Are Dairy Products Good for You?
What you read below is going to be contrary to what you have been told for the majority of your life. If this information is true, why haven't you been told? That is a question that should be answered by those that have known this information for decades. Below this introduction are excerpts from several studies that have been published in many medical and scientific journals regarding dairy products influence on osteoporosis and other health conditions.
I removed dairy from life a few years ago and will never go back. In today's world it is almost impossible to totally avoid dairy because it can be in so many food preparations. My goal is to severely restrict my intake of any dairy products where possible. If you remove or restrict harmful foods from your diet so that the majority of the time you do not consume them or if you do it is in small amounts; this certainly diminishes the potential for negative health consequences.
For more detail and scientific facts on the influence of dairy products on our health please read this amazing letter from Dr. Robert M. Kradjian to his patients.
This is only a small sample of what is available regarding many other diseases and adverse health conditions such as asthma, autoimmune diseases, diabetes, digestive disorders, lymphoma etc... and dairy consumption.
We have all heard the add "Milk Does a Body Good"
We'll lets revisit that for a moment. First we are the only mammals on the planet that drink milk beyond normal weening years and the we drink it from another species! Mammalian milk is designed to give the infant, colt, suckling, calf etc.... a head start on life. Animals need to build strong skeletons and muscles quickly so they can run and escape danger so their milk is a very high protein lower fat mixture. Human milk is lower in protein and much higher in brain building healthy fats. The human body is not designed to handle the lactose milk sugar. Most Americans do not have adequate amounts of the enzyme lactase needed to digest the lactose milk sugar. Moms of all species except humans ween their babies away after about 90 days, the milk has done its job one of which is to pass along an immune system. Do you want the immune system of a cow? Guess what, even if that milk is pasteurized it still contains live bacterium and puss from the cow. It also contains (BGH) bovine growth hormone, antibiotics and maybe pesticides.
Something to think about the next time you drink milk, notice the mucous coating that begins to build in your mouth and throat soon after consuming it. You are not aware of it but it continues to build that coating throughout your digestive system. This is the first sign that something the body considers a foreign invader has entered the body. The mucous is the body's way of trying to trap it in the slimy goo of mucous. This is an allergic reaction, just like when your nose goes crazy releasing mucous when you have nasal allergies like hay fever and ragweed.
Dietary protein is acidic and causes urinary excretion of calcium. Dairy products are high in protein and considered liquid protein.
If you no further please read these two statements. One from a Harvard Study of 78,000 women and the other from the American Journal of Epidemiology.
"Women consuming greater amounts of calcium from dairy foods had significantly increased risks of hip fractures, while no increase in fracture risk was observed for the same levels of calcium from nondairy sources."
12-year Harvard study of 78,000 women American Journal of Public Health 1997;87
"Consumption of dairy products, particularly at age 20 years, were associated with an increased risk of hip fractures...metabolism of dietary protein causes increased urinary excretion of calcium."
American Journal of Epidemiology 1994;139
I encourage you to take our challenge; remove all dairy products from your diet for 7 days. On day 8 drink a glass of milk and see how you feel the rest of the day.
Read on for more proof!
The following references are from various documents from health studies and reports. Just reading a little of this list will start to paint a most compelling picture that animal milk is very harmful to the human body.
The information below is courtesy of:
Robert Cohen author of: MILK A-Z
Executive Director (notmilkman@notmilk.com)
Dairy Education Board
http://www.notmilk.com
Another great read is from Author Ron Brown "How Dairy Products cause Osteoporosis"
Osteoporosis
American women have been consuming an average of two pounds of milk per day for their entire lives, yet thirty million American women have osteoporosis. Drinking milk does not prevent bone loss. Bone loss is accelerated by ingesting too much protein, and milk has been called "liquid meat."
In order to absorb calcium, the body needs comparable amounts of another mineral element, magnesium. Milk and dairy products contain only small amounts of magnesium. Magnesium is the center atom of chlorophyll:
"Osteoporosis is caused by a number of things, one of the most important being too much dietary protein."
Science 1986;233(4763)
"Countries with the highest rates of osteoporosis, such as the United States, England, and Sweden, consume the most milk. China and Japan, where people eat much less protein and dairy food, have low rates of osteoporosis."
Nutrition Action Healthletter, June, 1993
"What appears to be important in bone metabolism is not calcium intake, but calcium balance. The loss of bone integrity among many post menopausal white women probably results from genetics and from diet and lifestyle factors. Research shows that calcium losses are increased by the use of animal protein, salt, caffeine, and tobacco, and by physical inactivity."
Neal Barnard, M.D., Physician's Committee for Responsible Medicine, Understanding Health, December, 1999
"Dietary protein increases production of acid in the blood which can be neutralized by calcium mobilized from the skeleton."
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 1995; 61 (4)
"About 50,000 Americans die each year of problems related in some way to osteoporosis."
Osteoporosis International 1993;3(3)
"Even when eating 1,400 mg of calcium daily, one can lose up to 4% of his or her bone mass each year while consuming a high-protein diet."
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 1979;32(4)
"Increasing one's protein intake by 100% may cause calcium loss to double."
Journal of Nutrition, 1981; 111 (3)
"The average man in the US eats 175% more protein than the recommended daily allowance and the average woman eats 144% more."
Surgeon General's Report on Nutrition and Health, 1988
"Calcium intake demonstrated no protective in preventing bone fractures. In fact, those populations with the highest calcium intakes had higher fracture rates than those with more modest calcium intakes."
Calif Tissue Int 1992;50_161" value="" />
"There is no significant association between teenage milk consumption and the risk of adult fractures. Data indicate that frequent milk consumption and higher dietary calcium intakes in middle aged women do not provide protection against hip or forearm fractures... women consuming greater amounts of calcium from dairy foods had significantly increased risks of hip fractures, while no increase in fracture risk was observed for the same levels of calcium from nondairy sources."
12-year Harvard study of 78,000 women American Journal of Public Health 1997;87
"Consumption of dairy products, particularly at age 20 years, were associated with an increased risk of hip fractures...metabolism of dietary protein causes increased urinary excretion of calcium."
American Journal of Epidemiology 1994;139