Raw Cow’s Milk - A Perfect Food for Unweaned Calves, But Not For Humans or Any Other Mammals!

 For clarity’s sake, and in order to avoid any possible misunderstanding, from now on when I say ‘milk’, I am also meaning all dairy products made from cow’s milk: non-fat milk, low-fat milk, butter, buttermilk, cheeses, cottage cheese, kefir, milk-made ice cream, yoghurt, and whey. When talking about other kinds of animal milk, I will specify so. This is because all these foods have a similar nature and nutritional value. The only exception is butter which, being a fat, is a bit different from other dairies. Be that as it may, all these milk derivatives are responsible for causing, aggravating or, at least, encouraging the onset of many degenerative diseases. Milk usually comes from dairy cows but also from goats, sheep, camels, water buffaloes, and llamas. However, unless otherwise specified, by the term ‘milk’ I mean commercial cow’s milk; and whenever I am referring to ‘raw’ milk, I will say so.

 Myth # 1: Calcium is the main and most important nutrient for bone production - right? No. Wrong!

Myth # 3: If we don’t drink cow’s milk and eat dairy products we will develop a calcium deficiency, which will lead to osteoporosis and other bone diseases - right? No. Wrong!

 ‘Osteoporosis’ is a very scary word indeed, which literally means porous bones. Here in Australia, for example, 40 percent of women over 50 will fall victim of an osteoporosis-related fracture, during the rest of their lifetime. Also, each year, some 20,000 Australian women will fracture a hip, and about one fifth of them die within twelve months from complications of the fracture. According to the U.S. National Osteoporosis Foundation, one of two American women over 50, and one in eight men, will experience an osteoporosis-related fracture. Also, tens of millions of Americans suffer an average of 1.5 million osteoporosis-related fractures annually. When considering the fact that both the Australian and American people are amongst the biggest consumers of cow’s milk and dairy product-derived calcium in the world, any claim that a ‘high calcium intake will prevent or cure osteoporosis’, is absolute rubbish! In any case, study after study has found that osteoporosis is not at all a calcium deficiency, but an ongoing imbalance between the intake and the excretion of bone building substances, including calcium. In other words, what is important, it isn’t how much calcium we ingest, but how much we don’t lose. Also, it is senseless to obtain calcium from milk and dairy products, as they are acid-forming foods and, as such, they create a dangerous acidic bodily environment. And when this happens, the body will have to take calcium from the bones in order to neutralise this acid, thus restoring the right acid-alkaline balance.

The Nurses Health Study (American Journal of Public Health, 1997) followed some 77,000 U.S. women aged from 34-59 from 1980. It was found that woman with the higher dietary calcium intake tended to have a higher risk of hip fracture.

A 12-year Harvard study of 78,000 American women, clearly showed that frequent milk consumption and higher calcium intake in middle-aged women did not reduce hip and forearm fractures. In fact, this study concluded that women eating higher amounts of dairy foods had higher risks of hip fractures, while no increase in fracture risk was observed for the same level of calcium from non-dairy sources.

After looking at 34 published studies in 16 countries, researchers at Yale University found that countries with the highest rates of osteoporosis are those in which people consume the most meat, milk , and other animal-derived foods. The same study also showed that African Americans - who consume, on average, more than 1000 mg of calcium per day, are nine times more likely to experience hip fractures than are South African blacks, whose daily calcium intake is only 196 mg. Also, the Japanese - who consume only an average of 300 to 400 mg of calcium daily - have one of the lowest osteoporosis rates in the world.

Another case history about milk-derived calcium intake, and its effects on human health, pertains to the Eskimo population. As it happens, the traditional Eskimo diet contains about 1000 mg to 2000 mg of calcium per day; therefore, Eskimos must have very healthy bones indeed - right? Wrong! In fact, these Nordic people have one of the highest osteoporosis-relate incidence of bone fractures of all population groups! [Now ... why I am not at all surprised!]

Myth # 4: Expecting mothers need to drink a lot of cow’s milk, in order to get enough calcium for their babies - right? No. Wrong!

 In conclusion to this section, it is important to understand that babies born from healthy parents are near perfect human beings and - if they are fed the right kind of foods, in the right amount and combination - they are most likely to grow up into healthy young boys and girls. Every nutritionist ‘worth his/her salt’ knows these foods are NOT the ones high in cow’s milk and its derivative products, any kind of meats, sugar, salt, starches, alcoholic beverages, soft-drinks, coffee, and fried chips! Therefore, it is high time everyone who wishes to live a long, healthy life becomes fully aware of this vital nutritional truth. In view of everything I said above, expecting mother, in particular - who care about their health and their babies’ - need to forget the nutritional nonsense about having to drink a lot of cow’s milk, in order to get enough calcium for their babies! Apart from other considerations, a baby may develop an allergy to cow’s or other animal milk, not just by drinking it, but from the milk the mother drinks during her pregnancy, and she passes on to her baby in her own milk.

The Many Other Functions of Calcium

In view of the above, we all need enough calcium; but which type of calcium? In other words, which type of this mineral is most beneficial to our health - animal-derived, synthetically-made, or plant-derived calcium? Here it shouldn’t take a genius to work out the right answer which, from a health point of view, can only be the third choice of calcium. The reasons for this choice will be explained below in detail. Be that as it may, just like in the case of other nutrients, more isn’t necessarily better than less. That is, too much calcium (or hypercalcaemia) can be the cause of the following ailments: excessive thirst, mouth dryness, dysphagia, dyspepsia,

muscle aches, memory loss, tendonitis depression, fatigue, restless legs, constipation, and joint swelling. Also, excessive calcium is associated with anorexia, asthma, ataxia - and more than 2 gm of this mineral may cause primary hyperparathyroidism. It has also been found that a calcium-to-phosphorous ratio higher than 2:1 can result in reduced bone strength and interferes with vitamin K synthesis and/or absorption. Also, patients with renal failure may need to limit their calcium intake to the RDA level. Fortunately, our bodies contain a parathyroid hormone and calcitonin. The former is a hormone synthesized and released into the blood stream by the parathyroid glands; also, it regulates the amount of phosphorus and calcium in the body. As for the latter, it is a thyroid hormone that tends to lower the level of calcium in the blood plasma. Those misguided people, whose daily diets include cow’s milk and other dairy food, are lucky these two hormones lower calcium levels and helps regulate the amount of this mineral, as well as phosphorus in the body.

• The main task of ‘supercharged’ vitamin D is to create a wide variety of health benefits in the body. But this can only happen if we eat in accordance with our physiological characteristics. Prolonged low levels of ‘supercharged’ vitamin D is an open invitation to various cancers, autoimmune diseases, osteoporosis, and other degenerative illnesses.
  

• Excessive amounts of calcium, as found in milk, also suppresses the production of ‘supercharged’ vitamin D.
  

• Regular intake of animal derived protein can cause the body to produce an extra amount of IGF-1 (Insulin-like Growth Factor 1). This is likely to result in the stimulation of cancer development.
  

• Animal-derived protein inhibits the production of ‘supercharged’ vitamin D, with dire consequences for our health.
  

• As cow’s milk is rich in both protein and calcium, it doesn’t belong in a healthy human diet!

More Information About Cow’s Milk

Around 10,000 BC, the “agricultural revolution” occurred changing societies from nomadic tribes to those who settled in communities. With this came domesticated animals and the ingenuity for people to use by-products such as milk. The dairying activities of these European farmers may have begun as early as 6,000 years ago. According to scientists, the ability to digest milk was slowly gained some time between 5000-4000 B.C.E. by the spread of a genetic mutation called lactase persistence that allowed post-weaned humans to continue to digest milk. In ancient Egypt, milk and other dairy products were reserved for royalty, priests and the very wealthy. By the 5th century AD, cows and sheep in Europe were prized for their milk. By the 14th century, cow’s milk became more popular than sheep’s milk. European dairy cows were brought to North America in the early 1600s. Louis Pasteur, a French microbiologist, conducted the first pasteurization tests in 1862. Pasteur is credited with revolutionizing the safety of milk and, in turn, the ability to store and distribute milk well beyond the farm. Commercial pasteurization machines were introduced in 1895. In 1884, the first milk bottle was invented in New York state. In the 1930s, milk cans were replaced with large on-farm storage tanks, and plastic coated paper milk cartons were invented, which allowed for wider distribution of fresh milk.

