Author: Laura Lewitzky Is it possible that your house is a lethal enemy to your health? Strangely enough, there is one common substance that people have in their home at all times and it can do more harm than good.
Even though it has been stated that milk is harmful for children to consume, this beverage still remains popular. Consuming pasteurized milk can be extremely dangerous, although the dairy industry keeps reassuring us in the quite opposite. This has caused a major revolt in scientists and researchers who decided to do something about it.
Recently, a mass study of thousands of Swedish people has shown that cow’s milk has a degenerating effect on health if it is consumed constantly. The same research was published and it has discovered this effect in 61,433 women at the age from 39-74 in a 20 year time, and in 45,339 men of similar age in an 11 year time. What they discovered was that the consumption of cow’s milk can cause bone fracture or even lead to an early death.
Women who consumed 3 or more glasses of milk on a daily basis have subjected themselves to a double risk of dying prematurely, unlike women who only consumed one glass a day. One glass of milk is an approximate 200ml (6.7 oz) serving and it has a 16 percent high chance of causing one bone fracture.
Milk pasteurization results in creating calcium carbonate, which needs a chelating agent to approach the cells. This way, the body extracts the calcium from the bones and calcium carbonate is insulated. This process leads to osteoporosis.
All pasteurized dairy products contain very little, almost no magnesium which is essential for the suitable calcium absorption. The minimum amount of calcium to magnesium ratio should be 2 to 1 and ideally 1 to 1. Whenever the ratio of these two is 10 to 1, the milk faces a problem.
The human skeleton contains over 99 percent of the total body calcium, where mechanical severity is provided. Pasteurized dairy products reduce calcium intake more than usual and the skeleton performs as a reserve system. If the skeletal calcium is overused, this results in osteoporosis.
The general belief is that dairy is beneficial for the bones and teeth, and because of that we were taught to consume it regularly, as our parents did before us. That is why Americans have one of the highest risks of osteoporosis in the world alongside people from the U.S., Canada, Norway, Sweden, Australia, and New Zealand, who have the highest rates of osteoporosis.
Milk pasteurization is tested via negative alpha phosphatase test. Enzyme phosphatase is completely destroyed when milk has been heated to 165 degrees and when the pasteurization is complete. The dangerous thing about this enzyme is that it absorbs the calcium-rich minerals. Phosphatase is considered as the third most profuse enzyme found in raw milk; this shall mean that people who consume raw milk are more exposed to bone solidity than others.
Insulin is, actually, a growth hormone found in pasteurized milk and is also known as Growth Factor One (IGF-1). The same hormone is known to feed and encourage cancer cells. IGF-1 is found in all milk and it is the main reason for the increased growth and generation of breast, prostate and colon cancers. According to some studies, one pint of dairy elevates the IGF-1 levels and it can cause a 10 percent increase in postmenopausal women who consume 3 servings of milk a day.
People continue to consume milk due to the belief that pasteurization makes it healthier. However, when milk is heated it actually destroys many useful bacteria which destroy the dirt, pus, and dirty dairy practices. Dairy factories usually use heat ranging from 100-175 degrees during this process. Evidences show that 44 percent of 125 pasteurized milk samples contained as many as 2200 harmful organisms per cubic cm.
If bodybuilders and others are turning to it as a natural supplement and superfood, is it time to start regulating the sale of breast milk?
“Are you actually going to drink that?” I asked as I sat in my north London flat watching my friend dangle a plastic zipper bag of human breast milk in front of me.
My friend was enthusiastic about the prospect of drinking the milk, as he explained: “[The breast milk supplier] has now started bringing milk to my work. It helps me sleep. I’m just experimenting on myself the way I have always done.”
Then he did it. He downed a pint of human breast milk in one.
The breast milk boom
Only The Breast (OTB), dubbed the “Craigslist of breastmilk”, is the site my friend purchased his milk from. Set up in 2009 by couple Glenn and Chelly Snow, it bills itself as a community facilitating the market exchange of breast milk between willing participants. Since its launch the business has received considerable traction and has expanded from the US into Europe.
OTB was primarily created to enable mothers to sell excess breast milk affordably to other mothers who are unable to breastfeed. Buying milk from long-established milk banks in the US is costly and OTB linked mothers with excess milk with those in need of it.
