Milk now bad for you??

[anunitu]

Well,in some ways everything is bad for you...to much water will kill you too,BUT, according to the latest science,Milk gonna kill you dead.

http://www.bustle.com/articles/47098...ng-you-know-is

[volcaniclastic]

Re: Milk now bad for you??

Yeah dude. Milk is disgusting.

[Hawkfeathers]

Re: Milk now bad for you??

Never touch the stuff myself. I mean, sometimes it may be an ingredient in something, but I never add it to coffee or drink it alone.

[DanieMarie]

Re: Milk now bad for you??

Sorry, but still not buying it. How long have we been drinking milk and using it in cooking? Average life expectancy has gone up in most of the developed world and most people have not stopped drinking milk.

Either way, I don't have much of a choice. I'm crazy allergic to soy and that's the only affordable milk alternative here. It's also the only one used in baked goods and stuff like that. So milk it is. I'll die a lot sooner if I eat soy (of anaphylaxis).

[anubisa]

Re: Milk now bad for you??

I'm sorry, i've been drinking milk since I was little. I'm not stopping.

[Heka]

My issue with cow milk is more about the cows... than the milk...

[Ophidia]

Re: Milk now bad for you??

I admit, I eat some dairy (like ice cream & I use real butter), and I have to have half/half for my coffee.

Overall, though, I'm weirded out about the whole industry of drinking another animal's breast milk. Why have we developed this particular dietary habit? Milk is food for infants, which is why galactose & lactose in general are problematic. For the most part, we're meant to lose the enzymes that allow us to digest the sugars & proteins in milk as we mature. Lactose-intolerance isn't a 'disease', it's a natural part of getting teeth & eating real food. At a certain point, mothers in the wild will wean their offspring, & you don't see them tolerating other adults lining up at the boob buffet.

I think modern humans probably have varied enough food sources that drinking milk isn't necessary, but I don't think it's dangerous, either. It's just weird.

[DanieMarie]

[MoonRaven]

Re: Milk now bad for you??

I don't have time to comment in depth and I've only skimmed the article in BMJ (I skipped the linked to article entirely, I never trust media to report scientific findings accurately anyway and would likely be waiting my time)
First of what annunitu said about sugar. Sugar is a family of chemical compounds with certain common denominators, this study only mentions one sugar as far as I can tell, namely galactose. It says nothing about fructose, sucrose or any of the rest. So said that sugars are bad for you is something of a leap, it says that one specific form of sugar might be bad for you.
The might in the last sentence leads me to my second problem. This study says absolutely nothing about causality, i.e. that it is the galactose that causes the problems, only that there appears to be a correlation between galactose and the increase of diabetes and cardiovascular diseases, i.e. that people who dirk more milk gets these diseases more often that those with low intake of milk. It further goes on to point out that the correlation between milk intake and bone fractures is unclear.

Finally, I am not fully understanding why animal tests are all that relevant in this article since homo sapiens has always been an odd species that we can still drink milk as adults without getting sick, most other species can't. In fact it's mostly only Caucasians that can have an intake of unfermented milk without detrimental consequences (yes, White people are genetic freaks when it comes to this.).

I'll give more in depth comments on this when I've had time to read the study in depths, but these are my initial thoughts on all of this brouhaha.

[Ophidia]

Re: Milk now bad for you??

Well, our food sources were only varied in relatively recent history, and in a lot of the developed world, it's not as varied as you'd think.

Ok, Danie, your diet may not be varied because you can't eat everything available. But I'm talking about for the average can-eat-stuff human, not just you specifically >.<

Don't they sell vegetables in Europe? No leafy greens, like collards, spinach, kale or bok choy (all rich in calcium)? How about fortified orange juice? Sunflower or pumpkin seeds?

To break it down:

Whole milk has 360mg -/+ potassium per 8oz serving. 1 cup of cooked white beans or lima beans have about 1000mg. Most beans have at least 500mg potassium per 1 cup serving. Spinach, chard, kale & collards range from 500 - 900mg per 1 cup. A baked potato w/the skin has the same. So does acorn squash (without the skin). 3 oz of salmon, cod or halibut has about 500mg.

