Milk
COW'S MILK proteins are the hardest proteins for humans to digest. There are over thirty different proteins in cow's milk (casein is the most common) that can trigger allergic reactions. The human digestive system can increase that number to over 100 possible antigens. Cow's milk proteins can damage the intestinal villi by blunting the ends so that it becomes impossible for the intestines to absorb nutrients. Flu-like symptoms develop, progressing to abdominal cramps and pain. This is particularly common in infants with colicy symptoms -- even breastfed infants. The mother may have reactions to cow's milk, and, by drinking it, she is passing her antigens to her baby, causing another generation to have a compromised immune system. It is more beneficial for the mother to drink water than milk while breastfeeding. Higher levels of cow's milk protein are found in the breast milk of mothers who drink cow's milk and who have colicy infants. Stopping the ingestion of cow's milk has helped those infants diminish their colicy symptoms.
Colic seems to have appeared only within the past 100 years with the general introduction of feeding cow's milk to human babies. But allergies to milk are not new as they have been recorded in the Talmud and in ancient Greek writings by the physician Galen. Ancestral background also plays a part in the intolerance of dairy and is most common in American Indians, Asians, Africans, and Mediterranean Europeans. When families eliminate milk products from the diet, they notice other things disappearing as well -- including colitis, colic, earaches, colds, asthma, and chronic congestion.
In the Third World, where babies are exclusively breastfed, mortality rates have dropped by 95%. Every twenty-four hours, 4000 bottlefed babies die. More than 1˝ million babies die every year from the cycle of infection and malnutrition known as "Bottle Baby Disease." Almost all of these are in the Third World. This is because companies that manufacture infant formula give it away free to new mothers. By the time these mothers realize that they now have to buy formula and that there is little, if any, clean water to mix with it, their own milk has dried up. Mothers weaken the formula for as long as they can, trying to make it last; but, as a result, babies become malnourished, develop infections, and die. According to UNICEF, the risk of death is twenty-five times greater for children who are bottlefed. Such pressure was put on the Nestlé company a few years ago that they stopped this practise, but there are others taking their place.
According to the 1995 USDA report, the average American ate:
394 pounds of vegetables;
121 pounds of fresh fruit;
192 pounds of cereal products, including flour;
193 pounds of meat, poultry, and fish;
584 pounds of milk and dairy products, or 40% of the total food consumption.
This number is not the total picture, however, because it takes ten pounds of milk to make one pound of cheese and twelve pounds of milk to make one pound of ice cream. Therefore, a far greater amount of milk is consumed, especially in these forms.
Americans drink more milk than the inhabitants of any country in the world, yet have the highest occurrences of bone ailments, including osteoporosis. Studies have shown that people on dairy rich diets excrete the majority of the calcium they consume. Worse yet, The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition reported that the large amounts of protein and phosphorus contained in milk cause the body to lose more calcium that it gains. People can absorb only 25% of the calcium from milk, but are able to absorb 42% of the calcium found in apple juice.
In addition to the risk of osteoporosis comes the increased risk of athersclerosis. One glass of low fat milk has the equivalent of fat equal to three slices of bacon. By the time the average milk-drinking American has reached adulthood, he/she will have consumed the equivalent amount of cholesterol in 1 million slices of bacon. Females, on average, have consumed two pounds of milk per day for their entire adult lives, yet over 25 million American women over the age of forty have been diagnosed with arthritis, osteoporosis and breast cancer. Many believe that drinking non-fat milk or reduced fat milk lessens the chances; but the numbers did not change, depite numerous testings by various investigators, including Harvard Medical School that analyzed data from twenty-seven countries in the 1970's!
Despite the glut of milk on the market, producers are still seeking ways to increase production even more by giving cows a regular bi-monthly injection of a hormone called Bovine Somatotropin (BST). This hormone, approved by the FDA, has the potential to increase milk production by 15%, which technically means that 15% fewer cows will be needed; but that scenario is unlikely. In the cow, this powerful hormone produces anemia, infertility, infections, and bone growth defects. The hormone also changes the composition of the milk fats by producing a secondary hormone called IGF-1, which affects the body's handling of fats and sugars at the same time increasing the amounts of the original hormone. It is still not known if these changes are harmful to humans; but, do not worry, it already has government approval.
Microbiologists are well aware that one amino acid difference in a protein molecule can result in hundreds of diseases, including sickle cell anemia and forms of Alzheimer's. Yet, Monsanto denied this happening in their development of BST (the growth hormone used in dairy cattle). They listed the amino acid #144 as lysine when, in fact, they created a "freak" amino acid called epsilon-N-acetyllysine. The scientist who discovered this, Dr. Bernard Violand, published his findings in the July 1994 issue of Protein Science. "The mistake resulted in the production of a substance unlike the naturally occurring bovine protein." Monsanto has stated that, since that time, they have filtered out this protein. Exactly when and how much milk was consumed before that time is not known, nor is it known the longterm effects of this defective gene.
