The Milk Dilemma

First off I would like to apologize for not posting for a while.  The Christmas period has been full of life changes and a large dose of stress, so posting had to be put on hold for a while.

That said, let's get down to business.  Well, I hardly know where to begin on the milk dilema.  There is so much evidence AGAINST milk consumption that I still can't understand why milk is being pushed at us on such a constant and in your face way.

I am going to try and make this as brief as possible, but I might not manage it as there is so much to be said.

Cow's milk is for... cows

All mammals receive their mother's milk directly (in most cases) from the mammary gland.  That's what they're for.  But it is only for the first several months of life or for as long as possible in some HUMANS.  We all know there is a huge following to breast feed your child for as long as possible - it's a matter of individual opinion and to be respected.  However, in the animal kingdom (and let's not forget we humans are animals too), feeding on mother's milk is limited in time and limited to the same species.  Human breast milk has everything a human baby needs to develop in the initial stages of life in the outside world.  We don't give human breast milk to other animals. 

Why is cow's milk dangerous to human health?

The mass production of cow's milk has lead to cows being treated in some of the most abominable ways.  They are kept pregnant to increase and continue milk production, in order to do this they are injected with hormones.  Steroids are used to promote growth and antibiotics for all those diseases they have for living in poor, confined conditions and also genetically modified substances.  All cows release toxins through their milk, just as women are advised not to smoke, drink alcohol, take drugs, medication and spicy foods or drink caffeine, etc if breast feeding as amounts of these are found in breast milk and transferred to the baby, so do the toxins in cow's milk pass on to us humans.

So what exactly is in cow's milk?  Well, lots of potentially harmful substances for humans:

• A hormone cocktail of pituitary, steroid, hypothalamic and thyroid hormones.
• rBGH (Recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone) a genetically engineered  hormone directly linked to breast, colon and prostate cancer.  This is used in cows to increase milk production.  I would like to point out that this is banned in Europe.
• Pus:  National averages for USA show at least 322 million cell-counts of pus per glass of milk.  This is well above the human limit for pus-intake and has been directly linked to paratuberculosis bacteria, as well as Chron's Disease.  This happens because the cows suffer from mastitis from infected udders from too much milking.
• Gastrointestinal Peptides:  Nerve and epidermal growth factors, and growth inhibitors MDGI and MAF.
• Blood cells: The USDA allows up to 1.5 million white blood cells per milliliter of commonly-sold milk.  This means you and your children are drinking cow's blood in your milk!
• Antibiotics:  As previously mentioned, factory cows are in such a state of disease and are so mistreated that they are constantly injected with antibiotics to combat infections, and are rubbed down with chemical laden ointments.  Right now, regulatory committees only test for 4 of the 85 drugs in dairy cows.  This means that the other 81 drugs in cow's milk are poured directly into your glass or over your breakfast cereal and then ingested by you.  Estimates show that 38% of milk in the US is "contaminated with sulfa drugs or other antibiotics" according to a study by the Centre for Science in the Public Interest and published in the Wall Street Journal on December 29th, 1989.  A study from the FDA data showed that over half of all milk was laden with traces of pharmaceuticals yet nothing has been done to control or change this.

More Information?

If the above isn't enough to stop you consuming milk produce, here is some more interesting information to consider.  In 2008 Harvard researchers studied the effect of giving US commercial milk to third-grade students in Mongolia.  After drinking it for a month, their growth hormone levels increased dramatically by 40%  The children actually grew about 1cm during the month.  This was considered a significant statistical change by the researchers.  The researchers are currently studying whether growth spurts from milk will affect sexual maturity and puberty age.

It is known that puberty is starting at a younger age nowadays.  Some less enlightened people consider this to be evolution.  However, a lot of the problem is linked to diet and what many don't realize is that early onset puberty can lead to serious health problems in later life.

According to researchers at the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention, in Westernized societies, girls who start their periods before the age of 12 and who have the most menstrual cycles over a lifetime have a higher risk of dying from ovarian cancer than women with fewer periods.  The same appears to be true of breast cancer.  Earlier puberty means more menstrual cycles - and hormone laced milk produce, meat and poultry are associated with early puberty.  Childhood obesity also triggers puberty sooner.

But it isn't just the girls having all the problems.  US dairy produce accounts for 60-80% of estrogens consumed.  Excess estrogen not only makes boys mature later and have "man-boobs", but it can also delay emotional development.  Estrogen is also being studied as a possible culprit in declining sperm counts.

Nowadays we have choices.  There are other products on the market to substitute cow's milk, cheese, yogurts, etc..  You can substitute milk for rice milk, almond milk, hemp milk, etc.. Yogurts can be substituted by soy yogurts.  Cheese doesn't really have a substitute yet but, believe me, you can live without it!