LOS PELIGROS DE LA LECHE Y SUS DERIVADOS (7' 59'')

A pesar de la creencia general la leche animal no es adecuada para el consumo humano. Puede provocar numerosas patologías. Y no ayuda a fortalecer los huesos; en Estados Unidos, el mayor consumidor mundial de leche, es donde hay más casos de osteoporosis. Al contrario, la leche animal nos acidifica y desmineraliza pudiéndonos provocar osteoporosis. De hecho las mujeres vegetarianas que no toman leche tienen un 18% de pérdida de hueso mientras las omnívoras padecen una pérdida ósea del 35%. En cuanto a los niños lactantes sépase que éstos asimilan bien la caseína de la leche materna pero no la de la leche de vaca. Ésta puede inflamar el organismo y ser causa de intolerancias y alergias. Además está constatado que los niños que toman varios vasos de leche al día tienen sus arterias en peores condiciones que los que no la toman. Sin olvidar que la leche de vaca contiene 59 tipos diferentes de hormonas que pueden ser causa de muy diversas enfermedades degenerativas. Es hora de que sepa: el consumo de leche -y sus derivados -se ha relacionado ya con la anemia ferropénica, la artritis reumatoidea, la osteoartritis, el asma, el autismo, las cataratas, la colitis ulcerosa, la diabetes mellitus tipo i, los dolores abdominales, la enfermedad de crohn, las patologías coronarias, la esclerosis múltiple, el estreñimiento, la fatiga crónica, las fístulas y fisuras anales, la incontinencia urinaria o eneruresis, las migrañas, los problemas de oídos y garganta, la sinusitis, las reacciones alérgicas, el sangrado gastrointestinal, el síndrome de mala absorción, los trastornos del sueño, las úlceras pépticas, la acidosis, la preeclampsia, la dificultad de aprendizaje en niños, la infertilidad femenina, los linfomas y los cánceres de estómago, mama, ovarios, páncreas, próstata, pulmón y testículos.

Situando una cuestión en sus justos términos

fuente: http://filosofiavegana.blogspot.com.es/2011/08/situando-una-cuestion-en-sus-justos.html

Situando una cuestión en sus justos términos

Pirámide de nutrición vegana

Hace unos meses, fue publicado en muchos medios de comunicación el caso de unos padres que al parecer eran veganos, y que después se tuvo conocimiento de que practicaban terapias fraudulentas, a los que se les murió un hijo por culpa de su negligencia. En ese momento la noticia fue utilizada para atacar el veganismo, como práctica, y tacharlo de fanatismo peligroso en diversos periódicos, mesas de debate, telediarios...

Del mismo modo podríamos usar la reciente noticia de que unos padres, que profesan la doctrina cristiana, han sido detenidos y acusados de negligencia por dedicarse a rezar en lugar de aplicar un tratamiento médico para su hijo enfermo. ¿Por qué no usar esta noticia de la misma forma para desacreditar el cristianismo?

Alguien podría alegar que unos padres irresponsables no son representantes de una determinada doctrina, sino que simplemente son eso, irresponsables, entre otras cosas.

Pero considero que hay una diferencia sustancial, y muy importante, entre ambos casos. En el primero caso el veganismo no tuvo nada que ver con la causa de lo sucedido, mientras que en el segundo, la ideología de los padres sí que tiene, al menos, gran parte de responsabilidad.

Aquel otro suceso, que señalaba al principio, no tuvo relación con el veganismo. El hecho de que los padres fueran veganos era puramente tangencial al hecho de que practicaran terapias pseudocientíficas (y no tuvieran conocimientos cabales de nutrición). No existe relación entre ambas cosas. Como tampoco existe entre el veganismo y la irresponsabilidad o la irracionalidad.

El veganismo es una filosofía ética racional que rechaza la explotación y afirma que los seres sintientes deben ser respetados como personas, y aplica esos valores en la práctica evitando participar en la explotación de los animales. y escogiendo alternativas que no impliquen explotar a nadie. Todo esto es perfectamente compatible con la razón y la ciencia.

