Why Don't You Drink Milk?

[Guest guest]

http://www.drmcdougall.com/misc/2007nl/mar/dairy.htm

 

When Friends Ask: " Why Don't You Drink Milk? "

 

Nutritionally speaking, dairy foods are essentially " liquid

meats " -but worse, because people drink milk, and eat cheese,

guiltlessly-often thinking " milk makes my bones unbreakable, helps me

lose weight, and makes my skin as soft and beautiful as a baby's

tush. " In their haste to sell products, the dairy industry has

created an obsession over calcium that has become, in effect, a major

contributor to the suffering and death of more than one billion

people annually on Planet Earth from diseases of

overnutrition-obesity, heart disease, stroke, arthritis, and diabetes.

 

In the late 1970s when I was developing the McDougall Diet-after

reading the bulk of the nutritional science published since the early

1900s-I came to the conclusion that starches, vegetables and fruits

were ideal for human nutrition. I then asked myself, what would be

gained and lost by adding other food categories (dairy, meats,

poultry, fish, free-oils, sugars, etc.) to this elemental foundation?

In the case of dairy foods, I quickly eliminated the " calcium

advantage " because Nature packaged her foods so efficiently that

developing a disease due to calcium deficiency is nearly impossible

on a diet of plant foods (See last month's newsletter-February 2007).

 

After almost three years of exhaustive research I concluded: adding

dairy foods to my original plant-food-based diet would only supply

more calories, fat, animal protein, cholesterol, sodium, microbes,

and chemical contamination-ingredients that were making most of my

patients ill in the first place. In the final analysis, I found

myself unable to discover any reasons to add dairy into the McDougall

Diet-the hazards weighed heavily and any benefits were overstated, or

blatantly falsified. Yet the drone from the dairy industry's

propaganda continues three decades later. I am the uncommon voice

out there in the wilderness; people tired of listening without

questioning will find my analysis of some of the dairy industry's

most familiar messages refreshing.

 

Dairy Products Taste Delicious-Actually the Additives Do

 

The National Dairy Council refers to their products as " Nutritious

and Delicious. " Undoubtedly, consumers love ice cream, cheese,

yogurt, and butter. But the reason is, they are loaded with sugar

and salt; otherwise no one would eat them. The National Dairy Council

knows the importance of adding sugar and other flavorings, reporting,

" Studies show that elementary school kids drink 28 percent more milk

when offered in " cool " flavors and packages. " 1 When I was a child,

my school required all students to drink milk daily. A small carton

of white milk was 2 cents and chocolate was 3 cents. I always

splurged, because I gagged from the taste of white milk. The reason

plain milk is at all palatable is because it naturally contains about

30% of its calories as sugar (lactose). Chocolate, strawberry, and

other flavored milks contain additional sugar. The more sugar, the

greater the attraction to dairy; witness ice cream with 52% of the

calories as sugar.

 

My patients taught me how really disgusting basic dairy foods taste.

During my residence training in the mid-1970s, I cared for people

with kidney failure, who were required to be on very salt-restricted

diets. One of my duties was to recommend they eat salt-less butter

and salt-less cheese. Their response was, " Doc, I can't eat a glob

of greasy lard. " Without the salt, these yellow blocks of fat are

unpalatable.

 

 

 

Sodium: Sugar:

mg/100 calories grams/100 calories

 

Whole milk 80 8

 

Chocolate milk 72 12

 

Yogurt (plain) 76 8

 

Yogurt (fruit flavor) 53 17

 

Chocolate ice cream 35 13

 

Cheese (American) 383 1

 

Cheese (cheddar) 144 0

 

Cottage cheese (1%) 560 4

 

Butter (regular) 114 0

 

Unsalted butter 0 0

 

Adding salt and/or sugar to enhance the taste of potatoes, beans,

rice, vegetables and fruits would be a much healthier and tastier

choice, rather than mixing it with all that fat found in dairy

products.

 

Dairy Products Build Bones - Actually They Damage Them, Too

 

The National Dairy Council writes, " A large body of scientific

research collected in recent decades demonstrates that an adequate

intake of nutrients (e.g., calcium) from dairy foods such as milk,

cheese, or yogurt positively affects bone health by increasing bone

acquisition during growth, slowing age-related bone loss, and

reducing osteoporotic fragility fractures. " 2 The truth is dairy

products can have bone-growth-stimulating effects.

