Thoughts on this milk article?

Someone showed my this article on milk http://saveourbones.com/osteoporosis-milk-myth/

Personally I think milk/diary are great sources of protein, fats and calcuim, but I just want to know a bit about this a little more. So please correct me if I am wrong at my attempt to "debunk":

"Shattering the “savings account” calcium theory, Cumming and Klineberg report their study findings as follows:

“Consumption of dairy products, particularly at age 20 years, was associated with an increased risk of hip fracture in old age. (“Case-Control Study of Risk Factors for Hip Fractures in the Elderly”. American Journal of Epidemiology. Vol. 139, No. 5, 1994). " --- this doesn't show any causal effect, it could have been down to a number of other factors

"And the 12 year long Harvard Nurses’ Health Study found that those who consumed the most calcium from dairy foods broke more bones than those who rarely drank milk. " --- as above

"In the Save Our Bones Program one of the topics I discuss is the complete disregard of scientific evidence that discredits milk and dairy products as the best source of calcium. One exception is Amy Lanou Ph.D., nutrition director for the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine in Washington, D.C., who states that: “The countries with the highest rates of osteoporosis are the ones where people drink the most milk and have the most calcium in their diets. " --- as above

"Nowadays, milking cows are given antibiotics and most are also injected with a genetically engineered form of bovine growth hormone (rBGH)." --- Hormone treatment on cows is illegal in the EU, not sure about the US/Aus/Asia

"And higher levels of IGF-1 are linked to several cancers." --- I though increased IGF-1 is linked with hypertrophy?!

Again, personally, drink however much milk/dairy you want.

Replies

  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 10,266 Member
    Epidemiology.............. the study of mass destruction.:happy:
  • kennie2
    kennie2 Posts: 1,170 Member
    totally agree with it.
  • My comment was irrelevant, just ignore this as I have now fully read the OP. :)
  • evileen99
    evileen99 Posts: 1,564 Member
    Activity level is probably more important for bone density than is calcium intake, according to a couple of studies that I've seen, and anecdotally is true for me.
  • Sunny_fit4life
    Sunny_fit4life Posts: 157 Member
    I don't really see how it makes any logical sense to drink cow's milk. I mean really, who was the first guy in history to watch a baby calf nursing and think, "Now there's an idea!" It only ever made sense to me because it was taught to me as a child that you must drink 3 8 oz glasses a day to get enough calcium and that dairy was a "food group" on the "food pyramid". And, well, you know.... that "Milk does the body good".

    I absolutely agree with the article. I would rather get my calcium from plant-based sources that won't make my body an acidic environment.
  • SideSteel
    SideSteel Posts: 11,068 Member
    I don't buy it. If milk doesn't harm you due to your lack of enzymes then have at it.
  • CyberEd312
    CyberEd312 Posts: 3,536 Member
    I don't buy it. If milk doesn't harm you due to your lack of enzymes then have at it.

    Agreed... I drink 2 to 3 gallon of milk a week and don't plan on quitting anytime soon.....
  • Sarauk2sf
    Sarauk2sf Posts: 28,072 Member
    The only study that I have seen that *may* show a link to increased cancer risk is to prostate cancer, and that was a *may* and not a *does*. Other than that, I have not seen anything credible that shows a causation of an increase in health risks, (existing medical conditions excluded of course).

    Edited for typo
  • devilwhiterose
    devilwhiterose Posts: 1,157 Member
    I also never understood the milk thing. Like someone else said...who looked at a cow and went..."I want that!"

    They put SO MUCH crap in milk... We are the only people to drink another mammal's milk (to my knowledge anyway). It's just not natural to me. I don't drink it, my kids don't drink it... It's another animal's boob juice!!!

    I'll eat dairy products (yogurt, cheese...), but to sit at the table with a glass of milk would make me gag.
  • Sarauk2sf
    Sarauk2sf Posts: 28,072 Member
    I also never understood the milk thing. Like someone else said...who looked at a cow and went..."I want that!"