El veganismo como práctica es perfectamente realizable y no causa problemas de salud. Está demostrado científicamente que una alimentación vegana, siempre que sea llevada con un mínimo de responsabilidad, es apta para todas las edades de la vida.

Es por esto que el veganismo, tanto como ideal o como práctica, no tuvo nada que ver con la razón por la que unos padres causaran la muerte de su hijo por negligencia. Sólo tuvo que ver con su falta de conocimiento sobre nutrición y su confusión irracional acerca de como llevar una vida saludable.

En cambio, en este último caso el hecho de que los padres sean religiosos y cristianos sí tiene mucho que ver con lo que ha sucedido con su hijo. La religión cristiana, como toda religión, promueve la irracionalidad, y además afirma que, pase lo que pase, debes confiar en un ser sobrenatural llamado Dios y acatar su voluntad, puesto que siendo todopoderoso y omnisciente nada puede suceder que no sea voluntad suya. Para lograr sus favores lo único que está a nuestro alcance es rogarle mediante rezos que se apiade de nosotros. Así que esto que ha ocurrido sí es por causa de que los padres hayan adoptado determinada doctrina.

La religión no sólo mata la racionalidad sino también las vidas de muchísimas personas. Mientras que, en oposición, el veganismo salva vidas, evitando que los animales sean explotados y proporcionando una filosofía y un estilo de vida sano, tanto mental (racional) como físico, para quienes lo adoptan de forma responsable.

Me gustaría finalizar con un breve documental sobre padres veganos que crían a sus hijos de acuerdo con el veganismo y en donde se puede comprobar. El veganismo es posible, no implica daño para nuestra vida y nuestra salud, y, además, es la única opción moralmente justa, por respeto a todos los animales.

"Animals and humans suffer and die alike. If you had to kill your own calf before you ate it, most likely you would not be able to do it. To hear the calf scream, to see the blood spill, to see the baby being taken away from its momma, and to see the look of death in the animal's eye would turn your stomach. So you get the man at the packing house to do the killing for you." Dick Gregory ("The Shadow That Scares Me")

La verdad sobre los productos lácteos

Los consumidores que evitan la carne, por razones éticas o de salud, generalmente siguen considerando a los productos lácteos como nutritivos y benéficos. Pero los productos hechos con leche de vaca están lejos de ser "naturales" para los humanos y son cualquier cosa menos benéficos para las vacas y sus terneros.
La leche de vaca es apta para las necesidades nutricionales de los terneros, que a diferencia de los bebés humanos, duplican su peso en 47días (a diferencia de los 180 días que demoran los humanos), desarrollan cuatro estómagos, y llegan a pesar entre 1.100 y 1.200 libras en dos años. La leche de vaca contiene aproximadamente tres veces más proteínas que la leche humana y casi 50% más de grasa.
Aparte de los humanos, ninguna otra especie toma leche después de la infancia, y ninguna otra especie toma la leche de otra especie (salvo los perros y gatos domésticos que adquieren este hábito de los humanos). Después de los cuatro años de vida, la mayor parte de la gente desarrolla intolerancia a la lactosa, incapacidad para digerir el carbohidrato lactosa (presente en la leche), debido a que dejan de sintetizar la enzima digestiva lactosa. Las personas con intolerancia a la lactosa que beben leche, pueden sufrir calambres estomacales, gases y diarrea. Según algunos cálculos, hasta un 70% de la población mundial no tolera la lactosa. (1). La intolerancia a la lactosa se da en el 50% de los hispanos adultos, y en el 75% o más de aquellos descendientes de africanos, asiáticos o indígenas de Estados Unidos.

