Got Milk? If you do, you are at risk of many health problems such as cancer, osteoporosis, calcium deficiency, diabetes, heart disease, and atherosclerosis. We always see celebrities with the milk mustache in those “Got Milk?” Ads. Got Milk was an advertising campaign created for the California Milk Processor Board in 1993, that encouraged people to drink more cow’s milk. We are told by the ads, the campaigns, and the culture that milk is good for us. We learned about the importance about drinking milk and consuming dairy products in our health education class in Elementary school. In fact, they are actually placed in the food pyramid. We all grew up drinking milk, from kindergarten in the cafeterias growing up they’d give us our meal and our beverage was three options either regular milk, strawberry milk or chocolate milk inside a small little carton that we’d sometimes have to get seconds because we were still thirsty.
Many dermatologists even recommend those with acne to stop consuming dairy because their acne is caused because of dairy products. I myself do believe this is true because I used to have a lot of acne on my face. I would also get acne on my arms and my dermatologist would always tell me to avoid dairy and I never listened to her because I loved cheese, I loved having quesadillas every morning with eggs on the side. Now that I actually did stop drinking whole milk and having cheese so often my arms have cleared up. Eczema is also worsened by some foods including milk and dairy. Dairy may also be a trigger food for some adults with rosacea. Rosacea is a chronic skin disease that affects more than 16 million Americans. The cause of rosacea is still unknown, and there is no cure. (Healthline)
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The milk myth has been spread around the world based on the belief that this protein and calcium- rich drink is essential to support good overall health and bone health in particular at any age. It is easy to understand that the confusion about milks imaginary benefits stems from the fact that it contains calcium, about 300 mg per cup. We barely absorb the calcium in cow’s milk (especially is pasteurized), but to make matters worse, it actually increases calcium loss from the bones. What an irony right? (Saveourbones) Cow’s milk is custom designed for calves. Do you realize calves only drink milk when they are weaned? Once they are weaned, they never drink milk again and that applies to every mammalian species on this planet. If mammals don’t drink milk its whole life why do most of us humans drink milk from babies to adults? It’s important to bear in mind that mother’s milk is excellent nourishment for human babies, but its composition is very different from cow’s milk.
People who consume the most cow ’s milk have significantly higher fracture rates than those who drink little to no milk. (Nutritionfacts) if you’re also eating large amounts of cheese you are also throwing saturated fat, sodium and cholesterol into your body. Many people might be diagnosed as lactose intolerant, but an astonishing three quarters of us actually lack the enzyme to properly digest cow’s milk, and suffer digestively from the stuff. (abcnews) those who claim are allergic to milk aren’t actually allergic to it, in that it’s not their immune system that’s responding to the milk. People who are lactose intolerant can’t digest the main sugar which is lactose. In normal humans, the enzyme that does so lactase stops being produced when the person is between two and five years old. The undigested sugars end up in the colon, where they begin to ferment, producing gas that can cause cramping, bloating, nausea, flatulence and diarrhea. Being able to digest milk is so strange that scientists say we shouldn’t really call lactose intolerance a disease, because that presumes it’s abnormal. Instead they call it lactase persistence, indicating whats really weird is the ability to continue to drink milk. (abcnews)
Cows produce milk for the same reason that humans do, and that is to nourish their young, but calves on dairy farms are taken away from their mothers when they are just one day old and fed milk replacers which do include cattle blood so that their mother’s milk can be sold to us humans. Cows which produce our milk are being pumped full of antibiotics and hormones in order to produce more milk. Many of these cows that we get our milk from have spent their entire lives standing on concrete floors; others are confined to massive crowded lots where they are forced to live surrounded by their own feces and yes, they are forced to eat and sleep in that same area.
Milk naturally contains small amounts of various hormones, including estrogen and progesterone. Because hormones like estrogen are fat-soluble, the level of hormones is higher in whole milk than in skim milk.
Different people have studied the association between milk and health risks. The results are similar, indicating that the health benefits of milk are limited in comparison to the disadvantages the product contains. Vandana Sheth, the spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics , indicated that consuming a glass of milk per day is not healthy for consumers. However, if the intake of the milk were to be cut down, then it would serve the benefit purpose. Keith Ayoob, an associate clinical professor, department of pediatrics at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, stated that people are raring dairy cows for business benefits. The animals are fed with bovine somatotropin so that they can produce large amounts of milk (Cox, 2013). These chemicals are harmful to human beings. Milk, though a high source of calcium, does not contain some of the enzymes needed by human beings, it can lead to a deficiency of other essential requirements such as lactose enzyme.
