Milk Facts You Didn't Learn in SchoolPeople who grow up in the U.S. learn certain milk facts when they are children. Milk is nature's most perfect food. Milk builds strong bones and sturdy teeth. Adults learn that if we drink enough milk, we can prevent osteoporosis. None of these "facts" are true. They are dairy industry propaganda. Continue reading below for some true information about milk.So what exactly is wrong with drinking milk? To begin with, most people can't even digest it. Lactose intolerance
Three quarters of the people in the world don't produce the enzyme lactase, so they can't digest the milk sugar lactose. See our page about a dairy free diet to learn more about the dairy industry and about lactose intolerance. People who can digest lactose still may not be able to drink milk. They could be allergic to one or more of thirty different milk proteins. Allergies
 Dairy protein is the most common cause of allergies in humans. At least twenty-one million Americans are allergic to cows milk, and many of them do not know what is causing their suffering. Milk protein can trigger an immune response in humans. The allergic reaction can be immediate, or it may not happen for 2 or 3 days. Because of this delay, many people do not link their symptoms to their milk intake. Some common allergy symptoms are:
Milk proteins are not only linked to allergies, but to autoimmune diseases. Autoimmune diseases
Autoimmune diseases occur when the body attacks its own tissues. There are many types of autoimmune diseases, including type I diabetes, lupus, multiple sclerosis, and rheumatoid arthritis. Antibodies to dairy proteins are often found in people who suffer from these conditions. And autoimmune diseases are most common in dairy-consuming areas of the world. Another of the little-known milk facts is that milk protein promotes cancer growth. Cancer
 T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D., author of The China Study, spent a lifetime studying the causes and growth of cancer. He found that casein, a cows milk protein, stimulated cancer growth even more than did powerful carcinogens. In other studies, milk consumption has been linked with prostate, breast, and ovarian cancers. Drinking milk also increases your risk of developing heart disease. Heart disease
Scientific studies show that milk consumption has the strongest correlation with heart disease of any food. Milk is loaded with saturated fat and cholesterol, and contains no fiber. Saturated fat raises cholesterol levels. Casein, the main dairy protein, also raises blood cholesterol. Low fat and skim milk products are very high in casein. Also, milk contains so much calcium that it may calcify the lining of our arteries. What about weight loss? Ignore the dairy industry propaganda that says milk helps with weight loss. Weight loss
Their claims are based on one tiny study of eleven people. The dairy industry funded the study. The author of the study owns a patent on the claim that dairy products promote weight loss. So much for unbiased scientific investigation. The actual milk facts are that a number of independent studies find no correlation between drinking milk and weight loss. The largest study, on 12,000 children, found that the more milk children drank, the fatter they became. Milk is also contaminated with pesticides, drugs, bacteria, viruses, and environmental contaminants. Contamination in milk
Cows encounter pesticides from the air, water, pastureland, and the food they eat. These pesticides concentrate in the fat tissue of a cow, a process known as bio-magnification. The cow then excretes pesticide residues in its milk. Human mothers also concentrate pesticides in fat tissue, so breastfed infants drink pesticide-laden milk from birth. Dairy farms treat cows with antibiotics and growth hormones to make them grow faster and produce more milk. These powerful drugs end up in the milk. Organic milk contains growth hormones too, because they occur naturally in a cow that is lactating. They are there to make the calf grow rapidly. Food recalls often happen because a food is contaminated by some kind of bacteria, such as salmonella, listeria, staph, or the pus from infected udders. Thousands of people become ill and some die every year from the bacterial contamination of dairy products. Dairies combine the milk from many cows, so any bacteria spreads throughout a huge batch of milk. Most dairy herds in the United States are infected with bovine leukemia viruses, bovine AIDs viruses, and a bovine form of tuberculosis. Many environmental contaminants have been found in milk, including radioactive substances, dioxin, flame retardant, and rocket fuel. We have only scratched the surface of some nasty milk facts. There are many more. We encourage you to read the book Whitewash: The Disturbing Truth About Cow's Milk and Your Health, by Joseph Keon. It is well written and fully documented with 58 pages of references. Every health-conscious person should read this book. |
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