Carne líquida

Además de ser una comida antinatural para los humanos, la leche de vaca, como otros productos lácteos, es insalubre. El doctor John A. McDougall denomina "carne líquida" a los productos lácteos, porque su contenido nutricional es muy similar. Los productos lácteos son ricos en grasas y colesterol. Entre ellos se encuentran el queso, la leche, la mantequilla, la crema, el yogur y el suero (presente en muchas margarinas y productos horneados), los cuales contribuyen al desarrollo de enfermedades cardíacas, algunas formas de cáncer e infartos, las tres enfermedades más fatales de nuestra nación. Robert Cohen, autor de "Milk: The Deadly Poison" (La Leche: El Veneno Mortal), calcula que para cuando un estadounidense corriente tiene 50 años, él o ella habrá consumido en productos lácteos la misma cantidad de colesterol presente en un millón de rodajas de tocino. (2) Quizá lo más sorprendente sea que el consumo de productos lácteos ha sido vinculado a la osteoporosis, la misma enfermedad que supuestamente es prevenida por la leche.
La osteoporosis es una enfermedad debilitante caracterizada por la baja masa ósea y por el deterioro del tejido óseo. Contrariamente a las afirmaciones de la industria láctea, esta pérdida ósea no se detiene o impide con un incremento en el consumo de calcio sino con una disminución en el consumo de proteínas. En realidad, luego de estudiar la dieta de 78.000 mujeres estadounidenses durante un período de más de 12 años, los investigadores de la Universidad de Harvard concluyeron que "es poco probable que un consumo elevado de leche u otras comidas fuentes de calcio durante la adultez proporcionen considerables efectos protectores contra las fracturas de cadera o del antebrazo"; de hecho, aquellos participantes del estudio que consumieron más de 450 miligramos de calcio proveniente de comidas lácteas duplicaron el riesgo de sufrir fracturas de cadera. (3) Los alimentos ricos en proteína animal como la carne, los huevos y los productos lácteos, separan el calcio del organismo para regular los derivados ácidos que resultan de la descomposición del exceso de proteínas; esto causa una pérdida neta de calcio (4). Aquellas sociedades con poco o ningún consumo de productos lácteos y proteína animal, muestran una baja incidencia de osteoporosis. Además, el doctor McDougall comenta, "La deficiencia de calcio causada por una cantidad insuficiente de calcio en la dieta no se conoce entre los humanos". (5)
Otras enfermedades también son más predominantes entre aquellos que consumen grandes cantidades de productos lácteos que entre los veganos. El 90% de los pacientes asmáticos que fueron sometidos a una dieta totalmente vegetariana (sin carne, huevos o productos lácteos), experimentaron grandes mejoras en la frecuencia y la gravedad de sus ataques. (6) Según la Academia de Alergia, Asma e Inmunología de Estados Unidos, la leche es la causa principal de alergias en niños, causando síntomas tan diversos como exceso de mucosidad nasal, problemas en los oídos, fatiga muscular y dolores de cabeza. (7). Los productos lácteos también han sido relacionados con insuficiencias cardíacas, tetania neonatal, dilatación de las amígdalas, colitis ulserosa, enfermedad de Hodgkin, y problemas respiratorios, cutáneos y gastrointestinales. (8)