However, it seems that altruism isn’t the only motivation of sellers on OTB. In the US some mothers claim to make $20,000 (£13,000) a year from the sale of their breast milk. At the time of writing, selling listings reveal no mothers in the UK are willing to donate their milk for free to other mothers, but 31 are willing to sell their milk to men.
Breast milk, it turns out, has something of a reputation as a superfood within bodybuilding circles for building muscle and maintaining strength. It contains metabolic fuelsand the raw materials needed to aid tissue growth and development, such as fatty acids, amino acids and minerals.
In a world rife with supplements, some consider breast milk just another if not more natural way to build muscle. As my friend said: “I don’t believe in supplements, but what is more natural than a mother’s breast milk?”
An opportunity for entrepreneurial mums
Breast milk is classified as a food by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) and is not, in theory, illegal to buy or sell. However, there have been few attempts to sell it to the public and its sale banned on Ebay and Craigslist.
In 2011 the Covent Garden restaurant TheIce Creamists launched an ice-cream made with breastmilk called “Baby Gaga”. It was an instant hit, selling out before lunch on the day after going on sale.However, despite the milk being screened for diseases and pasteurised, Westminster council confiscated the ice-cream over health and safety concerns.
So just how popular is breast milk in the UK? I spoke with Miriam (not her real name), a mother who sells breast milk through OTB. She told me she makes about £100 per week and is quite selective about who she sells to. “I absolutely encourage people to drink it for the health benefits,” she said. Despite the health benefits claimed by breast milk advocates, however, sellers aren’t required to take any medical tests and there is a small chance of breast milk carrying sexually transmitted diseases.
In the milk market more generally, an increasing number of consumers are choosing to ditch dairy as part of a movement towards more plant-based foods, with plant-based milk sales up 155% between 2011 and 2013. Equally, as animal welfare concerns become more prevalent, some are questioning the ethics of large-scale dairy production.
If regulated and sold to the public, Miriam believes it would “help reduce the stigma around breast milk and eventually encourage women to breastfeed in public without fear”. This issue was thrown into the limelight in December when Louise Burns was asked to cover up while feeding her 12-week-old baby in London’s luxury hotel Claridge’s.
Is breast best, or just weird?
While some people swear by it and there have even been reports of people turning to breast milk toease the effects of chemotherapy, the effects of drinking it aren’t entirely clear.Advocates like my friend believe breast milk is the most natural thing on the planet. However, there is no escaping the darker side of the breast milk black market. As Miriam explained: “Most of the men who contact me want to drink milk directly from my breast, which I am against”. A quick glance at the OTB website reveals men offering £20 to be fed from directly from the breast.
Although there is nothing in the food hygiene regulations specifically prohibiting the sale or supply as food of human breast milk, a spokesperson for FSA said it would advise against anyone buying and consuming human breast milk. “A food business supplying or selling human breast milk would be required to prove the milk had been collected and handled hygienically and the product was free from harmful viruses and bacteria. The FSA’s view is that it would be very difficult for a food business to demonstrate the safety of such a product.”
Maybe breast milk is just the latest superfood fad targeted at those wanting to get that little bit extra out of their body and mind in a culture where people are always seeking a competitive edge. Or perhaps the rising popularity of drinking breast milk is a symptom of a societal shift away from dairy produced by other species.
Perhaps in 10 years we will see regulated breast milk readily for sale in supermarkets as society becomes more open-minded. It might remain a fringe activity or it could become a regular thing that mothers do to generate extra income during maternity leave.
In the meantime, the “breast milk men” will continue to meet mothers on street corners, in pubs and outside train stations in the search of their next fix.
The food hub is funded by The Irish Food Board. All content is editorially independent except for pieces labelled ‘brought to you by’. Find out more here.
The foods we eat can have a major impact on how we look—and I’m not just talking about how well we fit into our skinny jeans. For a dewy, gorgeous complexion, you’re going to want to watch your intake of certain munchies. But here’s the good news: Not all foods known for wreaking havoc on your skin actually deserve their bad reputations. And some foods that have stellar health points aren’t always the best for your face. Here, the truth about foods and your skin—and how to keep that gorgeous, glowy look for good.