 

The primary biologic purpose of cow's milk is to cause growth-from a

60 pound calf to a 600 pound cow in less than 8 months. This

" miracle-grow " fluid has several qualities that help accomplish this

feat. Cow's milk is 50% fat, providing 600 " growth-supporting "

calories per quart.3 Cow's milk also has high concentrations of

protein, potassium, sodium, calcium, and other nutrients to sustain

rapid growth. (In comparison, these nutrients are at a three to four

times lower concentration in human milk than cow's milk.3)

 

Dairy foods increase growth hormones: In addition to calories and

nutrients to support growth, cow's milk increases hormones that

directly stimulate the growth of the calf. The most powerful of these

hormones is called insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1). When cow's

milk is fed to people, IGF-1 levels also increase. Studies funded by

the dairy industry show a 10% increase in IGF-1 levels in adolescent

girls from one pint daily and the same 10% increase for

postmenopausal women from 3 servings per day of nonfat milk or 1%

milk.4,5 This rise in IGF-1 level is an important reason for the

" bone-building " effects of cow's milk.

 

IGF-1 promotes undesirable growth too-like cancer growth and

accelerated aging. IGF-1 is one of the most powerful promoters of

cancer growth ever discovered for cancers of the breast, prostate,

lung, and colon.6 Overstimulation of growth by IGF-1 leads to

premature aging too-and reducing IGF-1 levels is " anti-aging. " 7

 

Dairy Foods Raise Estrogen: The message that estrogen builds

fracture-resistant bones (prevents osteoporosis) has been hammered

into women's minds over the past 4 decades by the pharmaceutical

industry, selling HRT formulas, such as Premarin and Prempro. Food

also raises estrogen levels in a person's body-and dairy foods

account for about 60 to 70% of the estrogen that comes from food.8

The main source of this estrogen is the modern factory farming

practice of continuously milking cows throughout pregnancy.8,9 As

gestation progresses the estrogen content of milk increases from 15

pg/ml to 1000 pg/ml.

 

Estrogen (estrone) production

 

Non-pregnant: 15 pg/ml

 

First half of pregnancy: 151 pg/ml

 

Last days of pregnancy: 1000 pg/ml

 

Well-recognized consequences of excess estrogen are cancers of the

breast, uterus, and prostate.

 

The overall effect of the Western diet is bone damage: The National

Dairy Council would like you to believe, " There is no evidence that

protein-rich foods such as dairy foods adversely impact calcium

balance or bone health. " 10 But these same dairy people know this is

untrue and they state elsewhere, " Excess dietary protein,

particularly purified proteins, increases urinary calcium excretion.

This calcium loss could potentially cause negative calcium balance,

leading to bone loss and osteoporosis. These effects have been

attributed to an increased endogenous acid load created by the

metabolism of protein, which requires neutralization by alkaline

salts of calcium from bone. " 11

 

Thus, dairy products have bone-building effects-IGF-1 and estrogen;

and bone-destroying effects-dietary acid and protein. The net result

depends upon the final balance of these accumulative effects. (Note

that calcium consumed results in little of either a positive or a

negative change for the health of the bones. See the February 2007

McDougall Newsletter for details). A common practice of researchers

designing studies to show dairy is beneficial to bone health is to

first neutralize the dietary acids with lots of fruits and vegetables

or add antacids (like Citracal) to the experiment.12 By this means,

the positive effects, like bone growth stimulation from IGF-1, will

dominate.

 

Compare the acid load of various foods:

(Renal Acid Load per 100 calories)

 

Cheddar Cheese 10.0

Fish (Cod) 9.3

Chicken 7.0

Beef 6.3

 

Peas 1.0

Wheat flour 1.0

Potato -5.0

Apples -5.0

Banana -6.0

Tomatoes -18.0

Spinach -56.0

 

(A positive value indicates acidic, whereas a negative value

indicates alkaline.)

 

Consistently, when populations of people who eat different diets are

compared, rates of hip fractures increase with increasing animal

protein consumption (including dairy products). For example, people

from the USA, Canada, Norway, Sweden, Australia, and New Zealand have

the highest rates of osteoporosis.14,15 The lowest rates are among

people who eat the fewest animal-derived foods (these people are also

on lower calcium diets)-like the people from rural Asia and rural

Africa. 14,15 Dietary protein correlates directly with the dietary

acids consumed.