    They put SO MUCH crap in milk... We are the only people to drink another mammal's milk (to my knowledge anyway). It's just not natural to me. I don't drink it, my kids don't drink it... It's another animal's boob juice!!!

    I'll eat dairy products (yogurt, cheese...), but to sit at the table with a glass of milk would make me gag.

    Why is non milk dairy different?

    Off topic though as the OP is about health issues not personal tastes re whether cows milk is 'natural' or not to drink.
  • mockchoc
    mockchoc Posts: 6,573 Member
    I also never understood the milk thing. Like someone else said...who looked at a cow and went..."I want that!"

    They put SO MUCH crap in milk... We are the only people to drink another mammal's milk (to my knowledge anyway). It's just not natural to me. I don't drink it, my kids don't drink it... It's another animal's boob juice!!!

    I'll eat dairy products (yogurt, cheese...), but to sit at the table with a glass of milk would make me gag.

    Why is fermented/aged/processed/etc.. animal boob juice ok and not making you gag I wonder. Any crap you say that they may put in milk is in those too and if you buy organic non-homogensied milk it shouldn't have additives.
  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 10,266 Member
    I also never understood the milk thing. Like someone else said...who looked at a cow and went..."I want that!"

    They put SO MUCH crap in milk... We are the only people to drink another mammal's milk (to my knowledge anyway). It's just not natural to me. I don't drink it, my kids don't drink it... It's another animal's boob juice!!!

    I'll eat dairy products (yogurt, cheese...), but to sit at the table with a glass of milk would make me gag.
    What makes eating the butt of dead cow sanctimonious as opposed to it's milk. I think if dogs and cats for example start dairy farms and drive milk trucks they would definitely be in the co-op of drinking milk......just a guess though.:smile:
  • CoderGal
    CoderGal Posts: 6,800 Member
    I don't buy it. If milk doesn't harm you due to your lack of enzymes then have at it.
    ^This
  • evileen99
    evileen99 Posts: 1,564 Member
    The reason we're the only mammal to drink another mammal's milk is because we're the only one that has figured out a way to get it. My pets (dog, cat, and rat) will all guzzle milk if given the chance, but there's no way they could procure it by themselves.

    We're also the only mammal that cooks their food; do you consider that to be unnatural as well and only eat raw food?
  • jordanalexis90
    jordanalexis90 Posts: 25 Member
    I also never understood the milk thing. Like someone else said...who looked at a cow and went..."I want that!"

    They put SO MUCH crap in milk... We are the only people to drink another mammal's milk (to my knowledge anyway). It's just not natural to me. I don't drink it, my kids don't drink it... It's another animal's boob juice!!!

    I'll eat dairy products (yogurt, cheese...), but to sit at the table with a glass of milk would make me gag.
    What makes eating the butt of dead cow sanctimonious as opposed to it's milk. I think if dogs and cats for example start dairy farms and drive milk trucks they would definitely be in the co-op of drinking milk......just a guess though.:smile:

    ^this brought me a good laugh!!
  • haroon_awan
    haroon_awan Posts: 1,208 Member
    Thanks guys.

    Off topic: SideSteel, God damnit, your arms are MASSIVE! Bravo.
    I also never understood the milk thing. Like someone else said...who looked at a cow and went..."I want that!"

    They put SO MUCH crap in milk... We are the only people to drink another mammal's milk (to my knowledge anyway). It's just not natural to me. I don't drink it, my kids don't drink it... It's another animal's boob juice!!!

    I'll eat dairy products (yogurt, cheese...), but to sit at the table with a glass of milk would make me gag.

