Milk - How healthy is it?

"Canadians should consume lots of milk and dairy products". That's the message in magazines from the attractive dietician with nutrition advice on topics such as bone health, calcium and dental health. Delivered in your mailbox and found in doctors' waiting rooms are glossy pamphlets with calcium charts, recommended calcium intake tables and new ways of consuming dairy products. Have you seen these? These offerings all come from the Dairy Bureau of Canada. This is the organization through which the Dairy Farmers of Canada runs its marketing and nutrition programs. And they do a darn good job! The perceptions they have created for us about milk are that it ensures good health, makes you beautiful, is akin to comfort and love and tastes good. We want to buy milk. We want to give it to our children. But dare we trust the claims made by salesmen? The primary mandate of the Dairy Bureau of Canada is to sell more milk for the dairy farmers.

Here are some interesting facts about milk consumption, from scientific studies. A Japanese study: Before World War 2 Japanese people consumed very little cow's milk (about 5.5 pounds per person). After World War 2 during the occupation of American troops, the Japanese began to adopt a North American diet, and by 1975 were consuming 117.4 lb. milk per person. This is what happened to their health: Cerebral vascular disease increased by 38%, heart disease by 35%, breast cancer and colon cancer by a whopping 77%, and lung cancer by an unbelievable 300%!

Osteoporosis: The Bantus of South Africa eat a diet very low in calcium (about 200 mg/day) but osteoporosis is unheard of, even in women who have borne and nursed 6 or more children.

By contrast, the Inuit eat a high animal protein and high calcium diet and they have the worst osteoporosis in the world. Confusing? Not really. Milk does not contain sufficient magnesium to allow absorption of calcium. Unabsorbed calcium is bad news as it deposits itself in arteries, forms kidney stones or contributes to arthritis and gout. Milk is also high in animal protein with sulphur bonds that result in a net loss of calcium from the bones. The high animal protein in the Inuit diet by this mechanism leads to much bone loss. On the other hand, plant protein does not do this as it has no sulphur bonds. In menopausal women, calcium is often lost from the bones, and drinking milk only adds to this loss.

Insulin Dependent Diabetes in Children: In one study, the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto found that the highest rates of diabetes in children occur in countries with the highest milk consumption. Our immune systems produce an antibody to an antigen in milk that is so similar to a receptor on insulin producing cells in the pancreas that the antibody destroys the insulin-producing cells along with the antigen. A lack of insulin production means diabetes. Other conditions caused or aggravated by milk are intestinal colic, allergies, childhood ear infections, asthma, bed-wetting and tonsil infections.

There are many more studies linking milk consumption to disease. Cow's milk is perfect for calves. Human milk is perfect for human babies. Neither requires milk after infancy.

Milk is deeply ingrained in our culture and diet and is not easy to avoid. Becoming an informed consumer will help you make the right choices for your health.

References available on request.

Copyright: Bruce Lofting, N.D. August, 2001