 

 

Dairy Products Make People Trim-That's Not What They Tell Each Other

 

The National Dairy Council writes, " A growing body of research

indicates that enjoying 3-A-Day of Dairy as part of a reduced calorie

diet can give adults better results when it comes to trimming the

waistline than cutting calories alone. " 16

 

The dairy industry promotes dairy consumption for weight loss, even

though they know their campaign is false. Consider the conclusion of

a review article they funded that was published in a 2003 issue of

the Journal of Nutrition, " Nine studies of dairy product

supplementation were located: In seven, no significant differences in

the change in body weight or composition were detected between

treatment and control groups. However, two studies conducted in older

adults observed significantly greater weight gain in the dairy

product groups. " 17 At the Dairy Product Components and Weight

Regulation Symposium held on April 21, 2002 in New Orleans, LA. Dr.

Susan Barr (who frequently works for the dairy industry), said " In

conclusion, the data available from randomized trials of dairy

product or calcium supplementation provide little support for an

effect in reducing body weight or fat mass. " 17 See, they know the

truth, but fail to share it with the customers. Research published

since this review has been supported largely by the dairy industry

and fabricated to support their profitable weight loss campaign.

 

Recommending Dairy is Racist

 

The National Dairy Council says, " Minorities who have experienced

gastrointestinal problems consuming milk are learning new strategies

to enjoy milk and other dairy foods. This means that minorities (and

non-minorities) with lactose intolerance no longer need to miss out

on essential nutrients provided by dairy foods. The health

consequences of avoiding dairy foods, the major source of dietary

calcium, may be especially serious for African Americans, Hispanics,

Asians, and Native American Indians. Many minorities are at high risk

of hypertension, stroke, colon cancer, and osteoporosis - diseases in

which a low calcium intake can be a contributing factor. " 18 This is

fear-mongering at its worst.

 

White people have a high tolerance for the sugar found in milk, known

as lactose. Non-whites commonly have a normal, natural " intolerance "

to milk sugars, and such sugars consumed after the weaning-time cause

them intestinal distress with flatulence, cramps and diarrhea. Milk

makes 60 to 90 percent of these people sick.

 

An editorial from the October 2006 issue of the British Medical

Journal addresses this, " Furthermore, we need to ask the question of

whether we are doing children a disservice by encouraging them to

meet recommendations. Childhood obesity is on the rise in westernized

countries, and dairy products-the main source of calcium recommended

by nutrition guidelines-contribute greatly to the intake of fat and

sugar in children. Nearly three quarters of the world's population

are estimated to be lactose intolerant after the age of weaning and

therefore do not tolerate the consumption of milk and other dairy

products well. In addition, some studies suggest that the consumption

of cow's milk increases the risk of some types of cancer. " 19 Diary

products do essentially nothing to help prevent or treat hypertension

either-at best, a review funded by the dairy industry showed a

reduction of 1.44 mmHg systolic and 0.84 mmHg diastolic.20 (By

comparison, our results from the McDougall residential center show a

23/14 mmHg decrease in blood pressure in people with high blood

pressure (150/90 mmHg or greater) in less than 10 days; and almost

all of these people were taken off all of their blood pressure

medication during the 10 days.)

 

Dairy foods are high in calories, fat and cholesterol; contributing

to the cause of heart disease, strokes, type-2 diabetes, and obesity.

They are high on the food chain so they accumulate, in sometimes

dangerous amounts, environmental chemicals. Dairy protein is the

number one cause of food allergies and can cause more serious forms

of " food allergy " called autoimmune diseases. Dairy products are

also known to be infected with life-threatening microbes, including

E. Coli, listeria, salmonella, staphylococci, tuberculosis, bovine

leukemia viruses, and bovine AIDS viruses. A more complete discussion

of the hazards of cow's milk is found in my May 2003 newsletter

article, " Marketing Milk and Disease. "

 

The Dairy Industry Remains Unaccountable

 

Because of their financial power and political connections, the

people in the dairy industry can say whatever they want and no one

can stop them. Questioning consumers, however, might ask themselves,

" Why are humans the only animals that drink milk of another species,

and continue to drink it after normal weaning-time? " And " Why would

Nature (or our Creator) design us so that in order to get a necessary

nutrient, calcium, we must risk our lives?