Una vida de vaca

Por lo menos la mitad de los 10 millones de vacas criadas para ser ordeñadas en Estados Unidos viven en granjas industriales en condiciones que causan un enorme sufrimiento a los animales. No pasan horas pastando en campos, sino que viven amontonadas dentro de corrales o establos de ordeño con suelo de cemento, donde son ordeñadas por máquinas dos o tres veces al día.
Las máquinas para ordeño generalmente les provocan cortes y heridas que no ocurrirían si el ordeño fuese manual. Estas heridas promueven el desarrollo de mastitis, una infección bacterial dolorosa. Más de 20 clases diferentes de bacterias causan la infección, que se propaga fácilmente de una vaca a la otra y si no es controlada, puede provocar la muerte.
En algunos casos, las máquinas para ordeño también producen descargas eléctricas como consecuencia de fugas de voltaje, causándoles a las vacas un gran malestar, miedo, daños en el sistema inmunológico y, en algunos casos, la muerte. Es posible que sólo una granja pierda varios cientos de vacas debido a las fugas de voltaje. (9)
Los grandes tambos también tienen un efecto perjudicial sobre el medio ambiente circundante. Por ejemplo, en California, donde se produce un quinto del suministro total de leche del país, el abono proveniente de los tambos ha envenenados cientos — probablemente miles— de millas cuadradas de agua subterránea, ríos y arroyos. Cada una de las más de un millón de vacas del estado excreta 120 libras diarias de deshechos, lo que equivale al excremento de dos docenas de personas. (10)
En las granjas actuales, las vacas viven sólo entre cuatro y cinco años, en contraste con la expectativa de vida de 20-25 años que disfrutaban en épocas anteriores. Para conservar a los animales en un alto nivel de productividad, los productores las mantienen continuamente preñadas mediante el uso de la inseminación artificial. Los productores también utilizan una variedad de drogas, como la hormona de crecimiento bovino (BGH por sus siglas en inglés); la prostaglandina, que es utilizada para provocar el celo de la vaca cuando el productor quiere que ésta sea inseminada; antibióticos y hasta tranquilizantes, para poder influenciar la productividad y el comportamiento de las vacas.
A muchas de las vacas lecheras del país se les inyecta rutinariamente BGH, que, según los productores, incrementa la producción de la vaca en un 20 por ciento. Eso no es todo lo que la hormona BGH incrementa. De acuerdo con la advertencia del gobierno que por ley debe exhibirse en todos los envases de BGH de Monsanto, el uso de esta hormona "ha sido asociado con el incremento de ovarios enquistados y trastornos del útero", y podría incrementar el número de vacas que sufren mastitis. (11) El aumento en la tasa de infecciones en las vacas ha llevado a un incremento en el uso de antibióticos—en una época en que los científicos dicen que el uso excesivo de antibióticos ha causado que cada vez más variedades de bacterias sean resistentes a las drogas. La Unión de Consumidores, en un editorial de la revista Consumer Reports (Informes al Consumidor) advierte que una mayor tasa de infecciones en las vacas también implica más pus en la leche que se consume. (12)
Algunos investigadores también se preocupan por los efectos a largo plazo de consumir leche proveniente de vacas tratadas con BGH. Por ejemplo, el doctor Samuel Epstein, profesor de medicina ambiental en la Escuela de Salud Pública de la Universidad de Illinois, cree que tal leche podría incrementar el riesgo de ciertos tipos de cáncer en los humanos. (13)

¿Qué le sucede al ternero?

Quizá el mayor dolor sufrido por las vacas en la industria láctea sea la pérdida repetida de sus crías. Las terneras deben unirse a la hilera de los productores de leche, pero los terneros, por lo general son separados de sus madres en menos de 24 horas de su nacimiento y vendidos en remates ya sea para ser usados en la conocida industria del ternero o por los productores de carne. Si se mata al ternero cuando es joven, su cuarto estómago es también utilizado para la elaboración de queso ya que contiene renina, una enzima utilizada para cuajar (o coagular) leche con el fin de convertirla en queso. El cuajo, que tiene una membrana de la cual la renina es un extracto, también puede utilizarse en este proceso. Es posible producir queso sin cuajo (disponible en negocios de comida sana), pero la estrecha conexión entre la industria láctea, la del ternero y la del cuero, hace que para los productores de queso sea más económico utilizar las partes del ternero que una enzima de origen vegetal.
Tras 60 días, la vaca será otra vez fecundada. Por aproximadamente siete meses de los nueve que dura su embarazo, a la vaca le seguirán ordeñando la leche destinada para su ternero anterior. Una típica vaca lechera industrial parirá tres o cuatro veces en su corta vida. Cuando su producción de leche decae, es enviada al matadero, seguramente para ser molida y transformada en hamburguesas para comida rápida.

