Appendices, Article: Dairy’s Dark Side

Appendices, Article: Dairy’s Dark Side

What could be more healthful than a glass of milk? It’s got to be good for you; after all it’s babies’ first food! But it matters what kind of milk: The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that infants under a year old not receive any milk other than human milk. It also matters whether one is nursing: All other species stop drinking milk after infancy. Maybe nature has good reasons for getting animals off milk.

What is it about milk and cheese that promotes cancer? Growth hormones that survive pasteurization and digestive acids, protected within micro-globules of fat produced by homogenization. The hormones are made naturally in cows, and are present even in organic milk from cows that haven’t been injected with artificial hormones. What are growth hormones supposed to do? Make calves grow fast. In us, the excess hormones stimulate the growth of cancer cells, especially of the reproductive system, including the ovaries, breasts, and prostate, where hormones naturally have a strong effect. The growth hormones get concentrated 10 to 1 in cheese over milk. It’s also been shown that animal protein in general stimulates our production of growth hormones.

What else about animal-based foods promotes cancer? The protein has been shown to increase the growth and reproduction of cancer cells. After dosage with the carcinogen aflatoxin, rats fed milk protein as 20% of their calories experienced tumor growth. The same rats reabsorbed tumors after the protein was reduced to 5%. When the protein was increased to 20% again, the tumors grew. When the protein was decreased to 5% the tumors shrank. In other words, cancer was turned on by feeding animal protein at a level similar to that in the conventional American diet, then turned off by reducing it, then turned on again by increasing it, off by reducing it. [A free transcript of six hours of interviews with the researcher who discovered this hazard of excessive animal protein (T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D., co-author of China Study) is available linked from SylvesterJohnson.com.]

What could be the cause of some cases of type I diabetes? It might well be the milk protein particle (peptide) that the body thinks is part of the pancreas. However the peptide is just a little strange since it’s from another species, so the immune system starts attacking not only the dairy peptide but also the pancreas. A similar mechanism could possibly cause other autoimmune diseases than type I diabetes. Even rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, and multiple sclerosis may be linked to dairy. Perhaps again autoimmune reactions take place, triggered by dairy peptides (protein particles) that resemble human peptides.

Allergies to milk products may manifest not only as congestion, mucus production, rashes, respiratory and/or gastrointestinal disorders, but also as hyperactivity, irritability, chronic fatigue, anxiety, and/or depression.

Got milk? Got earaches? Just as a milky film gets deposited on even smooth glass, so does a film remain on the throat. If the head gets tilted back while drinking milk, the film can make its way into the inner ear, creating a moist nutrient ambient for the growth of pathogens, with a resultant earache. If the film gets into the nose or lungs, it can make any symptoms worse.

The Dairy Council doesn’t mention in its advertising that the top dairy countries suffer the highest rates of hip fractures and breast cancer. Despite the calcium content of milk and its products, dairy’s acid-forming protein can cause alkaline calcium phosphate to get leached from bones to counter the acid formed during metabolism of the protein. But the stomach fluid is acidic anyway, so how could dairy acid cause a problem? The stomach is the only place the body wants to be acidic. The body gives high priority to keeping the rest alkaline. So when animal protein with its high sulfur content gets changed into acids during metabolism, calcium phosphate gets leached from bones, resulting in negative calcium balance, worsening risk of osteoporosis.

Why do health professionals advise drinking milk? Many doctors as well as nutritionists sincerely believe that the calcium and vitamin D in milk feed stronger bones. But the Physicians’ Committee for Responsible Medicine recommends avoiding all dairy products, instead getting calcium from leafy greens and beans.

As well as secreting milk, the udders often infected with painful mastitis ooze pus that gets mixed with the milk from thousands of other cows. By US federal law, Grade A milk is allowed to have over a drop of pus per glass, concentrated 10 to 1 in cheese over milk.

Milk protein, a.k.a. casein, is one of the strongest natural glues. Casein is a major ingredient in many “Soy” cheeses. How much longer does it take to digest food that’s been glued together? Got milk? Get Tums!

The book Breaking the Food Seduction by Neil D. Barnard, MD shows how to escape the trap of addictive foods such as cheese, sugar and chocolate with a chapter focused on how hormone fluctuations set you up for bingeing, as well as several chapters on the biochemical reasons for the addictive potential of various foods.

It may seem like I’ve been scaremongering, but the effects of milk, cheese and butter are just plain scary. And the advantages of dropping dairy include becoming more “fleet of foot”: Since I let go of dairy I’ve lost over 50 pounds, largely due to cutting out the extra calories from the dairy habit. Plus my cholesterol plummeted, as has also been shown in groups.

Milk products first became part of American tradition due to the practicality of cheese and butter for storing calories during the winter. Tragically, these products that proved so useful for the short-term survival of the pioneers have been shown to be harmful to human health over the longer term, not only promoting cancer and heart disease, but also INCREASING the risk of osteoporosis. Mother nature does indeed have good reasons for weaning animals from milk after infancy.