In Brief

• The Facts:

  Milk from cows has been touted as making our bones stronger, and preventing conditions like osteoporosis. It turns out that it's the complete opposite, that milk causes bone degeneration by leeching calcium from the bone.

• Reflect On:

  How can the food industry put out information and 'science' that counters independent research and science that's not sponsored by the actual food companies? Why do we believe what we believe? Is this a result of mass marketing?

It’s remarkable to analyze why many of us believe that milk, which is designed to help calves develop, is also suitable for human beings. We are the only species on the planet that consumes the milk of another animal. Furthermore, we are the only species on the planet who continues to drink milk after weaning. Even for cows, this would be a no-no. There are multiple studies showing that drinking milk for a cow leads to an increased mortality rate and actually makes bones more prone to fracturing, not less. One example would be this giant study from researchers at Uppsala University in Sweden.

But not only are we starting to become aware that our milk-drinking habit is one of the main sources of multiple health ailments and chronic disease; let’s not forget about the fact that 80 percent of Amazon rainforest destruction is the result of grazing animals for meat and dairy. It’s one of the main sources of environmental degradation and pollution.

And when we support the dairy industry we also support animal torture, suffering and heartache. Cows are forcefully impregnated so they can lactate, and when their babies are born they are ripped from their mothers and head straight for the slaughter house. Animal agriculture represents one of the biggest genocides on the planet today, and it shows how much we’ve lost our connection to all that is.

Lactose Intolerance

But back to consumer health concerns. If we look at all other animals who don’t consume the milk of another animal or after weaning, it is because they do not have the enzymes to break down the sugar found in milk. We are no different, and this explains why in some ethnic populations around the world, lactose intolerance is present in 90 percent of the population. A staggering 70 percent of the world’s population has some degree of lactose intolerance.

That being said, some people might have evolved and developed a cows milk just fine, which is why this information may not apply to everybody but overall, it definitely appears we are doing something unnatural.

This is explainable by science. Humans actually never had this enzyme, and to digest the sugar in milk, a cow’s milk at that, we had to develop the LTC gene, which was acquired by mutation. This is the lactase gene, which allows us to process lactose as adults. Clearly, we are not doing what is natural and in accordance with our bodies. I first came across this information from Katherine S. Pollard, a PhD at the University of California, San Francisco, in this lecture.

Metabolic Acidosis

One of the most important points people are becoming aware of  is the fact that animal protein may in fact be harmful for human consumption, and that plant protein is a much better option. I go more in-depth on this in my article Plant-Based Protein VS. Protein From Meat: Which One Is Better For Your Body?

One thing animal protein does is trigger metabolic acidosis. This happens when the body produces too much acid and becomes very acidic, which can be caused by multiple things, including the absorption of casein found in animal protein. Casein makes up almost 90 percent of the protein in a cow’s milk. When the body experiences this type of acidosis, it actually forces the body to compensate by leaching calcium from the bones to help neutralize the increased acidity. Over time, all of this can have severe and detrimental effects on bone health, and studies have shown this.

We Have Been Misled

Science tells us that nations with high instances of hip fracture and osteoporosis also have a very high calcium intake. Given this correlation, and the fact that animal protein causes metabolic acidosis, sucking the calcium out of the bones — in direct contrast to what the dairy industry would have us believe — it’s easy to see that we have been misled.

Studies have also shown that animal protein can “turn on cancer.” This mainly comes from the work of Dr. Colin Campbell, an American biochemist who specializes in the effect of nutrition on long term health. He is the Jacob Gould Schurman Professor Emeritus of Nutritional Biochemistry at Cornell University. Scholars like Campbell are vital to the world, because they are among the few who actually examine and study nutrition and health, something that our modern day medical industry completely ignores. How ironic is it that medical doctors don’t learn anything about nutrition? How does that make any sense? It’s because modern day medicine puts profits before health.

The China Study has become known as one of the most comprehensive studies of nutrition ever conducted. It has huge implications for diet, weight loss and longer-term health. It implicates animal protein in various ways that most people aren’t ready to accept.

Below is a clip from the Forks Over Knives documentary.

The Takeaway

The big takeaway here is to realize that we have been misled by the food industry in various realms. Products that have been pushed as healthy, like milk for example, are clearly not healthy and responsible for multiple diseases. Mass marketing and food propaganda, together with the pharmaceutical industry, completely control what we believe to be real when it comes to our health. They even falsify science, to counter claims by actual impartial science which strongly opposes what is put out by these industries. It’s not easy to let go of what we’ve been programmed to believe for so long, but the bottom line is when it comes to food and nutrition, critical thinking and independent research is far more valuable that relying on our medical associations and textbooks for information. Don’t be afraid to think for yourself, do your own research and listen to your body through experience.