 The biggest lie in the above ‘sanitized’ brief history of cow’s milk consumption is that that post-weaned humans gained the ability to digest lactose about 4500 years ago, and became ‘lactose persistent’. This, of course, is hogwash! In order to digest animal milk, we need the enzyme ‘lactase’ to break down ‘lactose’. Generally speaking, this activity starts decreasing at about two years of age, thus causing bloating, flatulence, abdominal pain, and diarrhoea. These set of discomforting symptoms are called ‘lactose intolerance’. In fact, up to at least 60 percent of people worldwide are lactose intolerant. This percentage varies according to race and geographical position. In the U.S., for example, about 50 million milk-drinkers and cheese-eaters experience intestinal problems whenever they consume these unnatural [for humans] foods! Here, the unsung truth is that, overall, about 75% of the world’s population lose their lactase enzymes after their weaning process. In other words, lactose malabsorption and lactase deficiency are chronic organic pathological conditions, which cause a variety of ailments. For example, according to some studies, females with lactose malabsorption, not only showed signs of irritable bowel syndrome, but also signs of premenstrual syndrome and mental depression. Needless to say, these symptoms gradually disappeared as soon as they stopped drinking cow’s milk and eating other dairy foods. Actually, to call lactose intolerance an “allergy”, is to take a white-washing view of the seriousness of the fact that most of the world’s people are not biologically equipped to digest cow’s, or for that matter, any other animal-derived milk! The world’s dairy lobbies perpetrate this lie to ensure the continuation of their colossal profits - and this is done at the expense of people’s health!

 According to some scientists - no doubt, ‘at the beck and call’ of the milk industry - a few thousands years ago, a genetic mutation called ‘lactase persistence’ allowed post-weaned humans to continue to digest cow’s milk. Some recent statistics tell us that worldwide, less than 40% of people retain the ability to digest lactose after childhood. More precisely, close to zero percent of Native Americans, 5% of Asians, 25% of African and Caribbean peoples, 50% of Mediterranean peoples, and 90% of Northern Europeans. In fact, according to these statistics, Sweden has one of the world’s highest percentages of ‘lactase tolerant’ (‘lactase persistent’) people. So ... North Europeans are able to digest cow’s milk much better than any other people in the world. Big deal! Surely, what should be of great importance to people everywhere isn’t how well they can digest milk from another species of mammals, but whether this milk is beneficial or harmful to their health and, above all, to their children’s health! Well ... a quick look at recent world statistics, conclusively show that milk and cheese lovers in Sweden, Finland, Norway, Holland, and other Nordic countries have a much higher incidence of osteoporosis, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, and type 1 diabetes for example, than people in Vietnam, China or Japan who statistically consume very little milk and dairy products. I may be wrong, of course, but I don’t think the ability to digest cow’s milk is going to be of much use when confined to a hospital bed or ‘six feet under’!

Pasteurized Cow’s Milk

The main theme of the whole of this book is that every food, drink, medicine, medical treatment, physical activity, and lifestyle which goes against the laws of Nature, is both unnatural and harmful to our health. As such, it causes a multitude of diseases and shortens our lifespan! (As a much needed reminder, humankind’s main perversions of Nature’s nutritional laws are: the consumption of animal flesh, milk and diary-derived products, the processing and cooking of foods, as well as the genetic modification of both human and animal foods.) Before discussing the added health dangers of pasteurization, I must say, once again, that a daily consumption of even fresh, unprocessed, raw cow’s milk is for various reasons unhealthy to babies (even unborn ones), children, teenagers, young, middle-age, elderly and very old people alike! Milk pasteurization is an unnatural process, therefore it does more harm than good. Raw cow’s milk is bad enough, but pasteurized cow’s milk is much worse - and the same can be said about the process of homogenization discussed below. The pasteurization of milk started when dairy farming degenerated into a multi-million (now, multi-billion) dollar business. Very important issues such as the value and safety of pasteurized milk and its possible loss of it nutritional value were quickly set aside in favour of colossal profits. Needless to say, legislations were quickly passed in order to safeguard these profits. Logical questions like, for example: “Where were the slogans ‘Milk is a perfect food’ and ‘Milk is our daily staple’, before pasteurization, refrigeration, and mass transportation? As the later Dr. Dave Rietz put it: “Where was the massive ‘milk is a must’ before refrigeration, pasteurization and mass transportation? Back when cows gave only 1-4 pounds of milk a day it was quickly made into butter and cheese. Now that those same cows have been tweaked and shot-up with Posilac to produce up to 55 or more pounds of milk per day ... almost all year long ... it is suddenly (after many thousands of years) a daily staple.” A ‘daily staple’ that, from the 1930s to the present days has been one of the main causes of a multitude of degenerative illnesses and premature deaths!

  In regular pasteurization - the standard method used by large dairy operations - milk is heated to high temperature for a short time (71.67 deg. C for 15 seconds). In vat pasteurization, milk is heated in small batches to a lower temperature for a longer time (62.77 deg. C for 30 minutes) and then rapidly cooled. Both these temperatures will destroy all enzymes; in fact these vital substances are destroyed at 47.77 deg. C. Enzymes are only present in raw, live foods. Pasteurized milk - as well all kinds of cooked foods - are dead foods. Pasteurisation, not only destroys all enzymes, but damages vitamins A, B1, B2, B5, B6, B12, beta carotine, folic acid, bioflavinoids, and vitamin C. Also, because of the denaturation of proteins and the destruction of enzymes, pasteurized dairy promotes the growth of pathogens and potentially harmful bacteria. Furthermore, the process of pasteurization changes the nature of the calcium in raw milk from organic to inorganic, thus making its absorption quite difficult. When this happens, this denatured form of calcium cannot be used to build bones, so it is deposited along the inside of the blood vessels. Eventually, these deposits can lead to arteriosclerosis, or, when it gets deposited in the joints, it can lead to arthritis. To be sure, there is still a large amount of calcium in processed milk and milk products, but a large amount of it is lost in the faeces, and whatever calcium is absorbed has low bio-availability, as pasteurization has turned it into inorganic calcium.

 As it happens, the temperatures used in the process of milk pasteurization are more than high enough to damage or destroy vital nutrients and other substances, but not sufficiently high to get rid of dangerous germs such as typhoid germs, nor bacilli coli, nor the germs of tuberculosis, or of undulant fever. In order to kill these pathogenic germs the milk would have to be heated to temperatures from 87.78 deg. C. to 110 deg. C. In fact, modern pasteurization methods called ‘ultra pasteurization’ are an even more virulent form of pasteurization. This process heats milk to temperatures of 82.2 deg. C., preserving shelf life and destroying nutrients in greater amounts. Finally, because pasteurized milk and milk products lack enzyme activity, they turns putrid rather than sour; this is why processors must remove pus through a procedure called centrifugal clarification. One of the proofs of the unhealthy effects of pasteurization is that a calf, fed its mother’s own raw milk, thrives. But if it is fed pasteurized milk, it does not survive for more than about 60 days! (This fact has been proved experimentally.)

Homogenized Cow’s Milk

Homogenization have been called “the worst thing dairymen have done to milk.”Because raw milk proteins are digested in the presence of milk enzymes, the processes of pasteurization and homogenization destroy these natural biological processes. (As we have learned so far, going against Nature by ignoring, perverting, and/or destroying its biological processes, will jeopardise our health.) Homogenization emulsifies the fat droplets in milk, allowing them to disperse in the rest of the milk. This is why in homogenized milk, the cream no longer rises to the top. More accurately, when milk is passed through a fine filter at pressures equal to 1814 kilograms per 645 millimetres, the fat globules are reduced by ten times or more. When this happens, the fat molecules become evenly dispersed within the liquid milk so that after 48 hours of storage at 7.2 deg. C, there is no cream separation in the milk. However, the process of filtering and pressing oxidizes milk fats making them carcinogenic and toxic to the body.