Referencias
(1) Dana Wood, W, Nov. 1996, pagina 114.
(2) Robert Cohen, "Milk: The Deadly Poison,", Earth Island Journal , Summer (Hemisferio Austral) 1997-98, página 19.
(3) "Calcium: High Intakes May Double Hip Fracture Rates," Lunar Osteoporosis Update, nov. 1997.
(4) Neal Barnard, M.D., Eat Right, Live Longer, (New York: Libros Harmony, 1995), página 162.
(5) John A. McDougall, M.D., y Mary A. McDougall, The McDougall Plan, (Piscataway, N.J.: Editores New Century, Inc., 1983), página. 52.
(6) John Robbins, Diet for a New America, (Walpole, N.H.: Publicación Stillpoint , 1987), página 300.
(7) "Some Doctors Can’t Swallow ‘Drink Your Milk’ Admonition,", The Las Vegas Review-Journal, 8 de marzo de 1996.
(8) McDougall, oportunamente citado, páginas 49-50.
(9) Jack Anderson y Dale Van Atta, "Stray Voltage Killing U.S. Dairy Cows," , The Washington Post, 9 de agosto de 1989.
(10) Marla Cone, "State Dairy Farms Try to Clean Up Their Act," Los Angeles Times, 28 de abril de 1998, página A1.
(11) The Humane Farming Association, "Special Report: Bovine Growth Hormone,". 1994
(12) Kathleen Day, "Dairy, Consumer Groups Udderly at Odds on Cow Hormone," , The Washington Post, 2 de mayo de 1995, página D1.
(13) Anita Manning, "Risk of Cancer Debated," USA Today, 23 de enero de 1996, página 1D.

Fuente: PETA -
Fotografías: Francisco Vásquez Neira, de la Granja de leche de La Fageda, Catalunya.

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MILK SUCKS: El coctél de hasta 20 sustancias químicas en un va...

MILK SUCKS: El coctél de hasta 20 sustancias químicas en un va...: Adaptación Luis R. Miranda Mail Online 7 de Julio, 2011 Un vaso de leche puede contener una mezcla de hasta 20 analgésicos, antibiót...

http://health101.org/art_Not_Milk.htm

china project

Cancer, cell phones, cow’s milk, and Cornell

Posted on 06/10/2011

How does a farm boy turned scientist cope with the startling discovery that the casein in cow’s milk is a powerful carcinogen?

Dr. T. Colin Campbell, author of The China Study — grew up on a dairy farm but stopped serving ANY milk whatsoever to his own family over twenty years ago. He also counseled Dr. Spock prior to his final book — he too finally learned the truth about milk a few years before he died.

After growing up on a dairy farm in Virginia, Dr. T. Colin Campbell began his career in nutritional science believing that the healthiest diet in the world was the good old standard American diet — rich in meat and dairy three meals a day. But, as a man of the highest integrity, he took notice as he began discovering some dirty little secrets about the animal “protein” products that we had been led to believe were so healthy.

As early as the 1960′s as he began uncovering scientific evidence that negatively implicated the vast amount of animal protein in our diets, he was advised by his peers and colleagues that, in the interest of his career, he better keep quiet about those findings. Fortunately, keeping quiet about something that was killing people all over the world simply wasn’t in the Colin Campbell DNA.

Being a scientist, he wanted to find more proof before he went public — he simply wanted to be sure. He knew that once he went public with negative information about animal-based foods, that he would have difficulty getting much funding — and, without funding, it’s difficult to do much scientific research.

Fortunately, in 1980, he got the chance to direct the largest epidemiological study in the history of the world. It was called The China-Cornell-Oxford Project and, over the next thirty years, produced startling evidence about the relationship between diet, disease and health. As the overall director of this huge international project — this vital experience became the capstone of his 50-year career.

