animal protein you eat, the higher your risk of hip fracture becomes. Cross-cultural studies show strong links between a high animal protein diet, bone degeneration and the occurrence of hip fractures.
So to conclude, milk is not a natural food for humans, it’s not the best source of calcium and it doesn’t help preventing osteoporosis. On top of that milk can contain large amounts of hormones, antibiotics and pus. Milk is often so full of pus from infected utters that antibiotics and medicinal ointments are necessary, which are passed on to humans. Yes, the milk is pasteurized, 'sterilized', homogenized etc., but the pus cells are still in it and we drink it - along with chemicals from feed and hormones cows are injected with to produce even more milk.
And if this doesn’t put you off think of poor cows! Milk cows lead a miserable life with restricted movement all their lives. Some are so weak they collapse, they are forced to be constantly pregnant to produce milk and are often suffering from painful mastitis. The average cow rarely lives to 4-5 years. If you want to read more about how milk cows are treated in UK (and most other countries), read here:
I will never drink cow’s milk again, and I will not give it to my child either. M is happy drinking rice milk at the moment, and I’ve given her oat and coconut drinking milk. She'll get her calcium from fruits and vegetables, and her bones are strengthened by lot's of running around and exercise! I sometimes make my own almond milk and I use cashew milk in my smoothies. And if I fancy a cup of tea or coffee, I use soya milk. Hardest part has been not eating cheese, but as I don’t eat bread anymore, it’s actually manageable. So there is really no need to drink somebody else’s milk!
What the milk industry doesn't want us to know about is the long list of problems related to milk. Here are some of them:
- milk encourages mucus and catarrh
- pasteurised milk can aggravate candidiasis
- the process of pasteurising milk destroys 50% of Vitamin C
- milk is the main cause of infant colic and of allergies in infants and children
- milk drinkers have shown to have higher incidences of ovarian cancer as well as other cancers
- excessive dairy consumption can cause you to loose calcium through the urine and hence actually cause osteoporosis.
- milk contributes to poor liver function
and the list goes on.
But, milk is a natural food, it’s always been there and nobody has ever questioned the consumption of milk? Ok, look at it this way: All mammals drink the milk of their mothers until they are weaned. Unlike all other mammals though, humans continue to drink milk after weaning and even into adulthood, and not only that, humans drink the milk of another species! If you start to think like this, it’s quite disgusting, isn’t it? You wouldn’t drink cats or dogs milk so why cows?
But why then, do so many doctors and 'experts' insist on drinking milk? Traditional thinking, or ignorance perhaps. Being a doctor does not necessarily make one a nutrition expert and even doctors fall for the industry’s hype.
The calcium in dairy products is not absorbed into the body as easily as that in many dark green leafy vegetables. For example, calcium is much more easily absorbed from kale than cow’s milk. And the amount of calcium we get from plants is much higher, for example sesame seeds (670mg/100g, more than 5 times!), sardines (540), Nori seaweed (470), both more than triple, almonds (240, double!), figs (230), parsley, spinach, watercress, kale (200-170), even hazelnuts and oysters (140).
Note: caffeine and smoking has been shown to reduce calcium absorption.
But milk is good for your bones? No, actually osteoporosis occurs most commonly in countries where people drink the most milk! Calcium loss from the bones is promoted by high intakes of animal protein. Research suggests that the more animal protein you eat, the higher your risk of hip fracture becomes. Cross-cultural studies show strong links between a high animal protein diet, bone degeneration and the occurrence of hip fractures.
So to conclude, milk is not a natural food for humans, it’s not the best source of calcium and it doesn’t help preventing osteoporosis. On top of that milk can contain large amounts of hormones, antibiotics and pus. Milk is often so full of pus from infected utters that antibiotics and medicinal ointments are necessary, which are passed on to humans. Yes, the milk is pasteurized, 'sterilized', homogenized etc., but the pus cells are still in it and we drink it - along with chemicals from feed and hormones cows are injected with to produce even more milk.
And if this doesn’t put you off think of poor cows! Milk cows lead a miserable life with restricted movement all their lives. Some are so weak they collapse, they are forced to be constantly pregnant to produce milk and are often suffering from painful mastitis. The average cow rarely lives to 4-5 years. If you want to read more about how milk cows are treated in UK (and most other countries), read here:
I will never drink cow’s milk again, and I will not give it to my child either. M is happy drinking rice milk at the moment, and I’ve given her oat and coconut drinking milk. She'll get her calcium from fruits and vegetables, and her bones are strengthened by lot's of running around and exercise! I sometimes make my own almond milk and I use cashew milk in my smoothies. And if I fancy a cup of tea or coffee, I use soya milk. Hardest part has been not eating cheese, but as I don’t eat bread anymore, it’s actually manageable. So there is really no need to drink somebody else’s milk!
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