Cow’s milk could very well be one of the human race’s biggest dietary mistakes. The more we discover what it does too our bodies the less we will be grateful for. For decades, cow’s milk was promoted as the “perfect food” for all of us and distinctly for kids. Is this common sense?
The milk from all species of mammal is incomparable and particularly tailored to the requirements of that animal. Cow’s milk is designed by nature to encourage the stages of development of a rumen in the young cow’s digestive system. The rumen is similar too a fermenting tub with a grand amount of bacteria that is necessary to breakdown huge quantities of fiber in the cow’s diet. Cow’s milk has various factors designed too stimulate bacterial growth in the gut. People, on the other side of the coin, have an almost sterile small intestine. Human milk, specifically designed for humans, holds substances that inhibit intestinal bacterial growth.
People are exposed to milk in infancy and the long-term damage from consuming cow’s milk starts then. Consuming milk, during childhood, contributes to lack of tolerance, hypersensitivities and interference with assimilation. The human infant is not able to digest cow’s milk and this produces damage to the bowel mucosa. Infants that consume cow’s milk have small but major effects of bloodletting from their digestive tracts. This bloodletting brings about an iron deficiency and anemia. Health problems such as childhood diabetes, obesity, bowel disease, colic and ear infections are all linked too the consumption of milk in infancy.
One out of every five infants suffers from colic. Pediatricians learned long ago that the consumption of cow’s milk was often the problem. We now understand that nursing women can also have a colicky baby if the mother ingests cow’s milk.
Cow’s milk is not only detrimental to young children but it is also harmful to adults. The proteins in the cow’s milk contributes too problems with digestion, intolerance, impaired assimilation of other nutrients and autoimmune responses. Many people are lactose intolerant. This is because once we are weaned off breast milk our body stops production of lactase, the enzyme that helps us to digest lactose.
Dairy products add lots of cholesterol and fat to one’s diet. A high cholesterol and high fat diet is associated with heart disease and other health problems. Ovarian cancer is also associated to milk consumption. The sugar found in milk called lactose is broken down to another sugar referred to as galactose. This sugar affects a woman’s ovaries and multiplies her risk of acquiring ovarian cancer.
Humans are the only animals that drink another animal’s milk and to make matters worse we drink it into adulthood. Female mammals produce milk to feed and nourish their young. Once the infant can move on to solid foods and the baby is weaned off the mother’s milk the infant no longer drinks milk.
Much healthier choices for human consumption are the liquids drawn from different kinds of plants and manufactured into milk. These may be from nuts, grains, seeds or fruits. Many of these milks have been around for thousands of years in different parts of the world. Well known are soy, rice, almond and coconut milk.
Milk Article by Fernanda B.Sc.Pharm, M.H., courtesy of HealthTopics.ca