Cow’s milk is the perfect food for baby cows, but is not intended for consumption by human babies or adults for that matter. Cow milk has never been shown by any independent experiment to be good for human babies or for adult women to protect against osteoporosis. One psychiatrist Dr. Abram Hoffer MD, PhD, FRCP(C) states “ I would support the idea that all dairy products be labeled with a warning sign applied to cigarette packages, something like: Warning! This product may be hazardous to your health.” Milk products are actually an inferior source of calcium. Consider for a moment where do cow’s get calcium to put into their milk? It isn’t from milk, they don’t’ drink it. Where do other such large mammals like elephants get their calcium to build large bones? The calcium comes from grains, grasses and plants that they eat. Like other mammals we utilize calcium derived from vegetative sources, and as a direct result contributes to greater health not disease.
The calcium intake of hunter-gatherer tribes has been found to be in excess of 1,500 mg/day (above the RDA levels). These people consume no dairy products yet grow and maintain strong bones just from eating the natural foods they gather and catch. A clear distinction to be made here is that osteoporosis (loss of bone associated with age) is a condition that results from poor calcium metabolism and not simply by poor calcium intake.
An interesting fact is that calcium in milk is largely unavailable for absorption. Calcium needs an acid environment to be absorbed and the milk neutralizes stomach acid leaving an alkaline environment. The casein in milk also binds free calcium in the body making it unavailable for utilization.
The dairy industry spends a considerable amount in advertising and marketing each year. Despite what the milk marketing board leads us to believe cow’s milk and dairy products are not essential for a healthy diet. Here are several other “eye opening” reasons why milk/ dairy products are unfit for human consumption.
- Humans loose their ability to digest milk about when we get our first set of teeth. The rennin and lactase enzymes responsible for milk digestion decrease substantially.
- Cow’s milk has 2 – 3 times as much protein (casein) as human milk. Casein is extremely difficult to digest; it forms hard curds in our gut, which irritates the intestinal lining.
- Undigested milk proteins decompose in our lower GI tract resulting in the production of toxic by-products. Symptoms of this include bloating, foul smelling gas, and foul smelling stools and colic.
- Remainder of undigested milk proteins has to be excreted via the kidneys putting a lot of stress on our important elimination organs.
- Pasteurization of milk denatures the milk protein and enzymes which makes it that much more difficult to digest.
- Has been shown to contribute to the incidence of degenerative diseases in our culture like: osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, heart disease, allergies, ear infections, colds, asthma, irritable bowels, crohn’s, and celiac’s disease…
- Contributes to 50% of iron deficiency anemia in childhood. The casein curds irritate the intestinal lining causing bleeding.
- Recent studies shoe that ingestion of dairy proteins is related to development of insulin dependent diabetes. The proteins stimulate the productions of antibodies that attack the insulin-producing pancreatic cells.
- New evidence suggests milk consumption contributes to pregnancy complications. The high phosphorous and calcium content decrease the body’s ability to absorb magnesium leading to muscle cramps, hypertension, vaso-spasms, coagulation defects and premature delivery.
- Dairy products from cows are an inadequate source of essential fatty acids.
- Hormone, antibiotic, herbicide and pesticide residues in dairy products accumulate in our bodies and cause toxicity and disease.
Symptoms of dairy intolerances vary from person to person and may include:
| Vomiting |
Ear infections |
Insomnia |
| Diarrhea |
Dermatitis |
Headaches |
| Runny nose |
Eczema |
Tension |
| Nasal congestion | Acne |
Fatigue |
| Excessive mucous | Hives |
Hyperactivity |
| Bronchial infections | Pallor |
Bed-wetting |
| Asthma |
GI problems | Behavioral problems |
Of course an Internet search will reveal a plethora of information about the pros and cons of dairy products. Just keep in mind that anyone can write anything on the Internet. It is always best to search out information from peer-reviewed journals and reliable information sources.