There is a basic belief within the scientific community that protein hormones cannot survive the digestive process. In a normal functional digestive system, foods eaten are bombarded with pepsin, hydrochloric acid, and other strong enzymes -- supposedly inactivating protein hormones. But when antacids are used or when milk is taken, the digestive atmosphere changes. Both have a buffering effect that lowers the pH level to a more neutral 6, inactivating the digestive acids. This means that the hormones used in dairy cattle are now free to enter the system. The bovine growth hormone used for cattle is exactly the same structure as that found in humans producing the same effects -- bulk. The FDA has been most adamant in maintaining that the bovine growth hormone is destroyed when eaten by humans -- and the FDA is never wrong. Even pasteurization does not destroy the genetically engineered bovine hormones, not even at temperatures beyond the established pasteurization process. In one study, milk was heated for thirty minutes at 71°C. The hormone survived. This temperature is maintained only for fifteen seconds during the pasteurization process.
Another identical feature found in both humans and bovines is the insulin-like growth factors. There is evidence that for some children, the ingestion of cow's milk during infancy may have initiated Type I diabetes. In a New England Journal of Medicine article (July 30,1992), a simultaneous study was done at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto and in Finland. "The world's highest rate of dairy consumption and the world's highest rate of insulin-dependent diabetes is linked. The disease strikes about forty children out of every 1000...Antibodies produced against the milk protein during the first year of life...also attack and destroy the pancreas, in a so-called autoimmune reaction, producing diabetes in people whose genetic makeup leaves them vulverable...142 Finnish children with newly diagnosed diabetes...had at least eight times as many antibodies against the milk protein as healthy children, clear evidence that the children had a raging autoimmune disorder."
Cows treated with rbGH (a growth hormone) develop on their udders ulcers which require antibiotics to correct. Some speculate that, since there are so many similarities between the hormones used in cattle and those found in humans, there could be a link with breast cancer in humans. (See also: The Use of Bovine Growth Hormone - One student's essay.)
A Nov. 8, 1994 New York Times report found that
1) only 1% of the women between the ages of 40 and 50 are ever diagnosed with cancers, but autopsies revealled that 39% actually had it.
2) 46% of the men between the ages of 60 and 70 actually had prostate cancer, but only 1% were diagnosed.
3) Virtually all of the people over the age of 50 have thyroid tumors, yet few are detected.
Yet it is still maintained that there is no link between genetically modified hormones used and any effects on humans. Even ovarian cancer risk jumps to over three times in milk drinkers than in non-milk drinkers. One study showed that men who drank two or more glasses of milk every day were almost twice as likely to develop advanced or metastatic (spreading) prostate cancer as those who did not drink milk at all.
The human AIDS virus closely resembles that of a bovine immunodeficiency virus; yet the USDA refuses to inspect suspected meat and milk to see if antibodies are present to the retrovirus, nor do they have any plans to quarantine such animals. In addition, 60% of the dairy herds in the US carries the leukemia virus. Animals are not even tested for drug residues. The official drug-testing method for milk sanctioned by the FDA is not able to detect residues from most medications used in the dairy industry today. The test used is called the "BS" (no lie!) which stands for Bacillus stearothermophilus disc assay.
After about the age of four years, most people stop synthesizing the digestive enzyme, lactase. Only northern European Caucasions retain the ability to digest lactose after childhood. Lactase is necessary to reduce the milk sugar, lactose, into forms the body can use (glucose and galactose). Without this enzyme, people become "lactose intolerant," which produces painful symptoms. The undigested lactose sits there and ferments in the colon, causing bloating, gas, abdominal cramps and pain, and diarrhea. In the United States alone, there are an estimated 30 to 50 million people considered to be lactose intolerant. Many products contain lactose and labels must be read in order to avoid discomforting symptoms after consuming these products. For example, Benedryl in capsules of 25 mg. contain lactose. The PDR does not list lactose in the ingredients for the 50 mg. capsules or the injectables. Carper lists about 370 drugs that contain lactose. For those who are lactose intolerant and who must take a medication, it is wise to check the PDR to make sure.
Milk can be labelled as: lactose, caseinate, sodium caseinate, potassium caseinate, casein, lactalbumen, lactoglobulin, curds, or whey. (Eggs can be labelled as: albumin, vitellin, ovovitellin, livetin, yolk, powdered or dried egg, globulin, ovomucoid, ovomucin). Kosher products do not contain milk and can be labelled as "parve" or "pareve." Be aware though, that "kosher" products may still have just as many pesticides as other foods, outside those classified as certified organic. Interestingly, lentils are now replacing milk as being nature's "perfect food."
