The Skinny on Milk

Let me start by saying I drink Organic Skim Cow's milk and Soy Milk. I don't drink milk as a beverage, but when I want cereal or a latte I'll use cow's milk or soy milk, but I only buy organic. I was drinking only Soy Milk for a while, but heard something about plant estrogens (phytoestrogens) or isoflavones that have a structure similar to the hormone estrogen. They can bind to estrogen "receptors" and have estrogen like effects on the body. But the more I read recently about the clinical studies, this really is a myth. The isoflavones in soy food do not affect levels of testosterone or estrogen. I am a proponent of soy. The soy is made from the beans of the green soy bean plant and is high in protein and is considered nutritionally equal to the protein found in animal foods because it has all the essential amino acids of protein, complex carbohydrates, omega-3 fatty acids and vitamins & minerals such as calcium, folate and iron. I will talk a bit about soy later.

I am on this journey of learning about what is in the foods we are eating with you, and we will all make our own educated choices after we learn more. We will make these choices based on what we believe is the healthiest choice for us and our families.

There are so many negative affects of cow's milk, I honestly had some idea, but really didn't know the whole picture. We are the only mammal that drinks milk after we are weaned. Not only do we continue to drink milk, but we drink another animal's milk. Human Breast milk has the perfect amount of fats, proteins and vitamins for not only protecting us from diseases and bacteria but for brain development and strong bones. I knew that each animal's milk is optimal for it's young, but I didn't know cow's milk has 3x more protein and almost 4x more calcium than human milk, because naturally it is made to be the perfect food for a calf that will grow up to be many times larger than a human.

Cows milk contains 118 mg of calcium in every 100 grams, compared to 33mg of calcium/100 grams in human milk, but cow's milk contains 97 mg of phosphorus/100g compared to 18mg of phosphorus in human milk. This is important because minimum recommended ratio of calcium to phosphorus for humans to get the adequate calcium intake is 2:1. When the ratio is too high - as it is in cow's milk, we can't absorb the calcium and it will actually drain calcium away from our bones. Ironically cow's milk is marketed for building healthy bones, but it's very high in phosphorus and may actually be causing osteoporosis. Our bodies can only absorb 30% of it's calcium due to it's mineral make-up.

Also, if we ingest more calcium and protein than we can absorb, it will result in excess waste which puts stress on the liver, intestines, lungs, kidneys...One more thing about cow's milk vs. human milk. The fat contents are similar, but cow's milk has 48% less natural carbohydrates and almost 300% more sodium.

By simply removing dairy from one's diet, people found all of these health issues (and more) cleared up:

• asthma
• ear infections
• acne
• digestive problems (gas, bloating, cramps, diarrhea)
• ovarian tumors, cysts, fibroid tumors
• hardening of arteries
• bedwetting
• menstrual irregularities, cramps, heavy flow....
• infertility
• prostate cancer

Now let's talk about pasteurization. Studies have shown that if calves were fed on pasteurized milk from their own mother cow - they would die within six weeks. There is a big debate over Raw Milk (I have very healthy neighbors that will only drink raw milk from pasture-fed goats).

I did order a quart about a year ago from a local farmer they use. It is an acquired taste - it does taste like grass! My neighbors and I know lots of others believe that children should only be fed clean raw milk after they are weaned from human milk. Who knows, I may try it again!

Pasteurization is done to kill certain disease carrying germs and to prevent the souring of milk. This is done by heating the milk to 145 to 150 degrees F. But by heating it at such a high temperature a lot of the nutrients are killed as well. The irony is after being pasteurized to prevent souring - germs multiply quickly in the milk because the "lactic acid bacillus" (an important probiotic) is killed as well. Pasteurization not only destroys part of the vitamin C contained in raw milk but also turns the sugar of milk (lactose) into "beta-lactose", which is not as thick and becomes more soluble and is absorbed quicker by the system leaving us less full. It also destroys 20% of the iodine that is in raw milk.

