Posts Tagged ‘cow’s milk’

Why You Shouldn’t Drink Cow’s Milk – Part 2

October 6th, 2009

In part 1 of this little series on milk and dairy, we discussed how pasteurization further degrades cow’s milk and makes it even less suitable for human consumption.

Today, we’re going to look at 2 more aspects – homogenization and the use of hormones and antibiotics.

How Homogenization Affects Milk

Milk is a liquid not too different from an oil and water mixture. Just as oil separates from water, milk contains fat globules which are dispersed throughout.

If raw milk were left to stand, however, the fat would rise and form a cream layer. As they say, “the cream always rises to the top!”

Homogenization is a mechanical treatment of the fat globules in milk brought about by passing milk under high pressure through a tiny orifice, which results in a decrease in size and an increase in number and surface area, of the fat globules.

The net result, from a practical view, is a much reduced tendency for creaming of fat globules. This is of great importance to food manufacturers who want their milk sitting on the shelves for as long as possible in order to be purchased.

Can you imagine how much milk would go to waste if we left raw milk sitting on the shelves? Manufacturers know that in as little as 1 hour of sitting, raw milk will no longer be appealing to consumers, and thus it will not be purchased.

It’s all about the benjamins when it comes to food unfortunately.

Here’s a pic (from the University of Guelph) that depicts what happens to fat globules during homogenization:

creaming

Once again, the three factors that contribute to the enhanced stability of homogenized milk are:

a decrease in the size of the fat globules,
an increase in the number of fat globules, and
an increase in surface area of the fat globules

Although this results in a more “stable” milk, it also creates a milk that is less suitable for humans.

Because homogenization unnaturally increases the surface area of the fat globules, each fat molecule is more exposed to air, in which oxidation occurs and increases the susceptibility to spoilage.

But it gets worse…

When fat globules are forcibly broken up by mechanical means, it allows an enzyme associated with milk fat, known as xanthine oxidase, to become free and penetrate the human intestinal wall.

Once xanthine oxidase gets through the intestinal wall and into the bloodstream, it is capable of creating scar damage to the heart and arteries, which in turn may stimulate the body to release cholesterol into the blood in an attempt to lay a protective fatty material on the scarred areas.

This can lead to arteriosclerosis and related cardiovascular conditions!

The Unnatural “Beefing Up” of Dairy Cows – Hormones and Antibiotics

Fifty years ago an average cow produced 2,000 pounds of milk per year. Today the top producers produce about 50,000 pounds! How is this accomplished? Drugs, antibiotics, growth hormones, forced feeding plans and specialized breeding – that’s how.

The most recent unnatural addition to dairy cows is bovine growth hormone or BGH. This genetically engineered drug is supposed to stimulate milk production without “supposedly” affecting the quality of the milk itself!

Rrright….(in the voice of Dr. Evil from Austin Powers)

Many countries have banned BGH because of safety concerns. Any substance added to a dairy cow’s body comes out in the milk. I don’t know how you feel, but I don’t want genetically engineered hormones coming into my body!

BGH causes a dramatic increase (50 to 70 %) in mastitis (udder infections) in the dairy cows’ udders, because of the constant production of milk. This in turn requires antibiotic therapy to cure the mastitis, and then the residues of the antibiotics appear in the milk we drink.

Over 50 % of all the antibiotics produced in North America are mixed directly into animal feed. Ideally, antibiotics should be used in farming only when necessary to treat infections.

However, due to the unhealthy conditions of factory-farmed animals, and the poor, dirty conditions they are raised under, they are fed a constant supply of antibiotics from birth until death.

We then, are unknowingly consuming far more antibiotics than we intend to, by drinking commercial milk. This fact may be part of the reasons that more and more people are becoming resistant to prescribed antibiotics.

Milk alone contains traces of up to 80 different antibiotics! Since lactating mammals excrete toxins through the milk, this would include antibiotics, pesticides, chemicals, and growth hormones.

I don’t know about you but I refuse to bring cow’s milk and other dairy products into my kitchen.

And as I’ll show you in the 3rd part of this series tomorrow, the nutrient composition of cow’s milk is just one more reason that humans shouldn’t be consuming it.

Stay tuned for that post tomorrow.

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Posted in General Nutrition

Tags: antibiotic atherosclerosis bgh bovine growth hormone cholesterol cow's milk cream dairy dairy cow fat globules homogenization hormones xanthine oxidase

Milk, Dairy Products, and Pasteurization

October 5th, 2009

Within the last year or so, I’ve noticed a huge push by the dairy industry promoting the benefits of consuming dairy products among tennagers and athletes.