MYTH: Chocolate leads to zits and acne FACT: Not necessarily true. Pure chocolate contains a bevy of skin-beautifying antioxidants and feel-good compounds. However, chocolate that’s loaded with sugar and dairy can trigger a skin freakout. Takeaway: Indulge in dark chocolate with a higher percentage of cocoa and less sugar to treat your skin and body right. And less is more – enjoy a bite or two, not boatload.
MYTH: Fatty foods = ruddy, blotchy skin FACT: We all know that not all fats are created equal, and it’s especially true when it comes to keeping skin clear and radiant. Nuts and seeds, olive oil and avocado are loaded with skin-beneficial oils and antioxidants like Vitamin E. That heaping plate of fries? Not so much. While saturated fat has been known to make skin angry, experts say that fat is less of a troublemaker for skin than processed foods (especially processed carbs) and sugars. Takeaway: Opt for plant-based oils in their fresh form, and forgo saturated fat and the processed and fried stuff.
MYTH: Dairy ALWAYS does a body good FACT: Milk and dairy are a great source of calcium, protein and Vitamin D, right? Yes, but dairy may also be a doozie for your skin. Some skincare experts say that components in milk that are related to testosterone hormones can cause oil glands to go into overdrive, setting the stage for skin upset. Takeaway: If you’re having trouble with your complexion, try switching to non-dairy options like almond milk, hemp milk and soy milk as a nutrient-rich alternative to dairy. Or try goat and sheep dairy cheeses instead of cow dairy, which some say has less of an effect on skin.
MYTH: Caffeine leads to breakouts FACT: The claim that caffeine causes acne and breakouts may have more bark than bite. Some experts say it doesn’t directly cause acne, but may aggravate existing conditions. But caffeine has its benefits too. Many caffeine-laden drinks, like coffee and black and green tea, are also loaded with antioxidants that can help defend skin from damage, particularly from the sun. Takeaway: Drink caffeine in moderation to avoid messing with your beauty sleep (hello, undereye circles), and be sure to drink plenty of water to counteract the dehydrating effects of caffeinated drinks.
MYTH: Natural sweeteners aren’t as bad as refined sugars for the skin FACT: Sugar is sugar (for the most part). And sugar has inflammatory effects, especially for the skin. Anything that spurs a blood sugar spike causes inflammation and accelerated aging. While some natural sweeteners don’t meddle with blood sugar status quo as much as straight up sugar, the fact is that most things that taste sweet are pretty high on the glycemic index and trigger skin-damaging effects. Takeaway: Keep sugar (in any form) to a minimum. Opt for natural sweeteners like agave and honey, which are sweeter than sugar so you need less to satisfy your taste buds; or maple syrup, which is loaded with minerals and anti-inflammatory compounds to counter it’s sugary impacts.
Almost no one will dispute that when a baby is born, breast milk is the best nutrition a mother can provide. All mammals nurse their young, and breast milk benefits a newborn infant in ways above and beyond nutrition. In fact, until 1 to 2 years of age, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the World Health Organization, the Institute of Medicine and more promote breast-feeding as optimal.
Unfortunately, breast-feeding until that age is often difficult, if not impossible, because mothers have to return to work, and children go off to preschool or day care. So we often replace human milk with the milk of cows or other animals. But at a certain point, we have to acknowledge that we are the only mammals on the planet that continue to consume milk after childhood, often in great amounts.
More and more evidence is surfacing, however, that milk consumption may not only be unhelpful, it might also be detrimental. This is in spite of the fact that the United States Department of Agriculture and other organizations advocate that even adults should drink at least three cups a day.
More than 10,000 years ago, when human beings began to domesticate animals, no adults or older children consumed milk. Many people don’t drink it today because they are lactose intolerant. They do just fine.
But if you believe the advertising of the dairy industry, and the recommendations of many scientific bodies, they are missing out on some fantastic benefits to milk consumption: that milk is good for bones, contains calcium and vitamin D, and “does a body good.”
There’s not a lot of evidence for these types of claims. In 2011, The Journal of Bone and Mineral Research published a meta-analysis examining whether milk consumption might protect against hip fracture in middle-aged and older adults. Six studies containing almost 200,000 women could find no association between drinking milk and lower rates of fractures.
More recent research confirms these findings. A study published in JAMA Pediatrics this year followed almost 100,000 men and women for more than two decades. Subjects were asked to report on how much milk they had consumed as teenagers, and then they were followed to see if that was associated with a reduced chance of hip fractures later in life. It wasn’t.
