DAIRY IS SCARY!

I believe dairy is scary for 3 reasons: One dairy is not good for us. I think the one thing the dairy industry has been good at is duping us into thinking this stuff is healthy for us. It’s called clever marketing at it’s very core and it works because people still think it’s healthy for them to drink. Two, the animals are treated worse than you could even imagine. There are plenty of disturbing documentaries you should watch like, Cowspiracy, Food Inc., Earthlings, etc. that show the inside workings of the animal agricultural industry. Three, the environmental impact that animal agriculture has is NOT GOOD which I explain in reason number 5. As you read through this information please don’t take my word for it but be inspired to do some research on your own and see for yourself. I listed my sources below. I need to do more research on the subject. I have made my own conclusions based on common sense and how much      better I feel now that I have been dairy free for the last 4 years of my life.

1. Dairy is Pasteurized

Pasteurization is the process at which a liquid is heated to 165 degrees or higher for killing off any bad bacteria. The problem with this is the heat is not selective because it also destroys the beneficial bacteria which is needed to help build a healthy gut and strong immune system. Unfortunately, it also destroys other beneficial nutrients in milk, like the enzyme phosphatase which helps you to be able to absorb the calcium in milk. If you can’t absorb the calcium in milk how can it be good for your bones? Pasteurization also destroys an enzyme called lipase needed by your body to help complete the breakdown of fats. Pasteurization even destroys or severely decreases vitamins B12, C and D [note]Macdonald LE¹, Brett J, Kelton D, Majowicz SE, Snedeker K, Sargeant JM. A systematic review and meta-analysis of the effects of pasteurization on milk vitamins, and evidence for raw milk consumption and other health-related outcomes. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22054181[/note]. In fact, food manufacturers will replace the vitamin D destroyed in the pasteurization process with synthetic vitamin D which is never as good as the real thing.

2. Milk Does Not Increase Bone Density

When you pasteurize milk, it kills 100% of the enzyme phosphatase contained within. This enzyme is needed by your body to absorb the Calcium in milk. So, although milk does contain calcium it is futile to say the least because your body isn’t going to absorb it. However, Raw milk contains not only an abundance of Calcium but also this vital enzyme. So, if you’re going to drink milk it is best to drink it raw. It is also important to add that countries like Australia and the US with the highest dairy consumption have the highest rates of osteoporosis. [note]How Pasteurized Dairy Destroys Your Bones From the Inside. http://www.healthy-holistic-living.com/how-pasteurized-dairy-destroys-your-bones-from-the-inside.html[/note]

3. Dairy contains “Pus”

Dairy cows are artificially inseminated at the age of about 12 months. They repeat this process again and again, so that they keep producing milk. They undergo a grueling 7 month milking process out of the 9 months that they are pregnant. They are hooked up to machine and are milked up to 4 times per day. As a result, white blood cells end up in the milk, these are called somato cells. The USDA allows a certain number of white blood cells to be present in milk. A Dairy Farmers milk must never contain more than a 750,000-somatic cell count per ml [note]Somatic Cell Count. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somatic_cell_count[/note]. Most dairy farms try to remain under this amount in effect the cows are given antibiotics to treat rBGH (Bovine Growth Hormone) induced mastitis. Mastitis is potentially deadly inflammation of the mammary gland and udder tissue. Although, “dead” somatic cells in your milk don’t negatively impact your health, it may deter us from drinking milk. Knowing that the cows are heavily loaded with antibiotics because they would get deathly sick without them should be of concern, don’t you think?

4. Hormones in Milk?

Milk contains high amounts of estrogen due to the fact that dairy cows are impregnated by artificial insemination while still secreting milk from their previous pregnancy. “Milk from pregnant cows contains far higher hormone levels than milk from nonpregnant ones – five times the estrogen during the first two months of pregnancy, according to one study, and a whopping 33 times as much estrogen as the cow gets closer to term [note]Harkinson, Josh. Turns Out Your Hormone-Free Milk is Full of Sex Hormones. April 2014. http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/04/milk-hormones-cancer-pregnant-cows-estrogen/#[/note].” A study was done on 7 men, 6 prepubertal children and 5 women where all the subjects were given dairy milk to drink. This was the outcome:

“After the intake of cow milk, serum estrone (E1) and progesterone concentrations significantly increased, and serum luteinizing hormone, follicle-stimulating hormone and testosterone significantly decreased in men. Urine concentrations of E1, estradiol, estriol and pregnanediol significantly increased in all adults and children. In four out of five women, ovulation occurred during the milk intake, and the timing of ovulation was similar among the three menstrual cycles.” [note]Maruyama K1, Oshima T, Ohyama K. Exposure to exogenous estrogen through intake of commercial milk produced from pregnant cows. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19496976[/note]

Why does this matter? Increased estrogen has been linked to the development of some cancers, including: prostate, uterine, ovarian, and breast cancer.

5. Drinking Commercial Milk Negatively Impacts the Environment

This perhaps is one of the biggest reasons one should stop supporting the Dairy Industry all together. Animal agriculture makes a huge impact on our environment. For example, a dairy facility that uses an automatic flushing system for manure can use up to 150 gallons of water per cow per day! The problem is the average dairy farm contains approx. 700 cows! Now that’s a whole lot of water used just to flush manure. For the average Dairy Farm 16,000 gallons of water are used just to hydrate the cows! And, then there is the greenhouse gas problem. A single dairy cow will approx. release up to 250-500 liters of methane gas per day and when you multiply that by 700 dairy cows (average number of cows on a farm) you get up to 350,000 liters or 325,500 lbs. of methane. The problem is methane has 100 times the heat trapping potential compared to carbon dioxide. It is also estimated that the cows release up to 27 percent of nitrous oxide as well which has 300 times more global warming potential. (6)

Plant Based Nutrition:

Almond milk is a better option to drink if you’re a person that needs their milk. It is readily available at almost all grocery stores. There is also coconut milk and cashew milk. You can also buy different non-dairy ice cream options at many grocery stores. The reality is it isn’t very hard to stop drinking milk. Cheese is a bit harder to get away from as it has more addicting properties which I will write about in another article. I hope this information has at least inspired you to think twice about having any diary products.