Milk proteins would normally be digested in the stomach or bowel but, in homogenized milk, these proteins are not broken down and are absorbed intact into the bloodstream. In other words, with homogenization, milk becomes a powerful and efficient way of bypassing normal digestive processes, and delivering steroids and protein hormones to the human body, thus becoming a quick way for any fat-born toxins to reach otherwise well protected bodily organs. Most scientists believe that the survival of protein hormones after ingestion is not possible because of the strength of stomach acid and enzymatic activity. Contrary to this prevailing belief, two Connecticut cardiologists researchers: Kurt Oster, M. D. and Donald Ross, Ph. D., demonstrated that cow proteins survive digestion. In fact, their heart patients developed antibodies to bovine proteins after consuming homogenized milk. This proved that milk proteins are not destroyed by digestion. In fact, hormones in homogenized milk are protected, survive digestion, and exert powerful effects on the human body. Needless to say, these effects are not beneficial.

Oster and Ross discovered the presence of an enzyme they called ‘bovine xanthene oxidase (XO)’ which, in theory, should not have been able to survived digestion. The XO Factor was identified as the element that destroyed one-third of the cellular material in atrial cells of 300 heart attack victims during a five-year study. Oster and Ross’ scientific discovery was eventually confirmed by a team of scientists at the University of Delaware, who hypothesized that some quantities of xanthene oxidase, absorbed over many years, could result in a destructive biological implication. Here, it is quite significative to note that every one of Ross and Oster’s patients developed antibodies to bovine protein after consuming homogenized cow’s milk. According to the Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine (Exp. Biol. Med.), some studies have shown that bovine milk 'xanthene oxidase’ (BMXO) can be absorbed and can enter the cardiovascular system. This may be gathered by the fact that people with clinical symptoms of atherosclerosis have greater quantities of BMXO antibodies, which are found in greater quantities in those patients who consume the largest volumes of homogenized milk and milk products. Various studies have conclusively demonstrated that XO from cow’s milk does get into the bloodstream. In fact, seventy-three out of the 94 people (of all ages) tested, were found to have antibodies to XO. Also, xanthene oxidase has been shown to adhere to arterial walls and is identified as causative in heart disease.

Despite all the reliable worldwide studies, research and statistics which attest to the many health dangers of cow’s milk and all other dairy products, the great majority of nutritional “experts” would say that “yes, we agree that dairy foods in general are the main cause of various respiratory infections, tooth decay, allergies, infant colic, stunted growth, intestinal and digestive issues, leaky gut, heart diseases, and osteoporosis. But only because these dairy foods are pasteurized and/or homogenized.” In an Internet article, one of these “experts” refers to raw unprocessed cow’s milk as ‘one of nature’s purest foods’. This, of course, is nonsense! Certainly, fresh, raw, unprocessed cow’s or goat’s milk is not quite as unhealthy as the commercial variety. In fact, for the many reasons already explained above, even raw, fresh cow’s milk is very much a ‘second hand’, unnatural (to humans) acid-forming and inflammatory food, as are all animal-derived foods. Speaking metaphorically, if the author of the said article had put his brain in gear before putting pen to paper, he would have realized that raw animal milk in general is anything but a pure and healthy nutrient!

Unfortunately for their health and their children’s, the great majority of Western people (and the people seem to forget that these two types of milks were meant for unweaned calves and (goat) kids, respectively, not for human consumption! In order to get the very best start in life, it is essential that human babies feed exclusively on ‘mother’s milk’, but only until they are weaned, and this is what Nature meant all mammals to do - humans are certainly not an exception to this rule!

Breast Milk - The One And Only Milk Suitable For Human Babies!

Everything in Nature has evolved to serve a certain purpose and perform a specific task, and this is especially the case in the Animal Kingdom; for example, cow’s milk is strictly for unweaned calves, while mother’s milk’s only function is to feed exclusively unweaned human babies, as decreed by Nature’s nutritional laws! But unfortunately, humans have perverted these laws, thus ruining their health and shortening their lives. A typical example of people’s ignorance of the biological adaptation and physiology of the human body is the unnatural and unhealthy habit of drinking cow’s milk and, worse still, using it for their babies and children! In this section we will discuss breast milk (also known as ‘mother’s milk). Breast milk - the only milk Nature intended humans to drink - is the milk produced by the breasts (or mammary glands) of a human female for her baby or babies. Milk is the primary source of nutrition for newborns before they are able to eat and digest other foods; older infants and toddlers may continue to be breastfed, either exclusively or in combination with other foods from around six months of age when solid foods may be introduced.

According to the World Health Organization and all sensible nutritionists and paediatricians, babies should be breastfed at least for the first six months of life, with solids gradually being introduced around this age when signs of readiness are shown. Supplemented breastfeeding is recommended until at least age two and then for as long as the mother and child wish. As shown by many studies and much research, breastfeeding offers many health benefits to child even after toddlerhood. These benefits include a 73% decreased risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SID), increased intelligence, decreased likelihood of contracting middle ear infections, cold and flu resistance, a tiny decrease in the risk of childhood leukemia, lower risk of childhood onset diabetes, decreased risk of asthma and eczema, decreased dental problems, decreased risk of obesity later in life, and a decreased risk of developing psychological disorders, including in adopted children. Breastfeeding also provides health benefits for the mother; that is, it assists the uterus in returning to its pre-pregnancy size and reduces post-partum bleeding, as well as assisting the mother in returning to her pre-pregnancy weight. Breastfeeding also reduces the risk of breast cancer later in life. Also, lactation protects both mother and infant from both types of diabetes

Fortunately for the infants, breastfeeding is now almost universally prescribed; but, in some countries in the 1950s this practice went out of vogue, and the use of infant formula was foolishly considered superior to breast milk. However, it is now universally recognized that there is no commercial formula that can equal breast milk. Be that as it may, a lot of parents, especially in industrialized countries, choose to go against Nature by feeding their babies infant formulas. In addition to the appropriate amounts of carbohydrate, protein, and fat, breast milk provides the right type and amount of vitamins, minerals, digestive enzymes, and hormones. Breast milk also contains antibodies and lymphocytes from the mother that help the baby resist infections. This is one of the reasons why breastfed babies and toddlers are generally much healthier than those brought up on infant formulas. The immune function of breast milk is individualized, as the mother, through her touching and taking care of the baby, comes into contact with pathogens that colonize the baby, and, as a consequence, her body makes the appropriate antibodies and immune cells. At around four to six months of age, the internal iron supplies of the infant, held in the hepatic cells of the liver, are exhausted, hence this is the time that complementary feeding is introduced. It is true that breast milk contains less iron than formula, but this is because it is more bio-available as lactoferrin, which carries more safety for mothers and children than ferrous sulphate.

Of course, suckling milk directly from their mother’s breasts is the most natural way for babies to feed themselves, but milk can be pumped and then fed by baby bottle, cup, and/or spoon, supplementation drip system, or nasogastric tube. Also, breast milk can be supplied by a women other than the baby’s mother. This can be done either by donated pumped milk - usually from a milk bank or via informal milk donation - or when a woman nurses a child other than her own at her breast; this practice is called ‘wetnursing’.

Women produce milk after childbirth to feed the baby, under the influence of the hormones prolactin and oxytocin. The initial milk produced is referred to as colostrum, which is high in the immunoglobulin IgA, which coats the gastrointestinal tract. This helps to protect the newborn until its own immune system is functioning properly. It also creates a mild laxative effect, expelling meconium and helping to prevent the build-up of bilirubin (a contributory factor in jaundice). Fortunately, the inability to produce enough milk is rare. In fact, some studies have shown that mothers from developing countries experiencing nutritional hardship still produce amounts of milk of similar quality to that of mothers in developed countries.

 It is doubtful many people are aware of this fact but - in addition to providing essential nourishment to infants - breast milk, has a number of valuable uses, especially medicinal uses, for both children and adults. Breast milk has been used medicinally for thousands of years, as it contains strong antibodies and antitoxins which promote healing and better overall health. Breast milk has been used as a home remedy for minor ailments, such as conjunctivitis, insect bites and stings, contact dermatitis, and infected wounds, burns, and abrasions. Breast milk has also been used alternatively to boost the immune system of ill persons having viral gastroenteritis, influenza, the common cold, pneumonia, etc., because of its immunologic properties. Needless to say, cow’s milk and other animal-derived milk have little or none of the above-listed beneficial properties and uses!

