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The dairy industry has done an excellent job of marketing milk as nature’s perfect food – the foundation of an entire nutritional food group, present in dozens of products that you and I eat every day. I find it odd that we’re the only species who, once weaned from our own mother’s milk, drink the milk of another species’ mothers throughout our adult lives. I’m guilty of this too and grew up on milk, but now it’s time to rethink our old habits. There’s a lot to indicate that humans aren’t designed to consume dairy. Here’s some food for thought. Milk’s Nutritional Makeup Is Designed for Calves, Not Humans Just like humans, cows have been evolutionarily designed to produce milk that nourishes their young. So while cow’s milk is an ideal food for calves, it’s not for humans. The protein composition in particular can have negative effects for us. The two main milk proteins are casein and whey – whey is much easier for humans to digest, but cow’s milk is high in casein. If you don’t have four stomachs, drinking milk is going to put a lot of stress on your digestive system. It’s also evident that the majority of the worldwide population literally can’t stomach milk because they can’t digest lactose – a form of sugar in milk. Trying to break it down often leads to bloating, cramps and diarrhoea. I remember experiencing this when I was young but so naive to question why. Milk is Bad for Bones This is no doubt one of the major myths about milk and dairy, that it’s necessary for healthy bones. In reality, milk does the opposite: far from feeding your bones with the calcium they need to stay healthy, it depletes calcium from your bones! Milk is highly acidifying and when your body becomes too acidic, it pulls calcium from the bones to neutralise that excess acid. Calcium is the primary alkaline mineral that’s used to buffer acid and lack of calcium will negatively impact your blood pH. Scientific studies correlate increased dairy consumption with increased risk of bone fractures from osteoporosis. A large study in Sweden found women consuming more than 3 glasses of milk a day had more hip fractures and had twice the mortality rate over 20 years compared to women consuming less than one glass per day¹. Milk Can Contain Harmful Hormones and Antibiotics We’re taught to believe that pasteurisation makes milk safe, but there’s one thing it can’t do – filter out all the harmful medications that make it into the milk after being pumped into the cow. Nowadays, with modern farming production methods, most dairy cows are heavily medicated, and some of the things they’re given have been linked to cancer in humans. Luckily, you can avoid this particular outcome by choosing to buy organic. Just as you would rather have organic meat to avoid hormones and antibiotics, organic milk is a better choice for the same reason. Don’t Avoid All Dairy Yet! Now, I’m not necessarily saying that you have to give up all dairy – I know that entirely cutting out pizza and ice cream is a massive sacrifice for a lot of people! Interestingly, the same study mentioned above also found that fermented milk products (cheese and yogurt) significantly decreased mortality and fractures among these women. For each serving of these fermented dairy products, the rate of mortality and hip fractures was reduced by 10-15%. These days, there are also many replacements readily available in the supermarket aisle that make it easier than ever to reduce dairy intake, almond milk being a great one (imagine trying to find almond milk 5 years ago!) What are your thoughts on cow’s milk? Does dairy affect your health? For more natural health tips visit our blog at: http://www.alkalife.com.au/blog
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