Organic milk/dairy v. Regular dairy for weight loss

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saanjana
saanjana Posts: 20 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I have been told by various friends/family that the hormones in regular dairy cause weight gain. I am not quite sure of this. Personally I never bought into the whole "organic" wave, and am quite skeptical of it as another scam to hike prices.

I would like to get all your input into this. I take quite a bit of dairy in my daily meals - infact, I get most of my protein from dairy mostly skim milk, and greek yogurt. Would it be wise to switch to organic? I have tasted organic milk, and do think it tastes better. The yogurt tasted the same to me. So from a taste perspective, I would give into the organic wave. From a health, and weight loss perspective, is it worth it.

Replies

  • MeanderingMammal
    MeanderingMammal Posts: 7,866 Member
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    There is a view that the extensive use of growth hormone in US herds translates to a higher incidence of artificial growth hormones in the resulting food products; dairy, beef. I've seen papers supporting both that view, and the view that there is no higher incidence of artificial growth hormone in those products. It's not conclusive either way.

    Personally I prefer the taste of both organic dairy and beef, so it's worth paying the money. I use a reasonable amount of dairy but don't eat much meat, so it's worth extra expense when I do buy it. There's also an ethical component, I know the farms that produce the food that I eat, and that's important to me. The supply chain is personal.
  • dbmata
    dbmata Posts: 12,950 Member
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    Excess calories causes weight gain.

    You can make the argument on a flavor basis, absolutely. Anything else isn't supported by fact.
  • SideSteel
    SideSteel Posts: 11,068 Member
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    I've never seen any evidence that this is true.
    I'm not convinced that there are any health or weight related benefits to choosing organic/hormone free milk vs the cheap stuff.
  • SideSteel
    SideSteel Posts: 11,068 Member
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    Also, I would either ask for evidence and then validate that evidence and/or stop listening to those friends.
  • SnuggleSmacks
    SnuggleSmacks Posts: 3,731 Member
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    There's only theory, with no science to support it at this point. However, organic, or even better, local, milk tastes way better than mass produced milk. Check to see if there are any small active dairy farms in your area and see if their website lists where they sell. Often they will even have visiting hours when you can tour the farm and see how the animals are treated.
  • Wronkletoad
    Wronkletoad Posts: 368 Member
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    none none none none none none none none...

  • RodaRose
    RodaRose Posts: 9,562 Member
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    EIther way the milk has hormones --the cow is lactating.
  • SnuggleSmacks
    SnuggleSmacks Posts: 3,731 Member
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    RodaRose wrote: »
    EIther way the milk has hormones --the cow is lactating.

    I know it wasn't explicit from the above post, but the concern is supplemental hormones given to cows to increase milk production. There is some debate on whether these growth hormones can be excreted in milk and whether they might have an effect of humans. Regardless of where you stand on that issue, the fact is that dairy from local producers is fresher and much tastier. Comparing even skim milk from a dairy farm in my area to whole milk from Sealtest or one of the other major producers...there's no comparison. It's so much creamier, even as skim milk, and the flavor is amazing. It's worth the extra money to get local whenever possible.
  • SweatLikeDog
    SweatLikeDog Posts: 273 Member
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    I wouldn't worry about putting on weight like a baby calf because of hormones, but organic milk has a few good things going for it...http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2014/01/14/conventional-vs-organic-milk.aspx
  • JustWant2Run
    JustWant2Run Posts: 286 Member
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    Weight gain is caused my an excess of calories. There is a lot of other things to change for helping weight loss other than regular vs organic milk.
  • MrsRadder
    MrsRadder Posts: 207 Member
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    There are so many 'options/opinions' about this. You need to do your own research. Milk, Organic Milk, Raw Milk. Each is a hot button topic for foodies.
    We do raw at our house it's easier to digest and we are not getting any younger and need all the calcium we can get. Best of luck!
  • jvs125
    jvs125 Posts: 223 Member
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    Organic vs non-organic is not a weight loss debate. It's more of an environment issue, overall health, humane treatment of animals, using foods as they are intended to be and grow. It is more expensive for various reasons, one of them being just to be able to keep their "organic" label... So if you decide to pay the price for organic, it's more an ethical choice than for weight loss. I mean.. maybe the growth hormones could have an impact, I don't know... But what I am sure of is that the organic produce especially dairy has a different taste, it's much better. My kids don't know anything about labels but they sure feel the taste difference!
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
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    saanjana wrote: »
    I have been told by various friends/family that the hormones in regular dairy cause weight gain.

    Um, no.

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