My Cornell Certificate in Plant-Based Nutrition — Nov. 2009; a certificate that is good for continuing education credits for MD’s and RD’s but (thanks to the dairy industry) is no longer good for credits toward graduation from Cornell University.

After becoming absolutely sure that the natural and best diet for our species was whole, plant-based foods; he followed the encouragement of his wife Karen — and told his complete career story in his world-changing book, The China Study (BenBella 2005).

She had been saying that he simply must tell his story — for the children of the world. But long before telling his story to the world, he created a plant-based nutrition course at Cornell University in the 90′s and taught it himself for seven years.

Wildly popular among the students, he got a call one day from someone who was trying to sign up for his course, but was told that the course had been canceled. Why was it canceled and why was Dr. Campbell not told about that cancellation in advance? The short answer is MONEY — in the form of the university’s huge financial support from the dairy industry. The controlling powers of the university had decided that a course that was counter to the prevailing meat & dairy diet-style didn’t make good business sense. So much for academic freedom.

J. Morris Hicks

The good news is that Dr. Campbell’s Plant-Based Nutrition course has been resurrected and is now delivered online by eCornell – a division of Cornell University.

Managed by the T. Colin Campbell Foundation, graduates of this great 6-week course can earn continuing education credits for MD’s and RD’s but, thanks to the dairy industry, cannot earn credits toward graduation from Cornell University. You can sign up for that course today by visiting this link: Certificate in Plant Based Nutrition – Online Certificate Program | eCornell. My certificate from 2009 is shown above.

To Dr. Campbell’s knowledge, there is no such course offered toward graduation in ANY school of nutrition in the United States. Apparently, our entire network of nutritional academia has sold out to the meat and dairy industry. What a shame. And how sad for the young people who compete to get into the best schools — in search of the truth. Further, the vast majority (if not all) of the PhD faculty in the School of Nutritional Science at Cornell have never even read The China Study.

Maybe some of that is driven by a threat to their job security; after all, how many PhD’s do you need to tell you the only two words that you need to know about consuming a health-promoting, disease-reversing diet? WHOLE PLANTS!

J. Morris Hicks reviewing his book manuscript with Dr. T. Colin Campbell at Cornell University — Dec. 15, 2010

In my opinion, this whole mess is unacceptable. And, it’s only going to get better if many more people learn what’s going on behind the closed doors of academia. I was there (Nov. 2009) at Cornell — in Savage Hall — when Dr. Campbell essentially summarized the provocative findings from The China Study before about 100 people in a 50-minute lecture to a group of half faculty, half students.
The students had great interest; the faculty — not so much. And the comments they made revealed how little they knew — or wanted to know about the topic of plant-based nutrition. This kind of information needs to be seen by millions of people; maybe you can share it with a few that might be interested.
One final note: We are truly honored that this great man and his son have written the foreword to our upcoming book — you can see an excerpt of that foreword by clicking here.
If you like what you see here, you may wish to join our periodic mailing list. Also, for help in your own quest to take charge of your health, you might find some useful information at our 4-Leaf page. From the seaside village of Stonington, Connecticut – Be well and have a great day.
If you’d like to order our book on Amazon,  visit our BookStore now.
—J. Morris Hicks…blogging daily at HealthyEatingHealthyWorld.com
PS: Occasionally an unauthorized ad may appear beneath a blog post. It is controlled by WordPress (a totally free hosting service). I do not approve or personally benefit whatsoever from any ad that might ever appear on this site. I apologize and urge you to please disregard.

