Avoid milk for better health | an article by Maneka Gandhi

[Guest guest]

Avoid milk for better health

 

beasts in my belfry | Maneka Gandhi

 

No product has been as heavily advertised as milk. Using religion,

science, doctors, teachers, bureaucracy, film stars and whosoever can

influence the sale, the Government has tried to ensure that everyone

buys milk or any of its forms.

 

 

 

 

The fact that no Indian can digest it and that the health fall-outs

are alarming - ranging from acne to kidney failure, diabetes and

cancer - has been ignored and well concealed from the public. In some

cases, the omission has been inadvertent - no medical students are

taught nutrition in medical colleges so they do not know the

relationship between food and disease and continue to parrot what they

have learnt from their parents who learnt it from their parents.

 

 

 

In some cases the industry and scientists have deliberately suppressed

evidence in order to promote milk drinking. India is the largest milk

producer and the second largest exporter of milk. In spite of this,

the per capita availability of milk is one of the lowest in the world.

There simply is not enough milk and with the hundreds of licences

given to meat exporters and the thousands of unlicenced meat factories

(Delhi has 11,000 illegal butcheries), buffaloes and cows are now been

sold in their prime in the thousands to be killed for meat.

 

 

 

In Mumbai, many Muslims want to eat the meat of pregnant and milking

buffaloes and cows and every second truck that goes into Deonar

illegally carries these animals and the meat sold with the teats

attached so that it can be shown that the animal was a mother. I have

a documentary taken secretly in Deonar showing a buffalo being milked

by the butcher before her throat is cut. So, as a result, milk

production in India is not increasing - it is declining. But the

demand, thanks to advertising, is growing. So a huge industry of fake

milk has stepped in to fill the breach.

 

 

 

Milk-sellers have, for years now, produced synthetic milk. It costs Rs

three per litre and sells at Rs 10 to 15 per litre. Synthetic milk is

prepared by using urea, caustic soda, refined oil, detergent, starch,

glucose, sugar and pond water. Cheap refined oil is used as a

substitute for milk fat. Caustic soda is added to the blended mixture

of chemical and natural milk to neutralise the effect of increased

acidity, thereby preventing it from turning sour during transport.

Detergents are added to emulsify and dissolve the oil in water, giving

the frothy solution the characteristic white colour.

 

 

 

According to the Indian Council of Medical Research, chemical or

synthetic milk looks like natural milk but it is harmful to the point

of causing cancer. Urea destroys the kidneys. Caustic soda, which

contains sodium, acts as a slow poison for those suffering from

hypertension and heart ailments. It is especially harmful for foetuses

and pregnant women. There are some ways to make out whether your milk

has synthetic milk in it.

 

 

 

Natural milk has no pronounced taste but is slightly sweet. Any

pronounced taste is abnormal. Synthetic milk is bitter. Milk should

have no smell but " mixed " milk smells. Natural milk is not soapy if

rubbed between the fingers. Synthetic milk is soapy. Real milk remains

white on boiling.

 

 

 

Synthetic milk turns yellow. Real milk doesn't change colour when it

is stored. Synthetic milk turns yellowish. Natural milk with urea in

it comes to you with a much more yellow colour than natural milk. Real

milk is acidic (a PH value of 6.8) . Synthetic milk is alkaline. If

fresh milk is tested with litmus paper. blue litmus paper turns red

and red litmus paper turns blue. This doesn't happen if the milk is

mixed.

 

 

 

In a study done by Aligarh Muslim University in 2002 on synthetic milk

identification, researchers found that most natural milk was

adulterated with synthetic milk. According to the study, the

Government and industry taking the milk only check fats and solids.

Since all the other checks (estimating the sediment, the bacterial

count, the freezing point (which changes after artificial milk is

added), etc) are expensive and time-consuming, a few samples are taken

now and then and sent to the laboratory - while the rest of the milk

is allowed to be sold. Even when the milk turns out to be " mixed " , no

action is taken against the dairy that sold it.

 

 

 

It is sad that no Government organisation, least of all animal

husbandry department (whose job is to ensure that you drink milk and

eat meat), or the Ministry for Consumer Affairs pays any attention to

the huge and open sale of mixed milk.

[Guest guest]

I thank Puneet for posting this article and my reply to Karthik is as follows -

 

We hear and read all kinds of things. Of course producers and manufacturers and other interests want us to believe that what they produce is good for us. If we believe all we will be under the impression that Horlicks and Boost is good for us and so are Maggie Noodles. When in doubt about anything, always consult Mother Nature. Do you think she intended cow’s milk for baby calves or for humans? In nature no animal drinks another animal’s milk. Besides calves grow to full size in 18 months, we in 18 years! This super growth fluid promotes obesity, diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, mucous complaints, and certain forms of cancer.

 

Maneka Gandhi has also written more about milk.

 

Another site which explains more about the bad effects of milk is www.notmilk.com

 

Best wishes,

Dr Nandita Shah