For those who may be interested, here is a Composition List of Human Breast Milk:

The exact composition of breast milk varies from day to day, depending on food consumption and environment, meaning that the ratio of water to fat fluctuates.

An important, but hardly mentioned fact about mother's breast milk is that it contains a substantial amount of Hydrogen Peroxide - and the first milk (colostrums) comprises even more of it. This is most likely one of the main reasons why breast milk stimulates an infant's immune system and enhances his/hers vital metabolic processes. No wonder babies fed mother's milk, for at least six months after their birth, are less predisposed to various illnesses than formula-fed babies!

During the first few days after delivery, the mother produces a thin yellowish fluid called colostrum. This is rich in protein and antibodies that provide passive immunity to the baby (the baby's immune system is not fully developed at birth). Colostrum also helps the newborn's digestive system to grow and function properly. This fluid will gradually change to become mature milk. In the first 3–4 days it will appear thin and watery and will taste very sweet; later, the milk will be thicker and creamier. Human milk quenches the baby's thirst and hunger and, unlike cow’s milk, it provides the correct amount of all the proteins, sugar, minerals, and antibodies that the baby needs. The level of Immunoglobulin A (IgA) in breast milk remains high from day 10 until at least 7.5 months post-partum.

 Human milk contains 0.8% to 0.9% protein, 4.5% fat, 7.1% carbohydrates, and 0.2% ash (minerals). Carbohydrates are mainly lactose; several lactose-based oligosaccharides have been identified as minor components. The fat fraction contains specific triglycerides of palmitic and oleic acid (O-P-O triglycerides), and also lipids with trans bonds (see: trans fat). The lipids are vaccenic acid, and Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) accounting for up to 6% of the human milk fat. The principal proteins are alpha-lactalbumin, lactoferrin (apo-lactoferrin), IgA, lysozyme, and serum albumin. In an acidic environment such as the stomach, alpha-lactalbumin unfolds into a different form and binds oleic acid to form a complex called HAMLET that kills tumor cells. This is thought to contribute to the protection of breastfed babies against cancer. Non-protein nitrogen-containing compounds, making up 25% of the milk's nitrogen, include urea, uric acid, creatine, creatinine, amino acids, and nuc nucleotides. Mother's milk has been shown to supply endocannabinoids (the natural neurotransmitters that marijuana simulates) 2-Arachidonoyl glycerol and anandamide.

  Breast milk contains a unique type of sugars, oligosaccharides, which are long chains of complex sugars. So far scientists have identified 140 of them and estimate there are about 200. These types of sugars are found nowhere else in nature, and not every mother produces the same ones, since they vary by blood type. However, the oligosaccharides are not digestible by infants and are instead meant to feed the beneficial bacteria that live in the intestine and help to fight infections. Also found in breast milk are endo-cannabinoids, which may act as an appetite stimulant, but they also regulate appetite so infants don't eat too much. That may be why formula-fed babies have a higher caloric intake than breastfed babies.

  It is interesting to note that breast milk isn't sterile, but contains as many as 600 different species of various bacteria, including beneficial Bifidobacterium breve, B. adolescentis, B. longum, B. bifidum, and B. dentium. Also breast milk contains some substances which are not beneficial to adults.

  Unfortunately, these days environmental pollutants can be found almost everywhere including breast milk; however, they are usually not harmful, and should be considered only when environmental levels are unusually high. Pollutants that are of most concern are pesticides, organic mercury, and lead. DDT and dieldrin are unavoidable, and can also be detected in infant formulas. Pesticides and other toxic substances bio-accumulate; i.e., creatures higher up the food chain will store more of them in their body fat. This is an issue in particular for the Inuit (people inhabiting Northern Canada, Greenland, Alaska or Eastern Siberia), whose traditional diet is predominantly meat. Studies are looking at the effects of polychlorinated biphenyls and persistent organic pollutants in the body; the breast milk of Inuit mothers is extraordinarily high in toxic compounds.

 Persistent toxins were first discovered in breast milk in 1951, when a group of mothers were tested for the pesticide DDT. In 1966, a Swedish researcher found that his wife's breast milk contained polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and five years later Sweden banned PCB's, with the United States following a few years later. But because of their widespread use and persistence, they are still the highest-concentration toxins in breast milk. Most scientists maintain that prenatal exposure to PCB's can do real damage. Researchers in the Great Lakes region, the Arctic and the Netherlands found that babies born to mothers with mid- to upper-range background levels of PCB contamination (most likely because of diets rich in contaminated fish and animal products) have reduced immunities against infections, lower I.Q.'s and delayed learning capabilities, with some problems lasting at least into early adolescence. However, researchers were surprised to learn that although the children who were breast-fed had higher PCB levels than children who were not breastfed, they consistently performed better than those who drank formula - breast milk appeared to be at least partly protective against the effects of toxic chemicals.

• Dairy production destroys land and pollutes air and water.

• Artificial feeding causes waste and use valuable resources.

• Breast feeding is a valuable natural resource.

• Artificial feeding means more tampons and more diapers.

• Breast feeding lessens infant mortality.</>
  

• When it comes to taking care of Mother Nature, breast feeding cannot be beat.
  

• Infant formula represents the case where a superior product has been discarded at significant expense to the baby, mother, and the environment.

Some Differences between Breast Milk and Cow’s Milk

A written detailed analysis of the many differences between cow’s milk and human milk, and baby formulas based on these two types of milk, would fill in a whole book. But, for our present purpose, the following should be sufficient. 

As per 2006 data, in the Animal Kingdom there are about 5,416 species of mammals, and all of them produce milk. However, the composition of milk for each species varies widely and other kinds of milk are often very different from human breast milk. This is one of the main reasons why cow’s milk - and for that matter, any animal milk is strictly for unweaned calves, NOT humans! As a rule, the milk of mammals that lactate frequently (including humans) is not as rich, or more watery, than the milk of mammals whose young lactate less often. Human milk is noticeably thinner and sweeter than cow's milk. Whole cow's milk contains too little iron, retinol, vitamin E, vitamin C, vitamin D, unsaturated fats or essential fatty acids for human babies. Whole cow's milk also contains too much protein, sodium, potassium, phosphorus and chloride which are known to put a strain on an infant's immature kidneys. (This strain also applies to adult people, not just infants.) In addition, the proteins, fats and calcium in whole cow's milk are much more difficult for an infant to digest and absorb than the ones in human breast milk. Evaporated milk may be easier to digest due to the processing of the protein but is still nutritionally inadequate. Many infants are allergic to cow's milk protein - this problem also affects infant formulas derived from this kind of milk. (As far as I am concerned, cow’s milk (both raw and processed) is an allergenic food for all babies, children, and adults alike - although to various degrees.) Also, cow’s milk contains much less chlorine than breast milk  -   chlorine is the cleansing element. Furthermore, as I have already explained above, one of the main reasons why cow’s milk and its derivative products are an unhealthy lot, is their high content of calcium and protein, which make them acid-forming; worse still, pasteurization and homogenization raise their acidity. For those who are interested, acidosis is the cause of the following ailments:

Cardiovascular damage, weight gain, obesity, diabetes, bladder conditions, kidney stones, immune deficiency, acceleration of free radical damage, hormonal problems, premature aging, osteoporosis and joint pain, aching muscles, and lactic acid build up, low energy and chronic fatigue, slow digestion and elimination, yeast/fungal overgrowth, lower body temperature, tendency to get infections, low drive, joy, and enthusiasm, depression, easily stressed, pale complexion, headaches, inflammation of the corneas and eyelids, loose and painful teeth, inflamed, sensitive gums, mouth and stomach ulcers, cracks at the corners of the lips, excessive stomach acid, gastritis, nails are thin and split easily, hair looks dull, has split ends and falls out, dry skin, skin easily irritated, leg cramps and spasms.