/http://hpjmh.com/2011/04/19/no-cows-milk-for-humans-at-any-age-even-dr-spock-agrees/

Early Sexual Maturity and Milk Hormones

by Robert Cohen

The March, 2012 issue of the Journal of Human Biology contains a study in which cow's milk consumption was associated with early sexual development.
Researchers in the Human Biology Program and Department of Anthropology at Indiana University wrote:

"Milk has been associated with early menarche and with acceleration of linear growth in adolescence...IGF-I is a candidate bioactive molecule linking milk consumption to more rapid growth and development."
The scientists concluded:
"Routine milk consumption is an evolutionarily novel dietary behavior that has the potential to alter human life history parameters, especially vis-à-vis linear growth, which in turn may have negative long-term biological consequences."
The same month the above study appeared (March, 2012), German Researchers reported in Nutritional Reviews that nutrition is an "important lifestyle factor influencing timing of puberty."
Scientists concluded:
"Early onset of puberty may confer adverse health consequences...children with the highest intakes of vegetable protein or animal protein experience pubertal onset up to seven months later or seven months earlier, respectively."

My youngest daughter is in sixth grade, and my own sixth grade photograph brought about pleasant memories. It also triggered a surprise. Most of the boys in my class looked sharp in their Cub Scout uniforms, and our crew cuts depicted the symbolic hairstyle of the early 60's. Photos of my eleven-year-old friends resemble today's young boys. Little has changed. Today's little girls, though, are shockingly different. Eleven-year old girls from my day were flat-chested. There is no denying the photographic evidence. A scan of today's pre-teen schoolyard cannot disguise the number of large-busted sexually mature girls. A recent series of phone calls to my friends confirmed that my own experience was not unusual. Today's girls are very different. In my own sixth grade photo, there was Gail with pigtails, and Ellen with her irresistible smile, hands neatly folded on her desk. One little girl after another exhibited none of the budding signs of early sexual development that baffle today's sociologists and endocrinologists.
Today, little girls are made up of more than just sugar, spice, and everything nice. These girls of the twenty-first century are maturing earlier than last generation's children, and something is very different about their womanly physical attributes and behavior. Could there be a food link to this mystery?
In 1970, according to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the dairy industry produced 2.2 billion pounds of cheese. The population of the United States was 203 million, which translates to an average of 10.8 pounds of cheese per person. By 1990, America's population had grown to 248 million, and Americans were eating more cheese, 6 billion pounds worth. That's an average of 24 pounds per person. In 1994, the average American consumed 27.7 pounds of cheese. As we pass from one millennium into another, America's per-capita cheese consumption has broken the 30-pound per person level. America's rate of cheese consumption is skyrocketing. Since ten pounds of milk are required to produce just one pound of cheese, three hundred pounds of milk are used to manufacture that thirty pounds of cheese. The USDA publishes yearly food consumption data. In 1999, the average American consumed a combined 5 ounces per day of meat and chicken, and 29.2 ounces of milk and dairy products. That's 666 pounds per year per American of dairy products, making this group the largest component of America's diet. Concentrated milk in the form of increased cheese consumption means that concentrated hormones are being consumed.
Every sip of cow's milk contains 59 different bioactive hormones, according to endocrinologist Clark Grosvenor in the Journal of Endocrine Reviews in 1992. Milk has always been a hormonal delivery system, providing nursing infants with nature's perfect food for the young of each species. Thousands of studies published in respected peer-reviewed scientific journals report that lactoferrins, immunoglobulins, and hormones in human breast milk provide enormous benefit for nursing humans. In other words, hormones in milk work to exert powerful effects. Each species of mammal has a different formula. Cow's milk contains hormones, and nursing on cow's milk will deliver these hormones to the human body.
As a little girl becomes a big girl, then a mature woman, she will naturally produce in her lifetime the equivalent of only one tablespoon of estrogen. Hormones work on a nanomolecular lever, which means that it takes only a billionth of a gram to produce a powerful biological effect. Should little girls be encouraged to pop estrogen, progesterone, and prolactin pills each day? If they drink cow's milk, that is just what they are doing. If they eat cheese and ice cream, they ingest concentrated forms of these hormones.
Is early sexual maturity a bad thing, healthwise? Dr. Catherine Berkey, of Brigham Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, examined data from participants in the Harvard Nurses' Health Study. Her findings were published in the journal Cancer in 1999. Of the 65,000 participants, 2,291 developed breast cancer. Dr. Berkey's comment: "Earlier menarche and taller adult height were predictive of elevated breast carcinoma risk. Our work provided evidence that breast cancer risk is influenced by preadulthood factors, and thus prevention efforts that begin in childhood and adolescence may someday be useful."
Is it possible to do a controlled scientific study testing this theory? Such a study was actually performed on an entire nation. There is one country where milk consumption was unknown before 1946. In Japan, in every year since 1946, 20,000 persons from 6,100 households have been interviewed and their diets carefully analyzed along with their weights and heights and other factors such as cancer rates and age of puberty (the last measured by the onset of menstruation in young girls). The results of the study were published in Preventive Medicine by Kagawa in 1978.
Japan had been devastated by losing a war and was occupied by American troops. Americanization included dietary changes. Milk and dairy products were becoming a significant part of the Japanese diet. According to this study, the per-capita yearly dietary intake of dairy products in 1950 was only 5.5 pounds. Twenty- five years later, the average Japanese ate 117.4 pounds of milk and dairy products.
In 1950, the average twelve-year old Japanese girl was 4'6" tall and weighed 71 pounds. By 1975, the average Japanese girl, after changing her diet to include milk and dairy products containing 59 different bioactive hormones, had grown an average of 4 1/2 inches and gained 19 pounds. In 1950, the average Japanese girl had her first menstrual cycle at the age of 15.2 years. Twenty five years later, after a daily intake of estrogen and progesterone from milk, the average Japanese girl was ovulating at the age of 12.2 years, three years younger. Never before had such a dramatic dietary change been seen in such a unique population study.
Little girls do not take birth control pills. Little girls do not inject steroids, and do not require estrogen replacement therapy. Little girls are born with bodies that are genetically pre-programmed to transform them into women. By consuming cow's milk and cow's milk products, little girls become big girls long before Mother Nature intended. Is being taller, having larger than normal breasts, starting your period earlier than you're designed to, and increasing your risk of breast cancer worth it?