A just-released study in The BMJ that followed more than 45,000 men and 61,000 women in Sweden age 39 and older had similar results. Milk consumption as adults was associated with no protection for men, and an increased risk of fractures in women. It was also associated with an increased risk of death in both sexes.
This wasn’t a randomized controlled trial, and no one should assume causality here. But there’s no association with benefits, and a significant association with harms.
Even studies that examine the nutrients in milk, trying to look for protective effects, often come up short. A 2007 meta-analysis in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition examined high-quality studies of how calcium intake was related to fractures. The many studies of more than 200,000 people age 34 to 79 could find no link between total calcium intake and the risk of bone fractures.
In the United States, milk is often fortified with vitamin D, which many believe also lends the drink bone-friendly properties. But the evidence behind this assumption is sketchy as well. It is true that vitamin D is necessary for calcium absorption, and for bone health, but that doesn’t mean that most people need to consume more. A meta-analysis published this year in The Lancet examined the effect of vitamin D supplementation on bone mineral density in middle-aged and older adults. It found that, for the most part, consuming extra vitamin D did not improve the bones of the spine, hip or forearm. It did result in a statistically significant, but less clinically meaningful, increase in bone density at the top of the thighbone. Taken as a whole, however, vitamin D had no effect on overall total body bone mineral density.None of this should be taken to mean that people with actual vitamin D or calcium deficiencies shouldn’t be treated by supplementation. They absolutely should. But the majority of people in the United States are not clinically deficient in these nutrients, and that’s whom milk is pitched to.
In addition, milk is not a low-calorie beverage. Even if people drink nonfat milk, three cups a day can mean an additional 250 calories consumed. Low-fat or whole milk has even more calories. In an era when every other caloric beverage is being marginalized because of obesity concerns, it’s odd that milk continues to get a pass.
Yes, it’s full of protein. Most Americans aren’t protein deficient, though. Even people who avoid animal milk are worried they’re missing something. Rather than acknowledge that they get along just fine without it, many seek out “milk” substitutes, like soy milk, around which whole industries have been built.
Politics are certainly at play here. Organizations like Dairy Management Inc., a nonprofit organization created by the United States government in 1994, exist to “increase dairy consumption.” Dairy Management created the popular “Got Milk?” campaign. Today, the vast majority of Dairy Management’s funding for its marketing strategies comes from the producers themselves. The U.S.D.A.'s role in promoting dairy was firmly established in the 1983 Dairy Production and Stabilization Act, which made it the business of the government to carry out a “coordinated program of promotion designed to strengthen the dairy industry’s position in the marketplace and to maintain and expand domestic and foreign markets and uses for fluid milk and dairy products.”
As I tell patients, almost everything is perfectly good in moderation, milk included. What else would you put on cereal? Cookies without milk would be unthinkable. There’s nothing wrong with a periodic glass because you like it. But there’s very little evidence that most adults need it. There’s also very little evidence that it’s doing them much good.
ByVivian Goldschmidt, MA
Did you know that in Medieval England parents would tie rabbits’ feet around their babies’ necks to ward off illness? Doctors would also spit on wounds because saliva was believed to have healing properties.
Indeed, history is replete with unfounded health beliefs, and to everyone’s detriment, the milk myth is among the most tenacious.
Milk is much more than just a drink; it’s a cultural phenomenon that can be traced back thousands of years. And still today, the milk myth resonates loud and clear: in 2001, the average American child consumed 104 quarts of cow’s milk.
Milk depletes the calcium from your bones
The milk myth has spread around the world based on the flawed belief that this protein and calcium-rich drink is essential to support good overall health and bone health in particular at any age. It is easy to understand that the confusion about milk’s imaginary benefits stems from the fact that it contains calcium – around 300 mg per cup.
But many scientific studies have shown an assortment of detrimental health effects directly linked to milk consumption. And the most surprising link is that not only do we barely absorb the calcium in cow’s milk (especially if pasteurized), but to make matters worse, it actually increases calcium loss from the bones. What an irony this is!
Here’s how it happens. Like all animal protein, milk acidifies the body pH which in turn triggers a biological correction. You see, calcium is an excellent acid neutralizer and the biggest storage of calcium in the body is – you guessed it… in the bones. So the very same calcium that our bones need to stay strong is utilized to neutralize the acidifying effect of milk. Once calcium is pulled out of the bones, it leaves the body via the urine, so that the surprising net result after this is an actual calcium deficit.