 

With a $206.5 million annual budget dedicated to confusing people and

covering up the truth for the sake of profits, and with the current

political climate, there is no hope of regulating the dairy

industry-or more appropriately for such a hazardous substance,

outlawing these cow products for human consumption.21 Fortunately,

thinking people are freeing themselves and their families from

sickness and obesity by learning that human nutritional needs are far

removed from those of baby cows.

 

References:

 

1) Add flavorings to milk:

http://www.nationaldairycouncil.org/nationaldairycouncil/health/materials/Wanted\

_Stronger_Bones.pdf

 

2) Dairy positively affects bone health by:

http://www.nationaldairycouncil.org/NationalDairyCouncil/Health/Digest/dcd75-3Pa\

ge1.htm

 

3) J Pennington. Bowes & Church's Food Values of Portions Commonly

Used. 17th Ed. Lippincott. Philadelphia- New York. 1998.

 

4 Cadogan J, Eastell R, Jones N, Barker ME. Milk intake and bone

mineral acquisition in adolescent girls: randomised, controlled

intervention trial. BMJ. 1997 Nov 15;315(7118):1255-60.

 

5) Heaney RP, McCarron DA, Dawson-Hughes B, Oparil S, Berga SL, Stern

JS, Barr SI, Rosen CJ. Dietary changes favorably affect bone

remodeling in older adults. J Am Diet Assoc. 1999 Oct;99(10):1228-33.

 

6) Moschos SJ, Mantzoros CS. The role of the IGF system in cancer:

from basic to clinical studies and clinical applications. Oncology.

2002;63(4):317-32.

 

7) Rincon M, Rudin E, Barzilai N. The insulin/IGF-1 signaling in

mammals and its relevance to human longevity. Exp Gerontol. 2005

Nov;40(11):873-7.

 

8) Sharpe R. Are oestrogens involved in falling sperm counts and

disorders of the male reproductive tract? Lancet 341:1392, 1993.

 

9) Janowski T. Mammary secretion of oestrogens in the cow. Domest

Anim Endocrinol. 2002 Jul;23(1-2):125-37.

 

10) No evidence dairy foods adversely impact calcium balance or bone

health:

http://www.nationaldairycouncil.org/NationalDairyCouncil/Health/Digest/dcd69-1Pa\

ge1.htm

 

11) Excess dietary protein, particularly purified proteins:

http://www.nationaldairycouncil.org/NationalDairyCouncil/Health/Digest/dcd74-5Pa\

ge1.htm

 

12) New SA. Calcium, protein, and fruit and vegetables as dietary

determinants of bone health. Am J Clin Nutr. 2003 May;77(5):1340-1.

 

13) ) Remer T. Potential renal acid load of foods and its influence

on urine pH. J Am Diet Assoc. 1995 Jul;95(7):791-7.

 

14) Abelow B. Cross-cultural association between dietary animal

protein and hip fracture: a hypothesis. Calcific Tissue Int 50:14-8,

1992.

 

15) Frassetto LA . Worldwide incidence of hip fracture in elderly

women: relation to consumption of animal and vegetable foods. J

Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2000 Oct;55(10):M585-92.

 

16) 3-A-Day of Dairy as part of a reduced calorie diet:

http://www.nationaldairycouncil.org/nationaldairycouncil/healthyweight

 

17) Barr SI. Increased dairy product or calcium intake: is body

weight or composition affected in humans? J Nutr. 2003

Jan;133(1):245S-248S.

 

18) Minorities who have experienced gastrointestinal problems:

http://www.nationaldairycouncil.org/nationaldairycouncil/nutrition/lactose/lacto\

seIntolerance.pdf

 

19) Lanou AJ. Bone health in children. BMJ. 2006 Oct 14;333(7572):763-4.

 

20) Griffith LE, Guyatt GH, Cook RJ, Bucher HC, Cook DJ. The

influence of dietary and nondietary calcium supplementation on blood

pressure: an updated metaanalysis of randomized controlled trials. Am

J Hypertens. 1999 Jan;12(1 Pt 1):84-92.

 

21) Dairy Industry Spends 206.5 million:

http://www.dairycheckoff.com/NR/rdonlyres/

8556915B-BDF6-4CAA-8D41-48AF5C3FA0FF/0/2005dmiannualreport.pdf.

 

c2007 John McDougall