    Thanks for the laugh!
  • MsLilly200
    MsLilly200 Posts: 192 Member
    I have never broken a bone in my life, well, unless you count the 1 cm off the tip of my thumb that got caught in a giant iron bunker door when I was 5 and had to be removed... But I dunno if I actually broke it or the flesh was just too damaged and they had to amputate or something.
    Anyway, as far as I know, I've never broken anything. And milk used to be the only thing I drank. Except for the occasional soda or juice. Milk was basically my water.
  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 10,266 Member
    http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/72/3/681.long

    Dairy foods and bone health: examination of the evidence.
    Studies were reviewed that examined the relation of dairy foods to bone health in all age, sex, and race groups. Outcomes were classified according to the strength of the evidence by using a priori guidelines and were categorized as favorable, unfavorable, or not statistically significant. Of 57 outcomes of the effects of dairy foods on bone health, 53% were not significant, 42% were favorable, and 5% were unfavorable. Of 21 stronger-evidence studies, 57% were not significant, 29% were favorable, and 14% were unfavorable.

    http://jn.nutrition.org/content/134/3/568.short
    A High Dairy Protein, High-Calcium Diet Minimizes Bone Turnover in Overweight Adults during Weight Loss
  • The reason we're the only mammal to drink another mammal's milk is because we're the only one that has figured out a way to get it. My pets (dog, cat, and rat) will all guzzle milk if given the chance, but there's no way they could procure it by themselves.

    We're also the only mammal that cooks their food; do you consider that to be unnatural as well and only eat raw food?

    Bump
    Can't agree more.
    On a similar note on the opposition to 'processed' food: We are equipped by nature with a 32 piece internal food processor called our teeth, because without chopping it up and softening it a bit with saliva enzymes, a lot of food would be indigestible.
  • Athena53
    Athena53 Posts: 717 Member

    I'll eat dairy products (yogurt, cheese...), but to sit at the table with a glass of milk would make me gag.

    Same here- I never did like it even as a kid. I love Greek yogurt (and who knows what's been done to the cows/milk used to make that), but quit drinking milk as soon as I went away to college and haven't had any since.
  • TheVimFuego
    TheVimFuego Posts: 2,412 Member
    I don't have a buff avatar, I don't feel qualified to comment on nutritional matters.
  • lauren3101
    lauren3101 Posts: 1,853 Member
    I also never understood the milk thing. Like someone else said...who looked at a cow and went..."I want that!"

    They put SO MUCH crap in milk... We are the only people to drink another mammal's milk (to my knowledge anyway). It's just not natural to me. I don't drink it, my kids don't drink it... It's another animal's boob juice!!!

    I'll eat dairy products (yogurt, cheese...), but to sit at the table with a glass of milk would make me gag.

    So it's weird to drink another animals 'boob juice'...

    But take a bit of boob juice, shove some bacteria in there and let it go off and I'll eat that!
  • Athena53
    Athena53 Posts: 717 Member
    So it's weird to drink another animals 'boob juice'...

    But take a bit of boob juice, shove some bacteria in there and let it go off and I'll eat that!

    Yeah, I know- a bit of conflict there. In fact, my favorite cheeses are the ones with lovely blue streaks running through them. DH thinks I'm crazy.
  • vim_n_vigor
    vim_n_vigor Posts: 4,089 Member
    I also never understood the milk thing. Like someone else said...who looked at a cow and went..."I want that!"

    They put SO MUCH crap in milk... We are the only people to drink another mammal's milk (to my knowledge anyway). It's just not natural to me. I don't drink it, my kids don't drink it... It's another animal's boob juice!!!

    I'll eat dairy products (yogurt, cheese...), but to sit at the table with a glass of milk would make me gag.

    Pretty much any animal will drink milk from another species.
    Dog feeding tiger pups:
    http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/dog-adopts-tiger-cubs-191930062.html

    10 stories of interspecies nursing:
    http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/animals/news-10-incredible-stories-interspecies-nursing

    Put some milk out for your cat or dog, they'll drink it.
  • grimendale
    grimendale Posts: 2,153 Member
    From a chemical standpoint, it makes sense. The lactic acid in milk causes a mild alkalinity in the body that needs to be neutralized for your body's equilibrium. The most common compound used to neutralize acids is calcium carbonate due to the abundance of both minerals in the body (the same is used in environmental engineering to neutralize acidity in lakes). The calcium has to come from somewhere, and the bones are the largest repository.