8oz whole milk has 8g of protein. Not real high on the protein content, but it is a complete protein. Quinoa has the same amount, plus iron, magnesium & fiber. Buckwheat has 6g per 8oz serving. Hemp seed has a whopping 10g of complete protein in 2 tbs, & chia seeds have 4g per 2 tbs.

Yes, dairy is the calcium powerhouse. But, 2 tbs of blackstrap molasses has about 350mg of calcium - whole milk has 300 in 8oz. Molasses also has a little calcium, vitamin B6, iron, potassium & magnesium in it. 4 sardines gets you about 250mg of calcium.

If you're pure vegan, you are pretty much screwed in the B12 department unless you eat fortified vegan products or use supplements. Sunflower seeds, prunes, bananas & avocados all have more B6 than milk.

So yeah, there's a lot of stuff out there that is a decent alternative to milk, at least here in the US. All the things I've listed can be bought for relatively little money (except the seafood) at almost any grocery store. I'd probably have to go to a health food store for the hemp seeds, but they put chia in all kinds of stuff now.

[anunitu]

Re: Milk now bad for you??

speaking of Black strap Molasses,that I would drink in a glass of whole milk...I much preferred this as a kid over chocolate milk...

[DanieMarie]

Re: Milk now bad for you??

I can't speak for the rest of Europe, but Germany doesn't have a lot of fortified products in general. Orange juice is just juice from oranges, etc.

Also, calcium isn't the only benefit of milk. On top of that, I never said that you could not possibly be healthy without milk...I just said it's harder to go dairy free in a lot of Europe.

And by that, I didn't just mean that it's hard to just give up milk, cheese, and other dairy products. Because dairy is so, so pervasive in European cuisine, it's in a whackton of other stuff as well. Like, a strong majority of baked goods, for example. Once again, that's not to say you can't avoid it, but doing so is pretty limiting. Either you have to eat a very, very basic diet, or you have to buy some pretty expensive vegan foods. Same goes for gluten free foods (and I know this isn't about gluten, but it's a fair comparison). I have a close friend with a really bad gluten intolerance (like, in bed for a week bad) and eating is a real challenge for him. Luckily, he has the budget for alternatives, but I think he spends a lot more money on food than I ever could. Personally (and I never said this goes for everyone), my diet is already limited and my budget is low, so I'll keep on eating dairy. We've been eating dairy on this side of the world for long enough that I can't see any reason not to, so long as the farming practices are sustainable (my budget does allow me that).

[MoonRaven]

Re: Milk now bad for you??

Don't they sell vegetables in Europe? No leafy greens, like collards, spinach, kale or bok choy (all rich in calcium)? How about fortified orange juice? Sunflower or pumpkin seeds?

Now I can't speak for Germany but in Denmark sunflower seeds are only sold as luxury item and expensive as hell, pumpkin seeds you only get if you buy a whole pumpkin, which is only available in the week up to Halloween. (A holiday the stores try to cram down our throats despite it having no roots in Denmark.)
Spinach I know, but what in the name of the name of all gods are the rest of them :=S: And fortified products are almost unknown in most part of Europe. Breakfast cereal is the exception to the rule here and a very few others, but otherwise fortifying products is a big no-no here.

No, getting calcium in another way than milk is difficult in (Nothern) Europe, not really sure about Southern Europe though, particularly if you're a vegan. This is why doctors and other medical staff generally will discourage anyone who wants to go fully vegan before they're 18 yo or so, up here. Getting your nutrients is simply far too difficult. (And if you have allergies, forget about it)

[thalassa]

Re: Milk now bad for you??

Correlation is not causation, mice are not men, what we eat is mostly about our gut bacteria anyhow, and I love yogurt and cottage cheese.

'Nuff said.

[MoonRaven]

Re: Milk now bad for you??

Correlation is not causation, mice are not men, what we eat is mostly about our gut bacteria anyhow, and I love yogurt and cottage cheese.

'Nuff said.

^Basically this. Only more brief and eloquent than I could have said it.