There are issues associated with the proper digestion of milk. Lactose intolerance is one of the problems. In addition, three-quarters of individuals do not have the proper enzyme required in digesting milk. In women, they start producing less lactose the enzyme that is needed in milk digestion after stopping breastfeeding. In addition, if an individual did not take a lot of milk when they were young, it becomes a problem to digest it in adulthood when taken in large amounts. Research indicates that 98 % of people from Southern Asia, 90 % Asian-Americans, 74 % of Native Americans, and 70 percent of African Americas and large numbers of Indians, Jews, and Latino are lactose intolerant (Berry, 2019). In most cases, lactose intolerance symptoms are usually so subtle such that they are hardly noticeable. There are risks to people suffering from digestive problems, asthma, fatigue, and headaches who experience life improvement after reducing milk intake. A study conducted incorporating 48 individuals with migraines, and asthma resulted in 33 people improving significantly after milk was removed from their diet.
Milk contains lots of hormones, whether taken in yogurt or milk form, and some of them are harmful to human beings when taken in large amounts. Dairy cows reserve large amounts of sex hormones and pregnancy hormones for the largest part of their lives to allow milking for long. Therefore, when one is consuming milk, there is a significant amount of progesterone and estrogen hormones in the milk. When taken in large amounts, estrogen rises the chances of cancer, and milk is responsible for about 60-80 percent taken by human beings (Krantz, 2016). In 2010, a study was carried out in Japan, and it was indicated that cow milk hormones are responsible for the increased rates of “man boobs” (Krantz, 2016). Non-organic milk even possesses a greater danger to the risk of consumers. Adding to the natural hormones and growth aspects, milk also has synthetic hormones such as recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH) (Priyadarshini et al., 2018). The hormone is used for increasing the production of milk. When these hormones are ingested, they affect the normal hormonal function.
Milk increases the chances of cancer to consumers. A Harvard researcher conducted a meta-study and published the results in 2006, with 100,000 women participating from the ages of 26 to 46. The resulted indicated that women with the highest intake of dairy products and meat have the highest chances of getting breast cancer. More than 20 studies on men and the consumption of milk indicated higher chances of prostate cancer. One of the recent researches printed in the British Journal of Cancer tracked 22,788 individuals from Sweden who were lactose intolerant individuals (Krantz, 2016). The study indicated that reduced intake of milk and other dairy produced resulted in decreased risks of ovarian, lung, and breast cancer. The study results were reliable, considering that when an individual is exposed to large amounts of sex hormones, the chances of cancer increase (Krantz, 2016).
Milk contains lots of contaminants that are harmful to users. Milk is responsible for about one-fourth of the one-half of the dietary consumption of dioxides. Dioxins are highly toxic compounds that are as a result of the manufacturing processes. These compounds, however, do not leave the body readily, and as they build up, they are eventually harmful to the immune system, the central nervous system, and reproductive system. These compounds are also associated with high risks of cancer. There are also other contaminants resulting in the consumption of milk, such as melamine, also found in plastics. The contaminant has adverse effects on the kidney as well as the urinary tract resulting from the high nitrogen content and carcinogenic toxins, some being the aflatoxins (Sobhanardakani, 2018). When a cow is suffering from a condition such as mastitis, it is treated using antibiotics, and since it is the mammary gland that is affected by the inflammation, the medication finds its way to the milk during the milking process, and then human beings feed on it later. Such medication cause complications to consumers later.
Milk is responsible for the skin breaking out. The dairy products and foods have high levels of glycemic index, and it is the leading cause of acne, according to a 2013 work printed in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics . The scientists established that milk produces some hormones which are associated with acne. The study findings are supported by previous studies from the Harvard School of Public Health on the association between dairy and acne (Berry, 2019). However, it may react differently with varying individuals, with some people being hypersensitive to fats found in the milk products, thus explaining the reason why some people, especially in children, have pimples when they are fed with cow to synthetic milk unlike being breastfed. The milk contains indicated as too strong for the developing immune system of the child, thus creating the reaction.
Milk consumption in men increases the risks of Parkinson’s disease. Different studies have been conducted on this case, one featuring 7500 men, and the results were men who took two glasses of milk twice a day had higher chances of developing Parkinson’s condition (Krantz, 2016). It is associated with the hg levels of pesticides present in milk. Pesticides in milk are traced from agricultural activities. When the cows are infested with pesticides are cleansed using chemicals, some for skin use while others are ingested. Later, the ingested chemicals find their way to the milk production process and in milk when drunk. Some pesticides are from the type of feed the animals take. Some animals take manufactures food products, which are enhanced using chemicals. Farm animals’ producers are grown using pesticides to make sure that they grow fast. These feeds are used in milk preparation; thus, the milk will be made using chemicals that have detrimental effects on consumers.
