Besides depleting calcium from our bones, what else you should be aware of before giving your children, your parents or even yourself a glass of milk daily?
Cow’s milk is custom-designed for calves
Thanks to our creative ingenuity and perhaps related to our ancient
survival needs, we adopted the dubious habit of drinking another
species’ milk. Nobody can dispute that cow’s milk is an excellent food
source for calves. Weighing around 100 pounds at birth, a calf typically
gains approximately eight times its weight by the time it is weaned.
But unlike humans, once calves are weaned, they never drink milk again.
And the same applies to every mammalian species on this planet.
Also, each mammalian species has its own “designer” milk, and cow’s
milk is no exception. For example,
cow’s milk contains on average three
times the amount of protein than human milk which creates metabolic
disturbances in humans that have detrimental bone health consequences.
It’s important to bear in mind that mother’s milk is excellent
nourishment for human babies, but its composition is very different from
cow’s milk.
Scientific studies show that milk increases fracture risk
Many scientific studies contradict the conventional wisdom that milk
and dairy consumption help reduce osteoporotic fractures. Surprisingly,
studies demonstrating that milk and dairy products actually fail to
protect bones from fractures outnumber studies that prove otherwise.
Even drinking milk from a young age does not protect against future
fracture risk but actually increases it. Shattering the “savings
account” calcium theory, Cumming and Klineberg report their study
findings as follows:
“Consumption of dairy products, particularly at age 20 years, was
associated with an increased risk of hip fracture in old age.
(“Case-Control Study of Risk Factors for Hip Fractures in the Elderly”.
American Journal of Epidemiology. Vol. 139, No. 5, 1994).
And the 12 year long Harvard Nurses’ Health Study found that those
who consumed the most calcium from dairy foods broke more bones than
those who rarely drank milk. This is a broad study based on 77,761 women
aged 34 through 59 years of age.
In the authors’ own words:
“These data do not support the hypothesis that higher consumption of
milk or other food sources of calcium by adult women protects against
hip or forearm fractures.” (Source: Feskanich D, Willett WC, Stampfer
MJ, Colditz GA. Milk, dietary calcium, and bone fractures in women: a
12-year prospective study. American Journal of Public Health. 1997).
Shocking statistics ignored by mainstream medicine
In the Save Our Bones Program
one of the topics I discuss is the complete disregard of scientific
evidence that discredits milk and dairy products as the best source of
calcium.
One exception is Amy Lanou Ph.D., nutrition director for the
Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine in Washington, D.C., who
states that:
“The countries with the highest rates of osteoporosis are the ones where
people drink the most milk and have the most calcium in their diets.
The connection between calcium consumption and bone health is actually
very weak, and the connection between dairy consumption and bone health
is almost nonexistent.”
Surprised? You shouldn’t be, because as I mentioned earlier in this article…
Milk is an acidifying animal protein
Like any other animal derived protein-rich food, milk has a positive
potential renal acid load (PRAL) which triggers a protective biological
reaction to neutralize all the damaging acidic protein before it reaches
the kidneys.
The body is designed for survival, so it sacrifices bone density to
protect the kidneys and urinary tract because the latter are essential
to survival. And the most readily available source of acid neutralizer
is in the bones.
So even though milk contains calcium, it ends up
sapping your bones of that crucial mineral. But that’s not all because…
Today’s milk is a processed food
Until the end of the 19th century in Europe and the beginning of the
20th century in the US, milk was consumed unpasteurized or raw. Later
on, homogenization became the industry’s standard. These processes
further alter milk’s chemistry and actually increase its detrimental
acidifying effects.
Raw milk advocates claim that if cow’s milk is left “as is” it is a
healthy and wholesome drink. It is true that raw milk is less acidifying
than processed milk and that pasteurization and homogenization may
cause a long list of digestive and other health problems, but I still
don’t recommend drinking any kind of cow’s milk.
Nowadays,
milking cows are given antibiotics and most are also
injected with a genetically engineered form of bovine growth hormone
(rBGH). A man-made or synthetic hormone used to artificially increase
milk production, rBGH also increases blood levels of the insulin-growth
factor 1 (IGF-1) in those who drink it.
And higher levels of IGF-1 are
linked to several cancers.
This should not be ignored, especially in view of recent information
by Samuel Epstein, MD, Professor of Environmental Medicine at the
University of Illinois School of Public Health, and Chairman of the
Cancer Prevention Coalition. In an article titled “Monsanto’s Hormonal
Milk Poses Serious Risks of Breast Cancer, Besides Other Cancers”
(http://www.preventcancer.com/press/releases/july8_98.htm, June 21,
1998) Dr. Epstein concludes that:
“Drinking rBGH milk would thus be expected to significantly increase
IGF-1 blood levels and consequently to increase risks of developing
breast cancer and promoting its invasiveness.”
Even though organic milk is from cows that are not given antibiotics
or rBHG, if you truly care about your bone health and your overall
health, you should…
Avoid drinking cow’s milk
As I explain in the Save Our Bones Program
and contrary to mainstream recommendations, drinking milk and eating
lots of dairy products are not the answer to reversing osteoporosis. And
while in the Save Our Bones Program no food is completely off limits, I
strongly recommend that you explore the different milk substitute
options that I will list for you here.
But first, I’d like to clarify that unsweetened fermented or cultured
dairy products such as yogurt, kefir, and sour cream are acid neutral.
Yogurt in particular is chock-full of beneficial qualities. As is the
case with milk, organic yogurt does not have rBGH, but even several of
the most well-known yogurt brands have stopped using the bovine growth
hormone (rBGH). You should call your favorite yogurt company to
confirm. One more clarification: when I say unsweetened I mean without
sugar or any artificial sweetener. However, you can add honey or stevia,
a zero calorie plant-derived sweetener that is delicious and alkalizing
as well. I like to carry around stevia packets in my purse so that I’m
always able to sweeten food or drinks when I’m on the go.
Source: http://saveourbones.com/osteoporosis-milk-myth/
Jinny
92963562