Cow’s milk is much more coarse than breast milk and it contains about 300 percent more casein than the latter. That is for the development of a cow’s huge bones. For those who don’t know, casein is ‘bad news’ for the following reasons: a) a high consumption of milk casein has been linked to breast cancer; b) this hard to digest glue-like substance - which accounts for 80 percent of all cow’s milk protein - exerts a strong binding effect on calcium; c) casein coagulates in the stomach and forms large, difficult to digest curds, that are adapted to the four-stomach digestive apparatus of a cow, but certainly not to the human stomach; and d) casein is a powerful allergen ... a histamine that creates lots of mucus. Incidentally, casein is a polymer used, amongst other things, to make plastic, and as a glue widely used by cabinet makers! Apart from all this, Dr Norman Walker - who was also an expert on the glandular system - stated that a major contributing factor to thyroid problems is casein.

Some Data About Cow’s, Goat, Sheep, Buffalo, Camel, Soy, And Almond Milk

 This data comes from SELF NUTRITION DATA on the Internet.

Cow’s Milk whole 3.25% Milk Fat - Carbs: 30% Fat: 49% Protein: 21% Calcium: 28% Magnesium: 6% Phosphorous: 22% Iron: 0

Goat Milk - Carbs: 25% Fat: 63% Protein: 22% Calcium: 33% Magnesium: 9% Phosphorous: 27% Iron : 1%

Indian Buffalo Milk - Carbs: 21%Fats: 62% Protein: 17%; Calcium: 41% Magnesium: 19% Phosphorous: 29% Iron: 2%

Sheep Milk - Carbs: 19% Fat: 57% Protein: 27%; Calcium: 47%; Magnesium: 11% Phosphorous: 39% Iron: 1%

Camel Milk - Carbs: 39% Fat: 36% Protein: 25% Calcium: 15%; Magnesium: 2%Phosphorous: 6% Iron: 6%

Soy Milk - Carbs: 47% Fat: 29% Protein: 24%; Calcium: 6% Magnesium: 15% Phosphorous: 13% Iron: 9%

Almond Milk - Carbs: 15% Fat: 75%Protein: 10%; Calcium: 20% Magnesium: 4% Phosphorous: 4% Iron: 2%.

By comparison, Breast Milk contains: 76% carbs, 17% fat, 7% protein, 1% calcium, no magnesium, no phosphorous, and a very high 122% iron.

Goat’s Milk

 Some nutritionists and medical practitioners maintain that ‘if our body can't tolerate cow’s milk, goat's milk makes a suitable alternative.’ In fact, against all evidence to the contrary, some nutrition and health “experts” go as far as saying that raw goat’s milk is the most beneficial milk for human of all ages to drink. While there is no doubt that any kind of fresh, raw milk is better than processed and/or heated up milk, it is still animal milk! Therefore, for all the reasons mentioned above, goat’s milk (like all other animal-derived milk) should be consumed in strict moderation or better still, not consumed at all! In any case, goat’s milk  should never be fed to babies under six months of age. According to the British Medical Journal, this milk is too high in sodium for young babies whose kidneys may not be able to handle it. As a result, some babies fed on goat’s milk can develop a dangerous condition referred to as ‘hyperbolic dehydration’. Eighty percent of the protein in cow's milk is the infamous casein, a tenacious glue and powerful allergen. The authors of this study report that goat and cow's milk share 87% to 98% of the identical amino acids that make up the proteins responsible for milk allergies. I think that most of the propaganda in favour of the alleged benefits of goat milk comes from the goat industry, the farmers, and those who sell it! In any case, from the above data, we can see there isn’t much difference in content between cow’s and goat’s milk; therefore, it is quite futile to change from one milk to the other. Be that as it may - whenever mother’s milk is not available - cow’s, goat’s, sheep, buffalo’s, as well as some other animal milk, can be used. Let’s say, these milks become a ‘necessary evil’, so to speak.

Soy Milk

Soy and other legume-derived milks have come into use in recent years, especially by vegan people, who believe they are a good substitute for cow’s and other animal milk. Organically-grown soy beans are the richest source of first-class protein, as 100 grams of soy beans contain 35 grams of protein. (By comparison, 100 grams of beef contain less than 20 grams of protein.) Of course, I wouldn’t dream to drink commercial soy milk, eating genetically modified soy beans, or any of the other soy bean-derived products sold in supermarkets. During my many trips to Vietnam, I have met many Vietnamese men and women, as well as Buddhist priests, whose daily diet consisted mainly of soy beans, soy bean products, rice, fruit, vegetables and occasionally some fish. While in that country I noted that, especially in country areas, the consumption of cow’s milk and its derivative products was either non-existent or very low, and so was the incidence of obesity osteoporosis, cardiovascular diseases, some cancers, and other typical Western diseases of degeneration. (I remember thinking: ‘So much for the superiority of the Western meat and cow’s milk-based diets!’) This is just an example of how soy and other plant-derived foods are much healthier than those listed at the top of the infamous Western ‘Food Guide Pyramid’. [Here, I am using the adjective ‘infamous’, because the adoption of this nutritional guide has been (and still is) the main cause of most diseases and earlier deaths in the industrialized world! So, despite the ‘hate soy milk’ brigade’s lies, soy milk, is far healthier than any other type of animal-derived milk. Yes, yes, I know some nutrition and health “experts” tell us soy milk (and its derivative products) contain too much estrogen; therefore, it may negatively affect male virility, but I doubt this is the case, unless we drink an excessive daily amount of this milk.

 Having said all that, I don’t wish to imply in any way that - when it comes to babies and toddlers - soy-based milk is an ideal food. In fact, I want to make it clear (once again) that the one and only milk Nature intended babies to be fed is human breast milk, also known as ‘mother’s milk’. In other words, when it comes to feeding infants, all animal milks, as well as soy milk should only be used whenever, for various reasons, breast milk is not available. In other words, cow’s milk, goat’s milk, and the milks from other mammals are not at all what Nature meant baby humans to be fed on, and the same can be said about soy milk and other plant-derived milks.

Baby Formulas

 I think no nutritionist, paediatrician, or lactation consultant, ‘worth his/her salt’, is likely to deny that breastfeeding is, by far, the most natural and the healthiest method to feed babies. In fact, as I have already said above, this method is not only perfect for the baby, but offers various health benefits to the mother as well. Unfortunately, in this less-than-perfect world of ours, things that are good and right are often not available and/or possible for everyone. If, whatever the reason/s, a baby cannot be breastfed, he/she will need a so-called ‘infant formula’. This artificial formula is usually cow, goat or soy milk-based. Whenever breast milk is not available (or for any other reason/s), cow’s milk-based formula is widely recommended by nutrition and health “experts”, as well as those who are on the payroll of the dairy industry and or cow’s milk-based baby formula industries. Be that as it may, all infant formulas are artificial ways of feeding babies. In other words, there are no natural formulas available anywhere, but only some less unnatural’ formulas than others. This means that every times a mother shuns breastfeeding and chooses an artificial method of feeding her baby, she is actually discarding a far superior product [mother’s milk] at the expense of her baby’s health, as well as her own. According to many worldwide studies, most formula-fed babies have been known to develop symptoms of allergic rejection to cow’s milk proteins before one month of age. Goat’s and soy-milk based infant formulas are not generally recommended by paediatricians and other healthcare professionals; they could be right, of course, but they are certainly wrong when they encourage mothers to feed their babies and toddlers on cow’s milk-based formulas! And this, despite the colossal amount of worldwide studies and much research, which have conclusively proved the many health benefits of breast-feeding for both the child and the mother, as well as the many health problems caused by feeding infants and toddlers with formula milk, especially in the first six months of the baby’s life. Incidentally, cow’s milk formulas are made from pasteurized milk which, for the reasons explained above, makes this kind of baby feeding even more unhealthy!