Milk is associated with allergies in children, and it can be fatal. The risk children are the ones with other health conditions such as allergic rhinitis, eczema, and asthma. In most cases, children outgrow the allergy issues at the age of three, but there are chances of developing allergies with food proteins such as peanuts, eggs or soy, or inhalants like a cat, pollen, and dust mites. The exposure of milk proteins is done prenatally, with the milk products that pregnant women take, and therefore, the allergy is developed even before the child is born. In such cases, milk allergy is known to be a hereditary condition from the mother. Therefore, in infants, milk allergy is both a genetic and environmental condition. In infants, the effects are strong with potential and dangerous reactions such as vomiting and anaphylaxis. When the child does not receive medical attention at a fast rate, the problem can be fatal.
Milk contains highly saturated fats and cholesterol. A single-serve of milk contains 25 mg of cholesterol. A single glass of milk has more than twenty percent of the recommended saturated fat intake when a person takes milk around three-time a day; they would be taking extra fats that accumulate in the body. Such fats surround the blood transporting and pumping system, and eventually, it affects effective body operations (Sobhanardakani, 2018). Therefore, the higher the amount of milk an individual is taking, the increased risks of heart failure. High cholesterol and fats are associated with issues such as for overweight and obesity. In addition, it affects the respiratory system with people with high levels experiencing breathing problems in worse cases; it can lead to heart failure since the heart is surrounding by fats hindering effective pumping of blood. Studies indicate that milk is responsible for overweight children, with parents believe that milk is healthy for children once they stop weaning, and as they grow up.
Milk contains sodium, which is harmful to the body when taken in large amounts. Cheese has more than 400 mg of sodium in every ounce. Some of the varieties processed by cheese include Edam, feta imported blue, and halloumi (Megan Ware, 2019). Excessive intake of sodium results in high chances of blood pressure, heart failure, and stroke. It has also high cases of kidney stones, kidney disease, stomach cancer, osteoporosis, heart muscle, and headaches. When an individual takes too much sodium, it also affects the appearance. Sodium is responsible for the body retaining water, and it leads to bloating weight gain and puffiness. The body usually requires a small amount of sodium for effective operations. In high amounts, sodium does not dissolve as expected, and that is why it is responsible for water retention. When milk is taken in large amounts, it means that more will be available in the body, causing health risks.
Milk is a good source of lots of essential nutrients such as protein, calcium, and vitamin D. They are all necessary for a healthy life and even recommended by physicians as part of a balanced diet, without warning about the negative effects. Most people are not aware of the adverse effects of milk consumption. It is due to the less awareness created about the harmful compounds and nutrients that are found in milk. There are alternatives to cow and synthetic milk (artificial milk) that people can choose from, such as hemp milk, soy milk, coconut milk, flax, and almond milk. Physicians should be recommending these alternatives of milk to patients instead of encouraging the consumption of dairy milk, because they are aware of adverse health effects. During the early ages of growth, dairy milk is necessary for the growth of infants. However, breastmilk recommended as it contains nutrients children require for growth. Cow milk, however, should be discouraged at has strong nutrients, cholesterol, and fats that will interfere with the effective growth of the child. The chemicals consumed by cows are used in milk production, and once they are taken by a human being, they affect the immune system. Since the animals produce sex hormones all through to boost milk production, the milk contains estrogen and progesterone, and excessive intake causes a risk to cancer. Therefore, the adverse effects of milk outweigh the advantages. Therefore, they should avoid taking animal milk and consider the provided alternatives which contain the same nutrients level.
References
Berry, J. (2019, September 6). Dairy: Is it good or bad for you? Retrieved December 11, 2019, from https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/326269.php.
Cox, L. (2013, May 30). 4 Experts Answer: Is Milk Really Healthy for You? Retrieved December 11, 2019, from https://www.livescience.com/36512-experts-explain-milk-health-benefits-risks.html .
Krantz, R. (2016, January 5). 7 Reasons Milk Is Bad for You. Retrieved December 11, 2019, from https://www.bustle.com/articles/137195-7-reasons-milk-is-bad-for-you .
Megan Ware, R. D. N. (2019, November 7). Milk: Health benefits, nutrition, and risks. Retrieved December 11, 2019, from https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/296564.php#risks .
Priyadarshini, P., Mishra, C., Mishra, B., Swain, K., Rout, M., & Mishra, S. P. (2018). Impact of milk protein on human health: A1 versus A2. IJCS , 6 (1), 531-535.
Sobhanardakani, S. (2018). Human Health Risk Assessment of Cd, Cu, Pb, and Zn through Consumption of Raw and pasteurized Cow’s Milk. Iranian journal of public health , 47 (8), 1172.
