Why NOT to Drink your Milk

This may be a surprise to you if you have only ever heard that milk is a great food, full of all the calcium we need and the ideal drink for growing kids.

The problem is that this view has come mainly from the milk marketing giants who really believe that these statements are true. Of course they do, you pay them money for it! Unfortunately many nutritionists, food agencies etc. have also bought this marketing strategy and believe these statements without question, despite the huge pile of indisputable evidence to the contrary.

Firstly though let me say that milk is indeed a good and nutritious food, that is clean raw organic milk from cows that have been grass fed and have not been treated with antibiotics and hormones, not the gallons of pasteurised milk we see lining our supermarket shop floors. OK then, now I've whet your appetite, let's look at what's wrong with all that pasteurised milk.

Let's look firstly at why milk is actually produced by the cow. It is produced for the same reason that milk is produced by a human mother, that is to help her offspring grow in the early stages of their life. For this reason, we can accurately call milk a species-specific food. It is specific for a reason and differs quite considerably in many species, with humans and cows being no exception! For example, the protein in the milk that helps the calf to grow is of a different composition to that produced by a human mother, and the main type of protein in it, known as casein, is present in far greater amounts than that of human milk. This among other things makes it extremely difficult, to say the least, for humans to digest and assimilate it, which is one of the reasons why milk is so notoriously mucus forming. Our bodies create mucus to get rid of the undigested protein. This then leads to a weakened immune system that can in turn lead to allergies. Using a real life example, I know someone who used to suffer with a lot of mucus with colds that seemingly lasted forever, but since they removed pasteurized milk from their diet all that has cleared up.

We also need to consider that the cow has four stomachs with which to digest the mother's milk! In the first stomach, the milk forms thick curds, which are then processed by the other stomachs. The problem is, humans only have one stomach, meaning that the body now must try to digest this sticky mass and do something with it. Unfortunately, it sticks to the walls of our intestines and becomes stored in our bodies as acidic and toxic mucus. This is probably why dairy products and milk in particular are cited worldwide as the number one cause of allergies, particularly in children. This acidic, mucus environment is an ideal one for colds and flu and I have noted with interest the accounts from parents whose children do not guzzle milk, which includes my own, and have seen how rarely their children get colds, even when others in the classroom seem to be going down with them. The bottom line here, folks, is that good old milk actually weakens our immune system and helps to make us more susceptible to a host of health problems such as colds and the flu.

Then there is the issue of the pasteurising process. The idea behind this is that it kills all the "bad" things in the milk. However, unfortunately, it also does similar to all the "good" things too. You see, the process of pasteurisation involves heating the milk to a given temperature, and this process destroys, or to be more accurate, denatures vital enzymes as well as destroying beneficial bacteria and reducing vitamin content by well over half. This leaves you with what is basically a dead food. Did you know that experiments with calves have shown that those fed pasteurised milk died within 60 days?! Why? Because the life giving enzymes and nutrients have been destroyed by the pasteurisation process leaving a dead food devoid of essential nutrients. When we humans drink this dead "junk" food, is it really doing us the good we have been told it is all these years? We are told that the process of pasteurising milk is essential, to make it "safe" to drink, of course, but the main reason that milk is pasteurised is to extend its shelf life and reduce the levels of cleanliness that are required by the producers, don't be fooled. Raw milk production standards are far higher than those of pasteurised milk.

Another problem is the homogenisation process. Very basically, this process distributes the fat throughout the milk by reducing the large fat globules of the cream part of the milk to a far smaller diameter. The problem is, this process leaves an enzyme in the milk called xanthine oxidase partly alive and this attaches itself to the smaller fat molecules which, due to their reduced size, are now able to enter the bloodstream where damage can be done. Homogenisation has been linked to the rise in hardening of the arteries and indeed xanthine oxidase has been found in areas of hardened arteries. Interestingly, this xanthine oxidase is not present in human milk, and in clean raw cows' milk does not present the same problem. Once again, a process that has marketing and money at it roots means the unaware end consumer ultimately suffers. Remember, fresh clean raw milk was drunk for centuries before such terms as pasteurisation and homogenization were heard of.

Now just looking back for a moment at the enzymes that are destroyed, or denatured, when milk is pasteurised, you need to understand that enzymes help us to digest our food. When they are not present, in this case in the milk, it makes it even harder for our bodies to handle and our pancreas has to "make up the difference", so to speak, by releasing the necessary extra enzymes. The problem is, in the case of milk, that adults in particular just do not have the necessary enzymes to properly digest the proteins etc. and this leads the problems outlined above. Enzymes really are the key to the life of our biological systems and we should therefore do all we can to support them by ensuring we intake enzyme-rich foods. This usually means including a large amount of raw food in the diet, but that is for another article.

Perhaps you are wondering about all the calcium in milk. Surely that is a good reason to drink it, after all where would we get our calcium without milk? Sadly we have been sold that lie too by the marketing professionals. Just think for a moment where the cow that produces the milk gets their calcium from. Basically, plants - grass, etc! We too can easily get all the calcium we need from vegetables, with kale, cooked collard greens and broccoli being good examples. If we find these unpleasant, then there are such as sesame seeds and figs, in moderation, which are good sources of calcium. Appropriate calcium supplements are also an option. Actually, the truth is that the calcium in whole pasteurised milk is not very well absorbed at all by the body, as milk does not contain a large amount of magnesium which helps calcium absorption, but it does contain high amounts of protein and phosphorous, which needs to be maintained in a 2:1 calcium to phosphorus ratio in the body. This creates an acidic environment that the body attempts to alkalinise by drawing calcium from the bones, if necessary, to do so. This is why milk consumption in quantity can actually cause, not prevent osteoporosis.

In the light of all the above it is amazing that people still continue to happily guzzle such a dead food and believe that it really is doing them good. But then that is effective strategic marketing for you. Perhaps you will now reconsider your view on milk instead of listening to biased industry driven views citing pasteurised milk as a major food group. I assure you that many of those TV stars sporting milk moustaches in advertising campaigns wouldn't touch it with a barge pole themselves. All of the information I have written is easily verifiable on the Internet if you would like to further your studies in this subject.

In the meantime, stay healthy.

- Paul Spencer Dip. (Clinical Nutrition)

Paul Spencer is available for one-to-one custom diet plans, advice and nutritional coaching for all individuals, including sports athletes, actors, etc. He can be contacted at nutritionist@optimalhealth.co.uk.

Disclaimer: The information contained in this article has been written for educational purposes only and can all be verified with appropriate research. Any form of diet regime being undertaken based on this information should be presented to a doctor or qualified nutritionist to ensure correct balance before commencement, particularly if there is an underlying medical condition.