 Cow’s milk allergy - such as allergy to cow’s protein and intolerance to lactose - are well-known occurrences pertaining to the daily consumption of cow’s milk. In fact, at least 50% of all children in the United States alone, are allergic to cow’s milk. This is why those who drink this beverage on a regular basis, are often affected by asthma, sleeping difficulties, migraine headaches, diarrhoea, constipation, fatigue, sinus infections and other health problems. According to some American epidemiological and immunological studies, the majority of ‘formula’ fed babies developed symptoms of allergic rejection to cow’s milk protein as early as in their first month of life! In fact, 50 –70 percent of them experience rashes and/or other skin problems, 50 – 60 percent suffered from gastrointestinal problems, and 20 - 30 percent showed signs of respiratory problems. According to the many studies, which have conclusively shown that breastfeeding offers a host of physical and psychological benefits to both mothers and their babies, there are still medical scientists who maintain that breastfeeding offers psychological nurturing benefits, but nothing more. (Hippocrates - the father of natural medicine - would turn in his grave, so to speak, if he could hear what these “scientists” say! ) In fact, the unsung and little known truth is that the frequency of illness between breast and formula-fed infants has clearly shown there are fewer health problems and less severe diseases in breast-fed infants. For example, breast-fed babies normally experience a striking reduction in the incidence and severity of gastrointestinal infections, respiratory infections, and ear infections.

 The cow’s milk protein used in many formulas is an artificial type of protein, which causes the bottle-fed babies to develop antibodies to this foreign protein. Much research on this topic has established that the food allergens found in animal milk and soybeans formulas stay in the stomach for about one hour, as compared to human milk protein which is digested in the stomach within only 15 minutes. Thus - contrary to the opinion of the ‘drink milk’ scientists, who maintain that none of the proteins in milk survive digestion – the proteins pass through the stomach, and reach the intestines intact, where they gain access and can produce sensitization. In fact, the respective effect of milk and fermented milks on intestinal barrier capacity and on sensitization to beta-lactoglobulin was studied using a guinea pig model of cow's milk allergy.

 One of the tenets of the American Food and Drug Administration (FDA) - which are on cosy terms with the dairy industry and cow’s milk-based formula manufacturers - is that all milk proteins are broken down by the stomach’s strong digestive enzymes. Therefore, there are no ill effects caused by these substances - hence, cow’s milk-based infant formulas are perfectly safe for babies and toddlers. Right? Wrong! First of all, common sense tells us that if this were the case, bottle-fed babies and toddlers wouldn’t be affected by such a variety of health troubles as, for example, diarrhoea, constipation, asthma, ear infections, and skin rashes. And secondly, many worldwide studies and much research have proved that milk proteins survive digestion! Most nursing mothers and their paediatricians accept this fact. It would appear that the only ones who do not believe this are the FDA scientists. Here, it stands to reason that, if the protein in human milk survives digestion - and they do - the proteins in cow’s milk must do the same. Logically, if the IGF-1 is the most powerful growth hormone in the human body - and if cow’s milk IGF-1 is identical to human IGF-1, then our ingestion of cow’s milk or its derivative foods is going to take some hormones into our body. This is an unhealthy enough occurrence for adult people, let alone those babies and toddlers who are fed formula milk for many months!

 According to many nutrition and health scientists and other medical professionals, the ‘immunoglobulins’ in breast milk are rendered useless by the digestive process. This, of course, is not true. In fact, these important immunological proteins are exclusively found in breast milk. The highest concentration being found in colostrums - the pre-milk which is only available from the breast for only a few days of the baby’s life. These proteins function as antibodies in the immune response. ‘Lactoferrin’ is another important protein, available only in breast milk, but not in milk formulas. Lactoferrin is an iron-binding protein, whose important function is to limit the availability of iron to intestinal bacteria, and alters those healthy bacteria which thrive in the gut. Human milk also contains ‘lysosomes’. These are potent digestive substances, which strongly influence on the bacteria which inhabit the intestinal tract. The lysosomes level in breast milk is thirty times higher than in any artificial formula. Yet another very important role played by breast milk is that it encourages the growth of ‘lactobabacillaceae’ - helpful bacteria which have the power of inhibiting various disease-causing gram-negative bacteria and parasites. As it happens, there is a big difference between the bacteria found in the bowels of breast and formula-fed infants.

Cow’s And Soy Milk-Based Formulas

 As already mentioned, there is not much difference in composition between cow’s and goat’s milk, and the same could be said about some other animal milks. But soy milk - being a plant-derived substance - differs in some ways from cow’s and human milk. Infant soy formula doesn’t contain highly allergenic cow’s milk proteins, lactose, and/or many other disease-causing substances found in animal milk in general, and cow’s milk in particular. Although some child nutritionists will say that soy baby formula will provide everything a baby needs for his/hers growth and development, Nature intended babies to be fed exclusively on breast milk; therefore   -   although soy milk is a plant derived milk  -   it isn’t the best baby food.

Soy formula critics will say, that ‘there is no nutritional benefits using soy formula that a baby can’t get from cow’s milk formula.’ This may be so, but what we should be concerned about are not the benefits cow’s milk formula may offer to babies and toddlers, but the harm it can do to their health! There have been concerns about hormones in soy formulas and milks; however, because of their low levels it is unlikely they can cause problems. It is also said that it is best to leave babies on cow’s milk formula unless there is a compelling reason to change, as it appears that soy formula fed babies have a lower immunity. In view of all that has already been said above, as well as what will be said in the following pages, I certainly wouldn’t recommend any parents to put their babies on a cow’s milk formula, let alone keep them on it! As for soy formula-fed babies ‘appearing’ to having a lower immunity, some convincing evidence is needed before taking this possibility seriously. Talking about ‘immunity’, there is enough worldwide evidence that for example, Type 1 Diabetes - a devastating, incurable childhood autoimmune disease - is linked to the exposure of cow’s milk protein early in a child life, when his/her intestinal tract is still immature. (More about Type 1 Diabetes will be said below.)

More Reasons for Eschewing Cow’s Milk and Dairy Products

 Let’s now suppose we are living on a dairy farm and have a regular access to fresh, organic cow’s milk, would we be doing the right thing (from our health point of view) if we included it to our daily diet? The correct answer to this question is No! To be sure, fresh raw milk is certainly less unhealthy than the highly processed commercial milk but, as we are not unweaned calves, it is still an unnatural, unhealthy food for us. Below are the main reasons why the answer to this question can only be negative.

 A comparison between the cholesterol, saturated fat, and carbohydrate content in milk and meat shows a similar percentage of each. This is why animal-derived milk qualifies as ‘liquid meat’. Of course, the same can be said about almost all other dairy products. Cheese, butter, yoghurt, and cream, just like red meat, are rich foods but, apart from proteins, they lack some other healthy nutrients. Also, meats and dairy products (just like dried beans, grains, and seeds) are highly ‘concentrated’ foods, which means they contain a low amount of water. As our bodies are 70% water, our daily diet should primarily consist of foods which contain a similar percentage of water with concentrated foods only making up about 30% of our diet. For this and other reasons, a daily high consumption of dairy products, not only can produce the same degenerative diseases so common in meat-eating societies, but many others as well. In the last chapter we have learned that a high consumption of animal flesh (especially, fried, roasted or barbecued) is the main cause of various cancers, cardio-vascular diseases, osteoporosis, arthritis, Alzheimer disease, kidney and liver problems, and many other degenerative illnesses. But, as unnatural and unhealthy this diet is, a dairy diet is even worse! Yes, the daily consumption of cow’s milk (raw or processed), cheese, yoghurt, cream, etc, will sooner or later ruin our health. Worse still, a daily high intake of meat and dairy foods will most likely kill us whilst still young! Be that as it may, there are many degenerative diseases which have been known to be caused by, linked to, and/or promoted by the daily consumption of cow’s milk and other dairy foods. This is irrefutably proven by the fact (already mentioned earlier) that those ‘vegetarians’ who consume a large amount of dairy foods are generally not healthier than flesh-eaters. The following list of diary consumption related illnesses and symptoms - some of which life threatening - should stress the vital importance of a dairy-free diet!

 GENERAL: Loss of appetite, growth retardation.

UPPER GASTRINTESTINAL: Canker sores (aphthous stomatitis), irritation of tongue, lips and mouth, tonsil enlargement, vomiting, gastroesophageal, reflux (GERD), Sandifer's syndrome, peptic ulcer disease, colic, stomach cramps, abdominal distention, intestinal obstruction, Type-1 diabetes.

