Is Milk Bad For You?

TheDevastator

milk is best when it is cultured like kefir. The bacteria and yeasts get rid of impurities and any bad bacteria.

Mdin1029

I drink lactose free organic milk in cereal about once a week. I eat cheese 5 days a week, greek yogurt almost daily.

EDesq

OMG...YES!

Oishii

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-22607161

^ Why I'm trying to up my dairy intake a little.

There are very few substances which are all bad or all good. When I was very anaemic I avoided spinach, for example, because the iron is impossible to absorb due to the calcium in it, but now my iron is no longer low I have it when I feel like it. Ditto milk. If there's a reason or a season that it's bad for you, avoid it, but try not to think of it as a 'bad food'.

As for the 'cow's milk is for baby cows' argument, I have to throw in a 'human milk is for baby humans' link:

http://m.medicaldaily.com/articles/16292/20130606/baby-study-breastfeeding-baby-formula-infant-brain-development-language-skills-motor-skills.htm

slkehl

From radioonemike. He used to test milk and typed up this summary of issues related to milk. It is in line with what I learned doing my own research on milk production for a food properties class project.

1) Antibiotics: They are usually given to steers to help growth and proactively guard against unsanitary conditions. Dairy cows only get antibiotics when they develop mastitis (infection/inflammation) of the udders. They usually are taken off the runs for a period of two weeks. All dairies test for antibiotics when a milk tanker comes in to be processed. If antibiotics are detected the whole tanker, unless it is a split with whole and skim, is rejected. You can be reasonably sure your milk is antibiotic free.

2) Hormones: They are also used the same as antibiotics for steers. Dairy cows could get this for the same reason. But most dairies have their farmer's pledge not use them. Milk cows are way more valuable than steers, so the short term gain probably is not worth it. Complicating the matter is that it is prohibitively expensive to test every run/tanker/cow for hormones. So your milk being free from hormones is as good as the farmer's making the pledge. You might be better drinking organic certified milk, if your state has their own organic standards; or if they follow stricter state standards like California's instead of the USDA standards.

3) Healthiness: Milk is a good source of protein, and if you drink reduced fat versions it is even better for you. Whole milk is 3.25% fat content, so while people say-- "Yes, but it has more saturated fat than two strips of bacon"; it is not a large amount. I personally think the issue is overeating. Our parents and grandparents grew up drinking whole milk when the obesity issue was nil. If you're drink a glass of whole milk and eating a sleeve of Oreo's or Chips Ahoy!. I think your issue is the cookies not the milk. But nowadays, my kid's pediatrician recommends them drinking lower fat milk.

4) Intolerance: People (as a whole) lose their ability to digest lactose at different points. This is dependent on your culture and your diet.

5) Diseases: There have really been no large, double-blind experiments or epidemiological studies of cow milk (be it antibiotic or hormone treated) being linked to cancer or auto-immune diseases. This is not to say, it doesn't; but just simply that no one has yet designed, vetted and executed such a studies. Most 'studies'/'facts' tend to be of the Kevin Trudeau ilk. There are some studies by reputable universities suggesting that eating red meat may have some links with certain kind of cancers-- but more study is needed.

6) Safety: Every dairy has a laboratory that tests for the quality and safety of milk. Testing includes: flavor, freezing point, %fat/%protein/%solids, presence of antibiotics, aerobic plate count, coliform plate count -- that's just for the tankers coming in to be processed. Tankers can be rejected for antibiotics and taste. All those tests (except antibiotics) are performed from line pulls usually occurring every hour. Additionally, on the final product, a shelf-life test is performed. Pulled product is stored cold and tested again at expy-date for bacteria and most of the other quality tests.

aFootballLife25

I ****ing love milk. Fat free milk all day, bro.

Iron_Feline

I am not interested in a debate unless you're a medical professional or a researcher (not the same as an expert googler), but you're quoting out of context. The article doesn't cite direct association, but what it does say is this: "High levels of galactose, a sugar released by the digestion of lactose in milk, have been studied as possibly damaging to the ovaries and leading to ovarian cancer. Although such associations have not been reported in all studies, there may be potential harm in consuming high amounts of lactose. A recent pooled analysis of 12 prospective cohort studies, which included more than 500,000 women, found that women with high intakes of lactose—equivalent to that found in 3 cups of milk per day—had a modestly higher risk of ovarian cancer, compared to women with the lowest lactose intakes. (15) The study did not find any association between overall milk or dairy product intake and ovarian cancer." And that is good enough for me.

Did you also read what the findings on a high protein diet were?

Woo hoo - no association between dairy and ovarian cancer - good enough for me too :bigsmile:

Sarauk2sf

I am not interested in a debate unless you're a medical professional or a researcher (not the same as an expert googler), but you're quoting out of context. The article doesn't cite direct association, but what it does say is this: "High levels of galactose, a sugar released by the digestion of lactose in milk, have been studied as possibly damaging to the ovaries and leading to ovarian cancer. Although such associations have not been reported in all studies, there may be potential harm in consuming high amounts of lactose. A recent pooled analysis of 12 prospective cohort studies, which included more than 500,000 women, found that women with high intakes of lactose—equivalent to that found in 3 cups of milk per day—had a modestly higher risk of ovarian cancer, compared to women with the lowest lactose intakes. (15) The study did not find any association between overall milk or dairy product intake and ovarian cancer." And that is good enough for me.

Did you also read what the findings on a high protein diet were?

Woo hoo - no association between dairy and ovarian cancer - good enough for me too :bigsmile:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17176214

No statistically significant relations were found for consumption of specific dairy foods, lactose, or vitamin D and ovarian cancer risk. The possibility of a decreased risk of ovarian cancer for dietary calcium merits further evaluation.