Knowing this, you’ll understand why statistics show that countries with the lowest consumption of dairy products also have the lowest fracture incidence in their population (there’s more on this later).
Cow’s milk is custom-designed for calves
Thanks to our creative ingenuity and perhaps related to our ancient survival needs, we adopted the dubious habit of drinking another species’ milk. Nobody can dispute that cow’s milk is an excellent food source for calves. Weighing around 100 pounds at birth, a calf typically gains approximately eight times its weight by the time it is weaned. But unlike humans, once calves are weaned, they never drink milk again. And the same applies to every mammalian species on this planet.
Also, each mammalian species has its own “designer” milk, and cow’s milk is no exception. For example, cow’s milk contains on average three times the amount of protein than human milk which creates metabolic disturbances in humans that have detrimental bone health consequences.
It’s important to bear in mind that mother’s milk is excellent nourishment for human babies, but its composition is very different from cow’s milk.
Scientific studies show that milk increases fracture risk
Many scientific studies contradict the conventional wisdom that milk and dairy consumption help reduce osteoporotic fractures. Surprisingly, studies demonstrating that milk and dairy products actually fail to protect bones from fractures outnumber studies that prove otherwise. Even drinking milk from a young age does not protect against future fracture risk but actually increases it. Shattering the “savings account” calcium theory, Cumming and Klineberg report their study findings as follows:
“Consumption of dairy products, particularly at age 20 years, was associated with an increased risk of hip fracture in old age. (“Case-Control Study of Risk Factors for Hip Fractures in the Elderly”. American Journal of Epidemiology. Vol. 139, No. 5, 1994).
And the 12 year long Harvard Nurses’ Health Study found that those who consumed the most calcium from dairy foods broke more bones than those who rarely drank milk. This is a broad study based on 77,761 women aged 34 through 59 years of age.
In the authors’ own words:
“These data do not support the hypothesis that higher consumption of milk or other food sources of calcium by adult women protects against hip or forearm fractures.” (Source: Feskanich D, Willett WC, Stampfer MJ, Colditz GA. Milk, dietary calcium, and bone fractures in women: a 12-year prospective study. American Journal of Public Health. 1997).
Shocking statistics ignored by mainstream medicine
In the Save Our Bones Program one of the topics I discuss is the complete disregard of scientific evidence that discredits milk and dairy products as the best source of calcium.
One exception is Amy Lanou Ph.D., nutrition director for the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine in Washington, D.C., who states that:
“The countries with the highest rates of osteoporosis are the ones where people drink the most milk and have the most calcium in their diets. The connection between calcium consumption and bone health is actually very weak, and the connection between dairy consumption and bone health is almost nonexistent.”
Milk is an acidifying animal protein
Like any other animal derived protein-rich food, milk has a positive potential renal acid load (PRAL) which triggers a protective biological reaction to neutralize all the damaging acidic protein before it reaches the kidneys.
The body is designed for survival, so it sacrifices bone density to protect the kidneys and urinary tract because the latter are essential to survival. And the most readily available source of acid neutralizer is in the bones. So even though milk contains calcium, it ends up sapping your bones of that crucial mineral. But that’s not all because…
Today’s milk is a processed food
Until the end of the 19th century in Europe and the beginning of the 20th century in the US, milk was consumed unpasteurized or raw. Later on, homogenization became the industry’s standard. These processes further alter milk’s chemistry and actually increase its detrimental acidifying effects.
Raw milk advocates claim that if cow’s milk is left “as is” it is a healthy and wholesome drink. It is true that raw milk is less acidifying than processed milk and that pasteurization and homogenization may cause a long list of digestive and other health problems, but I still don’t recommend drinking any kind of cow’s milk.
Nowadays, milking cows are given antibiotics and most are also injected with a genetically engineered form of bovine growth hormone (rBGH). A man-made or synthetic hormone used to artificially increase milk production, rBGH also increases blood levels of the insulin-growth factor 1 (IGF-1) in those who drink it. And higher levels of IGF-1 are linked to several cancers.