All of our milk (except raw milk) is pasteurized or ultra-pasteurized as well as homogenized (which became a popular practice in the 50s). If milk isn't homogenized, the milk fat proteins will separate from the rest of the milk - the cream or fat would rise and settle on the top. Milk is an oil and water combination, it doesn't stay mixed. Homogenized milk is run through small tubes usually during the pasteurization process to keep the fat and liquid molecules together. This process also is used to take some of the milk fat out to create skim or 2% milk.

If you are going to stick with cow's milk - go organic vs. industrial, non organic. Organic cow's milk does not have the recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH) that is used to increase milk production in cows (up to 20%). The cows are not treated with antibiotics, and there is no use of fertilizers, herbicides or pesticides in their fields. Non organic cows are fed gelatin (taken from hooves of cattle and other animals), fats, oils, grease and tallow (from cattle and other animals), poultry and poultry by-products, rendered pork protein and rendered horse protein. None of these can be fed to Organic cattle.

Now another debate is whether cows - organic or not, should be fed corn or grass. In the past, all beef was grass fed, but now almost all cattle is "feedlot" (fed in landless environments) corn fed because it is faster and more profitable. 70 years ago steers were about 5 years old when they were slaughtered, today they are 14 or 16 months. The industry is using corn, protein, supplements, antibiotics, and bovine growth hormone to take a calf from a birth weight of 80 lbs to 1200 lbs in a little more than a year! Cows are meant to eat grass - you can make an informed decision from that little bit of info. Not to mention the inhumane treatment of the cattle not only being confined in small dark quarters, medicated and being fed the cheapest food but also being poked with electric prods, run over with machinery and held up with fork lifts to pass inspection.

There is a huge debate between raw milk vs. pasteurized/homogenized milk. You can get organic grass fed cow's milk if you want a healthy milk with all nutrients intact and you still want your cow's milk. You can turn to pasture fed organic goat's milk if you don't want the ill effects of cow's milk, but still want animal's milk. Goat milk is actually the milk of choice in most other parts of the world, more so than cow's milk because they are inexpensive and take up less space. Goat's milk is also the closest to human milk. Goat's milk is a complete protein - which means it contains all of the essential amino acids and it contains less fat and more vitamin A, protein and riboflavin than cow's milk. Goat's milk is also easier to digest. Studies have shown that half of people that are lactose intolerant can drink goat's milk. Cow's milk contains an enzyme called "xanthine oxidase" - when this enzyme enters our body it can create scar tissue on the heart and can cause high cholesterol and eventually arteriosclerosis (which is when fatty materials are deposited on the walls of the arteries, they thicken and can block the arteries). Goat's milk does not contain this enzyme.

Soy milk contains vegetable proteins which can be more easily absorbed with less loss of calcium through the kidneys - like with dairy protein - like we talked about. Soy does not contain lactose (75% of the world's population is allergic to lactose) but does have preboitic sugars that actually boost immunity and help decrease toxins in the body. Cow's milk can increase your cholesterol, soy protein can actually decrease cholesterol levels. The FDA recommends 25 grams of soy protein to help lower the risk of coronary heart disease. Fewer chemicals are present in soy products and it has no cholesterol and is low in saturated fat and sodium and has high dietary fiber as well as manganese and thiamin.

Cow's milk, goat's milk, soy milk....we covered most of the basics. I will talk about almond milk and rice milk later....If any of this struck a chord with you, research further and figure out what would be the best milk for you and your family. In Janie Quinn's book, she takes organic yogurt and adds water to make yogurt milk because yogurt is "predigested", the milk molecule is broken down so there are low levels of lactose. I have done this, especially for my shakes.

TAKE AWAY:

If you haven't seen Food Inc. - this documentary talks about factory farming, as well as other issues such as the use of pesticides, genetic engineering, farm worker protection, sustainable foods and more, you should definitely see it.