LOWER GASTROINTESTINAL: Bloody stools, colitis, malabsorption, diarrhea, painful defecation, fecal soiling, infantile colic, chronic constipation, infantile food protein-induced enterocolitis syndrome (FPIES), Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, nasal stuffiness, runny nose, otitis media (inner ear trouble), sinusitis, wheezing, asthma, and pulmonary infiltrates.

BONES AND JOINTS: Rheumatoid arthritis, juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, Beheta's disease, (possibly psoriatic arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis).

SKIN: Rashes, atopic dermatitis, eczema, seborrhea, hives (urticaria)

NERVOUS SYSTEM (BEHAVIORAL): Multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, autism, schizophrenia, irritability, restlessness, hyperactivity, headache, lethargy, fatigue, "allergic-tension fatigue syndrome," muscle pain, mental depression, enuresis (bed-wetting).

BLOOD: Abnormal blood clotting, iron deficiency anemia, low serum proteins, thrombocytopenia, and eosinophilia.

OTHER: Nephrotic syndrome, glomerulonephritis, anaphylactic shock and death, sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS or crib or cot death), injury to the arteries causing arteritis, and eventually, atherosclerosis.

If this list of degenerative illnesses, weren’t alarming enough, many studies and much research have linked a high consumption of cow’s milk (the processed type in particular) and other dairy products to such life-threatening diseases as: Type 2 diabetes, osteoporosis, ovarian, breast, prostate, and colon cancer, constipation, leukemia virus, cataract, cardio-vascular diseases, arthritis, colds, flu, pneumonia, asthma, hay fever, tuberculosis, sinus troubles, colitis, obesity, enlarged tonsils, as well as some autoimmune diseases such as MS and Type 1 diabetes and, most probably, many others. A complete list of these illnesses includes: Graves’ disease (hyperthyroidism), rheumatoid arthritis, thyroiditis (hypothyroidism), vitilgo, pernicious anemia, glomerulonephritis, systemic lupus, Sjogren’s disease, myasthenia gravis, Addison’s disease, scleroderma, primary biliary cirrhosis, uveitis, chronic active hepatitis, and polymyositis/dermatomyositis.

 Three chronic illnesses - especially found in Western societies - are Type 1 diabetes, multiple sclerosis (MS), and autism. The medical profession tells us that these very serious illnesses are not nutrition and lifestyle-related, cannot be prevented, have no known cause, and are incurable. One doesn’t have to hold a degree in medicine to realize that all diseases have one or more causes and can be generally prevented. Generally, most diseases can be cured; that is, as long as they are taken on time and their causes are permanently removed. (A disease can only be cured by eliminating its cause/s, not by merely treating its effects.) Unfortunately, Type 1 diabetes, MS, and autism are still incurable illnesses. I, for one, have no doubt that, one of the reasons of their incurability is due to the fact that mainstream medicine still pays almost no attentiveness to the role that nutrition and diet may play in the contracting of these illnesses. Be that as it may, many worldwide studies and research have linked Type 1 diabetes, MS, and autism to a daily high intake of cow’s milk and their derivative products. Here, I am not implying there is only one cause for these diseases but, enough scientific evidence has clearly indicated that animal milk (especially cow’s milk) is the main cause (or, at least, one of the main causes) of any of them. Below I will briefly discuss Type 1 diabetes and Multiple Sclerosis (MS). As for autism, it will be examined in a later chapter. For now, I am only saying that all so-called mental diseases are in fact diseases of the brain; the effects may be called ‘mental’ but the causes are very much physical. The so-called ‘mind’ is just a concept, and as such it cannot be treated neither with diet or drugs nor with surgery, but the brain, as well as the cardiovascular and the respiratory systems which keep it alive, certainly can. I think the sooner both orthodox and natural medicine will accept this truth, the sooner autism will stop its meteoric rise! 

Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune chronic childhood condition in which the immune system is activated to destroy the cells in the pancreas which produce insulin. When the pancreas stop producing insulin, Type 1 diabetes (IDDM) sets in. In a few words, exposure to cow’s milk protein in infancy, when the intestinal tract is not yet properly formed, can cause this protein to enter the blood stream where antibodies to cow’s milk are made by the immune system. As it happens, these defensive antibodies also attack the pancreas’ insulin-producing cells. In a baby’s case, if he/she is not nursed long enough and is fed cow’s milk - usually in an infant formula - Type 1 diabetes is likely to ensue later in his/her childhood. The evidence pointing to cow’s milk consumption (especially pasteurized and/or homogenized milk) in the cause of Type 1 diabetes is strong enough to prompt the American Academy of Pediatrics to issue this warning: “Early exposure of infants to cow’s milk protein may be an important factor in the initiation of the ‘beta cells’ (insulin producing cells of the pancreas) destructive process in some individuals.” When the pancreas is destroyed, the child will have to take insulin shots every day. His/hers shortened lifespan will be plagued by various life-threatening illnesses such as, for example, heart diseases and kidney failure! In a Finnish study (one of the many), antibodies to beta-casein were found to be greatly elevated in bottle-fed infants when compared with breast-fed infants. In fact, children with Type 1 diabetes also showed higher levels of these antibodies. In his famous book, The China Study, Dr T. Colin Campbell, referring these Finnish studies, concluded: “The findings strongly confirm the danger of cow’s milk, especially to the genetically susceptible children.” Chart 9.3, on page 190 of his great book, is a clear indication of the strong link between cow’s milk consumption and incidence of Type 1 diabetes in various countries. Commenting on this chart, Dr Campbell wrote: “Cow’s milk consumption by children zero to fourteen years of age in twelve countries shows an almost perfect correlation with Type 1 diabetes. The greater the consumption of cow’s milk, the greater the prevalence of Type 1 diabetes. In Finland, Type 1 diabetes is thirty-six times more common than in Japan. Large amount of cow’s milk products are consumed in Finland but very little is consumed in Japan.” (According to many statistics, is one of the few countries where people know how to stay healthy, and whose governments care about their health!) Judging by the results of all the studies, we find that children weaned too early and fed cow’s milk-based formula show a 50 to 60 percent higher risk of developing Type 1 diabetes. Incidentally, in the U.S. many overweight children are now (2015) developing Type 2 diabetes as well as Type 1.

 Multiple Sclerosis (MS) - a chronic progressive neurological disorder - is another debilitating autoimmune illness, the cause of which is said to be a mystery. MS sufferers pass through episodes of acute attacks and gradually loose their ability to see and/or to walk. Eventually, they are confined to a bed for the rest of their life. Needless, to say, like many other illnesses, mainstream medical professionals totally disregard diet and lifestyle as the possible cause of this terrible disease. Fortunately, there have been (and there still are) dedicated medical researchers who have found a strong connection between diet and MS. Dr Roy Swank was one of these dedicated professionals who began his work in Norway and at the Montreal Neurological Institute during the 1940s. Later, Dr Swank headed the division of Neurology at the University of Oregon Medical School. He and his team of devoted researchers soon realized that MS was over 100 times more prevalent in the far north than at the equator. This is not surprising, as exposure to the sun has been found to have something to do with the onset of MS. The consumption of animal-based foods - especially cow’s milk and its derivative products - also increases with the distance from the equator. In fact, milk consumption varies from almost zero in equatorial Africa to very high levels in northern European countries such as Finland, Norway, and Sweden. Although not 100 percent conclusive, Chart 9.5, on page 197 of the book The China Study, clearly shows the positive correlation between cow’s milk and MS. According to Dr Swank’s studies in Norway, the incidence of MS was lower near the coastal areas of the country where the intake of fish was higher. This could be an indication that the omega-3 fats contained in fish have some protective effect. Needless to say, no Norwegian medical publication ever pointed out that dairy consumption was much lower in fish-eating areas. Obviously, the international ‘anything but diet’ brigade has been busy trying to conceal the important role played by diet in Norway, as well as elsewhere. The website of the Multiple Sclerosis International Federation, reads: “There is no credible evidence that MS is due to poor diet or dietary deficiency.” (No doubt this will come as a great consolation to those MS sufferers who are confined in a wheel chair waiting to die!)