This should not be ignored, especially in view of recent information by Samuel Epstein, MD, Professor of Environmental Medicine at the University of Illinois School of Public Health, and Chairman of the Cancer Prevention Coalition. In an article titled “Monsanto’s Hormonal Milk Poses Serious Risks of Breast Cancer, Besides Other Cancers” (http://www.preventcancer.com/press/releases/july8_98.htm, June 21, 1998) Dr. Epstein concludes that:
“Drinking rBGH milk would thus be expected to significantly increase IGF-1 blood levels and consequently to increase risks of developing breast cancer and promoting its invasiveness.”
Even though organic milk is from cows that are not given antibiotics or rBHG, if you truly care about your bone health and your overall health, you should…
Avoid drinking cow’s milk
But first, I’d like to clarify that unsweetened fermented or cultured dairy products such as yogurt, kefir, and sour cream are acid neutral. Yogurt in particular is chock-full of beneficial qualities. As is the case with milk, organic yogurt does not have rBGH, but even several of the most well-known yogurt brands have stopped using the bovine growth hormone (rBGH). You should call your favorite yogurt company to confirm. One more clarification: when I say unsweetened I mean without sugar or any artificial sweetener. However, you can add honey or stevia, a zero calorie plant-derived sweetener that is delicious and alkalizing as well. I like to carry around stevia packets in my purse so that I’m always able to sweeten food or drinks when I’m on the go.
The best milk substitutes
My favorite milk substitute is unsweetened almond milk, not only because it is alkalizing (as almonds are), but also because it’s delicious and tastes very similar to milk. I even cook with it! http://saveourbones.com/osteoporosis-milk-myth/
Despite its pure, innocent, and creamy exterior, milk has a much darker side and one that the dairy industry doesn’t want you finding out about.
Milk is much more than just a drink, it is a cultural phenomenon that can be traced back thousands of years, but despite all the research proving milk to be detrimental to both our own lives and the lives of the cows, the milk myths still ring loud and clear.
Myth 1 – You Need Cow’s Milk to Get Calcium
Like it or not, milk is not the best source of calcium. It may be hard to believe but the calcium contained in cow’s milk is barely absorbable to the human body.
Thankfully, a milk-free diet won’t leave you deprived of calcium. The most calcium-rich foods on the planet comes from plants, especially leafy greens such as kale, spinach, and broccoli.
Myth 2 – Cow’s Milk Will Give You Strong Bones
Much along the same lines as we need cow’s milk to get calcium, we are also told that cow’s milk is how we get nice, strong, and healthy bones. Unfortunately, this couldn’t be further from the truth. In fact, this ridiculous myth is so dangerous that I can’t believe marketers are allowed to get away with it.
Research has proven that milk actually depletes calcium from our bones and increases fracture risk, which is why the countries with the highest rate of osteoporosis are the ones where people drink the most milk!
Myth 3 – Cow’s Milk Isn’t Cruel
No amount of cute celebrities sporting milk moustaches can hide from the ugly side of the dairy industry. Calves are taken away from their mothers within hours of being born where they are fed milk substitutes and often sold as veal calves after spending months chained at the neck unable to walk, stretch their legs, and even turn around.
Mother cows are also forced to endure needless suffering and cruelty. The stress caused by poor conditions on factory farms leads to lameness, disease, and reproductive problems rendering them useless at just 4-5 years old (their natural lifespan is 25 years) at which time they are sent to slaughter.
Myth 4 – Cows Need to be Milked
For some reason, the whole world is walking around under the illusion that cows need to be milked otherwise their udders will explode, in other words by milking them we are actually doing them a favor. This myth is a downright lie.
Cows only produce milk to feed their young. If they don’t have babies, they don’t make milk. Simple. To keep cows lactating, farmers impregnate them through artificial insemination once a year. This traumatic process is carried out by constraining cows in what is known by the industry as a “rape rack.”
Myth 5 – Cow’s Milk is for Humans
No one can dispute that cow’s milk is an excellent food source…for calves. This incredible food is essential to baby calves in their first few months of life, but once weaned they will never drink milk again, and that’s the same for every mammalian species on the planet. Which is why it makes no sense for us humans to be drinking it.
As if that’s not reason enough, cow’s milk contains an average of three times the amount of protein than human milk, contributing to a variety of illness and disease. That might be the incentive you need to help you ditch the dairy.