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Don's Comments: It's fascinating to see how many organizations, agencies, and even the media will report the correlation between the earlier onset of menstruation in young girls and the increased risk of breast cancer, but go on to say that the exact mechanism is "unknown", when the exact mechanism is definitely known! It's hormones from animal products, mostly milk products. But saying so would severely hurt multi-billion dollar industries, so they simply report the problem and then raise money to research it, and raise money to find a cure for breast cancer. Money may make the world go 'round, but it won't cure breast cancer. The cure for the breast cancer epidemic is:
1. Stop consuming hormones and toxins (pesticides on food... buy "organic")
2. Stop wearing a bra (see The Connection Between Bras and Breast Cancer)
3. Start doing vigorous up and down exercise like "spirited" walking or rebounding (moves lymph fluid... click here to learn more)
What woman would not want to have the BEST odds of avoiding breast cancer? I would think EVERY woman would. But of the women I share the above three steps with, only a tiny fraction embrace them. Don't be taken advantage of by non-caring industries at the expense of your breasts or your life... Breast cancer IS avoidable, regardless of your genetic predisposition, blood type, hair color, or zodiac sign.
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"A man should learn to detect and watch that gleam of light which flashes across his mind from within, more than the lustre of the firmament of bards and sages. Yet he dismisses without notice his thought, because it is his. In every work of genius we recognize our own rejected thoughts: they come back to us with a certain alienated majesty. Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string." — Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self-Reliance (1841)

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: mg/100 calories	Sugar: 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:3,13 (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/dcd75-3Page1.htm

3)  J Pennington.  Bowes & Church’s Food Values of Portions Commonly Used.  17^th 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/dcd69-1Page1.htm

11) Excess dietary protein, particularly purified proteins: http://www.nationaldairycouncil.org/NationalDairyCouncil/Health/Digest/dcd74-5Page1.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/lactoseIntolerance.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.

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