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.
A remarkable new study published in the International Journal of Rheumatic Diseases confirms that food is not only medicine, but sometimes superior to it. Medical researchers working out of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran, sought to investigate the effects of sesame seed supplementation on clinical signs and symptoms in patients with knee osteoarthritis.[i]
Knee osteoarthritis is a form of degenerative joint disease or degenerative arthritis localized in the knee, and causes a variety of symptoms including pain, swelling, abnormal bone growth (which can result in bone spurs), disfigured cartilage and loss of motion, and it affects as many as 12.1% of adults aged 60+, according to the CDC.[ii] Standard therapy involves the use of NSAID drugs, many of which have been linked both to internal bleeding and significantly increased risk of cardiac mortality, which is why the researchers sought out to look for "a complementary treatment to reduce complications and costs."
The study took fifty patients with osteoarthritis of the knee, and divided them into two 25-patient groups: a sesame group, receiving 40 grams/day of powdered sesame seeds, and a standard drug therapy group, receiving two 500 mg doses of Tylenol twice a day along with 500 mg of glucosamine once daily. After two months of treatment, 22 patients in the sesame intervention group and 23 patients in the control group completed the study.
Table 1
Considering that treatment was comprised of little over an ounce and one half of sesame seeds, the results were truly remarkable. As presented in Table 1 above, there was a significant difference in pain intensity between the two groups after treatment, with the sesame group seeing the largest drop from 9.5 before treatment to 3.5 after treatment, and the control group seeing a more modest drop from 9 before treatment to 7 after treatment. Additional measurements were taken using both the Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS) Questionnaire and the Timed Up and Go (TUG) Test. Both tests revealed a similar degree of positive change in both treatment and control groups, when compared to baseline. [See table 2 and table 3 below].
Table 2 [KOOS]
Table 3 [TUG]
Taken together, sesame was the clear winner. Not only was this food therapy superior in reducing the intensity of pain, but it was at least equal in effectiveness to Tylenol and glucosamine in both the KOOS and TUG tests. This, of course, was accomplished without the notorious side effects associated with Tylenol; to the contrary, sesame seed has a wide range of side benefits, which we covered recently in our article on sesame's health benefits.
So, how much is 40 grams of sesame seed? A tablespoon of sesame seeds is approximately 9 grams. So, approximately 4 tablespoons will get you to what the study found to be a 'clinical dose.' Also, the researchers powdered the sesame seeds in order to enhance digestion. Remember, it is best to do this fresh with a mortar and pestle (first choice) or coffee grinder, also making sure that your seeds are raw, certified organic, and vetted to have not undergone gamma irradiation.
To truly appreciate the significance of this study, take a look at the growing body of toxicological research indicating that the unintended, adverse health effects of Tylenol (acetaminophen) far outweigh its purported benefits. We recently featured articles on the fact that even only occasional use of Tylenol may raise a child's asthma risk 540%, and that it may be time for the FDA to remove it from the market.
For additional research on natural and/or integrative interventions for knee osteoarthritis visit our research page on the topic: knee osteoarthritis.
[i] Bina Eftekhar Sadat, Mahdieh Khadem Haghighian, Beitollah Alipoor, Aida Malek Mahdavi, Mohammad Asghari Jafarabadi, Abdolvahab Moghaddam. Effects of sesame seed supplementation on clinical signs and symptoms in patients with knee osteoarthritis.
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.