It’s so bad now that you can’t go to a movie without being subjected to 6-10 quick clips with the message “Milk makes you strong!”. It’s very annoying and that’s one of it’s one of the biggest reasons why kids and their parents believe that milk and dairy actually do your body good.

But nothing could be farther from the truth!

Especially, when talking about commercially available dairy which is pasteurized and homogenized, and which provides little benefit to the human body.

There are many proponents of raw milk (I’m still not one of them) but considering how rare raw milk really is there’s really no point in talking about it.

Instead, we’re going to discuss the milk and dairy that you have access to in the grocery store.

The Problem with Pasteurization

Pasteurization is not intended to kill all pathogenic micro-organisms in milk. Instead, pasteurization aims to reduce the number of viable pathogens so they are unlikely to cause disease (assuming the pasteurization product is refrigerated and consumed before its expiration date).

Pasteurization typically uses temperatures below boiling since at very high temperatures milk, casein (protein) micelles will curdle.

Nonetheless, the heat used is well above 118 degrees Fahrenheit which inherently destroys any potential value raw milk could provide.

While the dairy industry is passing off pasteurized milk as being wholesome and healthy, it is far from that. Studies have shown mounting evidence that commercial, pasteurized milk may play a role in a variety of health problems, including: diabetes, prostate cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, atherosclerosis, anemia, MS, leukemia and ovarian cancer.

There are dozens of reports and studies on pasteurized milk, most of them highly unfavorable. The main focus of the published reports seems to be on the health issues that commercial, pasteurized milk causes such as: intestinal colic, intestinal irritation, intestinal bleeding, anemia, allergic and sinus problems, and salmonella. Contamination of milk by blood and white (pus) cells as well as a variety of hormones, chemicals and insecticides is a big cause for concern.

Raw milk sours naturally, but pasteurized milk turns putrid and thus manufactueres must remove the slime and pus from pasteurized milk through centrifugal clarification.

Furthermore, inspection of dairy herds for disease is not even required for pasteurized milk.

I don’t know about you but I surely don’t want to be drinking milk from an infected cow!

I’ve recently developed a real appreciation for cows and I love seeing them as they were meant to be – grazing off the land – not confined in cubicle-like barns being subjected to the nasties of big business!

On the topic of pasteurization (and for that matter heating any food), according to Sally Fallon of the Weston Price Foundation:

“Heat alters milk’s amino acids, lysine and tyrosine, making the whole complex of proteins less available; it promotes rancidity of unsaturated fatty acids and destruction of vitamins. Vitamin C loss in pasteurization usually exceeds 50 percent; loss of other water-soluble vitamins can run as high as 80 percent. Pasteurization alters milk’s mineral components such as calcium, chlorine, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, sodium and sulphur as well as many trace minerals, making them less available. There is some evidence that pasteurization alters lactose, making it more readily absorbable.”

If heat does this to milk, just imagine what heating other foods does.

That’s just one of the reasons for following more of a raw food diet.

Development of Allergies

When milk is pasteurized, the delicate protein molecules are changed, making them much harder for our bodies to break down and digest. Pasteurized milk then puts an unnecessary strain on the pancreas to produce digestive enzymes to break this down.

This may be partly the reason why milk consumption has been linked with diabetes. It is also the reason behind many milk allergies. It is the protein portion—the casein–that becomes difficult to digest after pasteurization, thus causing reactions.

Like any dead enzyme-void food, pasteurized milk, puts an enormous strain on your body’s digestive system. In many cases, those with milk intolerance, leaky gut, or compromised digestion, these protein molecules pass through the intestinal walls into the blood stream, not fully digested.

This is the first step in the development of allergies and a host of other systemic problems such as auto-immune disorders.

Last but not least, pasteurization destroys all of the active and healthy enzymes in milk–in fact, the test for successful pasteurization is absence of enzymes.

These enzymes help the body break down and assimilate all the healthy nutrients in milk, including calcium. That is why those who drink pasteurized milk may suffer, nevertheless, from osteoporosis.

The calcium in milk is simply not utilized very well.

To hit home the problem with pasteurization, calves (baby cows) fed pasteurized milk die before maturity!

Hey, if cows die when they consume dead milk, why would humans be any different?

Tomorrow, we’ll look at some more negatives of consuming cow’s milk and dairy products. We’ll investigate the effect of homogenization, how cow’s are fed, and hormonal issues.

Be sure to read tomorrow’s post!

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