Mainstream medical professionals and those scientists and nutritionists, who are in the payroll of the dairy industries, reject any connection between a high daily consumption of cow’s milk and MS. Medical dictionaries tell us that it is likely that an inherited, ‘immune response’ is responsible for the production of ‘auto-antibodies’ that attack the myelin sheath. According to some authorities the cause of this disease is likely to be an infection by one of the slow viruses which occurs during childhood, and after some years of latency, this virus triggers an auto-immune response. Others believe there is an antigen or environmental trigger for MS. It seems to me the main reason why mainstream medicine has been so far unable to discover the real cause of this terrible disease is that, figuratively speaking, orthodox medical authorities have been ‘barking at the wrong tree’. Two thousand and five hundred years ago, Hippocrates - the father of natural medicine declared: “Let food be your medicine and let medicine be your food.” Unfortunately for human health, his important advice is often quoted but very rarely put into practice! Returning to the possible causes of MS, many more studies and much research (apart from the work of Dr Roy Swank) have strengthened the link between the high consumption of cow’s milk and Type 1 diabetes and MS. Regarding the suggestion that viruses may be the cause of MS, no satisfactory conclusion has yet been reached. As for the genetic theory on the cause of this illness, it isn’t at all convincing. For example, people who migrate from one country to another still retain the same genes; they only change their diet, lifestyle, and environment. But, for example, Asians and Africans who emigrate to the U.S. or Australia (especially if they move before their adolescent years) are very likely to contract one or more of the diseases which are typical of these two Western countries. This is a very well known fact, which proves that MS (as well as other illnesses) are much strongly related to acquired diets and lifestyles than to genetic and other factors. This isn’t true for only MS and Type 1 diabetes, but to osteoporosis, obesity, rheumatoid arthritis, breast cancer, prostate cancer, colon cancer, cardiovascular diseases, Type 2 diabetes, as well as other illnesses.

The Important Role Sunshine and Vitamin D Play In Preventing Type 1 Diabetes, MS, and Other Illnesses

Many researchers have been aware for many decades that Type 1 diabetes, MS, and other diseases have been associated with the increase of latitude. As clearly shown in chart C.2, on page 364 of the book The China Study, there is a big difference in the prevalence of MS as we go away from the equator. A combination of lack of sunlight and high cow’s milk consumption are mostly likely to have a similar effect on MS and some other auto-immune diseases, as they operate through a similar mechanism. In brief, when sunrays reach our skin, the skin produces vitamin D; however, to be of any use, this vitamin has to travel to the liver, where it becomes ‘storage vitamin D’. Then this vitamin is transported by the blood to the kidneys where it is activated and converted into 1,25 D. This “supercharged” vitamin D performs the very important task of repressing the development of a large variety of serious diseases. Unfortunately, this activation and conversion process can be inhibited by foods which are high in calcium and by acid-forming animal proteins like meat and especially cow’s milk. As it has already been said above, these are the main type of foods which Nature never intended for us to eat in any quantity. Also, during the conversion of vitamin D into 1,25 it is very important that the kidney enzyme responsible for this task produces the correct amount of 1,25 D, and at the right time. The trouble is that if 1,25 D remains constantly at low levels, the risk of contracting one of more degenerative illnesses greatly increases. The logical question now is: “What causes low levels of this supercharged form of vitamin?” Yes, as you can probably guess by now, it is animal protein-containing meat and animal derived-foods which create such an acidic bodily environment that blocks the kidney enzyme from making 1,25 D. This is not all, as too much calcium in the blood also prevents the kidneys from producing this vital metabolic substance. Another task performed by 1.25 D is to keep the blood levels of calcium within a narrow range by monitoring and determining the amount of calcium that is absorbed from food, and how much is excreted. Basically, too much calcium in the blood causes 1,25 D to drop, and a drop in calcium results in an increase of 1.25 D. If calcium consumption is unnecessarily high, it lowers the activity of the kidney enzyme, thus lowering the 1,25 D levels. In fact, these levels are depressed by consuming foods which contain too much animal protein and calcium. Simply put, it is bad enough for our health to eat meat (which is an acid-forming, high protein food), but it is even worse to add cow’s milk and its derivatives to our diet. This is because these foods are loaded with both protein and calcium!

 According to what has been said above, both an adequate supply of sunshine and a healthy plant-based daily diet - which doesn’t contain any animal-derived milk and dairy products - are the two most important requirements in the prevention of, not only Type 1 diabetes and MS, but a large number of other degenerative illnesses! Speaking figuratively, now I can ‘hear’ a great many milk and cheese lovers shouting at me: “This is all very well, but from where are we going to obtain our daily supply of calcium?” Well … from which sources do the largest and strongest animals on this planet get their supply of calcium for their large and strong bones?” More to the point, where do the world’s vegans (some of whom well-known athletes) obtain this vital nutrient from?” Detailed answers to these questions have already been provided above.

 The Many Unhealthy Substances Found In Commercial Milk

Cow’s milk is an unnatural, unhealthy fluid which often contains a multitude of disease-causing substances. All cow’s milk (regular and ‘organic’) contains 59 active hormones, a large amount of allergenic substances, as well as cholesterol and saturated fat. Also most cows’ milk has measurable quantities of pesticides, herbicides, and dioxins (up to 200 times the safe levels), up to 52 powerful antibiotics, blood, faeces, bacteria, and viruses. Commercial cow’s milk is allowed (by law) to contain faeces, which is a primary source of various bacteria. Despite the process of pasteurization - which destroys many vital substances such as, for example, vitamins and enzymes - many bacteria survive; no wonder milk deteriorates very quickly. ‘Pus’ is also found in milk. In fact, one cubic centimetres of commercial cow’s milk is allowed to contain up to 750,000 of somatic cells (known as ‘Pus’) and 20,000 living bacteria, before it is kept off the market. This means that, when viewed through an electronic microscope. A drop of commercial milk will show many millions of live bacteria and pus cells. A whooping 49 per cent of whole milk is saturated fat; that is, 49 per cent of the calories derive from fat. Incidentally, butter is 100 per cent fat, and the fat content in cheddar cheese is 74 per cent fat. Unfortunately for their health, most people have no idea of how much fat is in milk. Perhaps, the very large numbers of fat people in the world need to comprehend that milk, ice cream, cheeses, yoghurts, as well as all the other milk-derived products (casein, whey, lactose, and colostrums) are the most likely cause of their obesity and hosts of other health problems. As for the cholesterol content found in the three cups of milk per day, recommended by the USDA, it is equivalent to what one would get from 53 slices of bacon! Here, it should be understood that the high amount of fat and cholesterol found in commercial milk is also found in raw cow’s milk.

Of the 59 hormones mentioned above, one is the powerful GROWTH hormone called ‘Insulin-like Growth Factor One (IGF-1). This hormone, which is equivalent in both cows and humans, is considered to be a ‘fuel cell’ for cancer. That is, medical research has found that IGF-1 is a key factor in the rapid growth and proliferation of breast, prostate, and colon cancers, and it is suspected that it promotes all cancers. This is one of the reasons why milk is referred to as ‘cancer food’. IGF-1 is known to stimulate the growth of both normal and cancerous cells. In 1990, researchers at Stanford University reported that IGF-1 promotes the growth of prostate cells. This was followed by the discovery that IGF-1 accelerates the growth of breast cancerous cells. In 1995, researchers at the National Institutes of Health reported that IGF-1 plays a central role in the progression of many childhood cancers and in the growth of tumours in breast cancer, small cell lung cancer, melanoma, and cancers of the pancreas and prostate. In September 1997 an international team of researchers reported the first epidemiological evidence that high IGF-1 concentrations are closely linked to an increased risk of prostate cancer. Many other researchers provided evidence of IGF-1's link to breast and colon cancer. Researchers at the FDA reported in 1990 that IGF-1 is not destroyed by pasteurization and that pasteurization actually increases its concentration in BST-milk!

One of the top ten U.S. polluters: Monsanto Chemical Co. (maker of deadly poisons such as DDT, Agent Orange, Roundup, etc.), spent the colossal amount of USD $500,000,000.00, that’s half a billion dollars, inventing a ‘shot’ to inject into dairy cows to force them to produce a much larger quantity of milk. A bovine growth hormone, manufactured by Monsanto (and marketed POSILLAC), was first synthesized in the early 1980s using genetic engineering techniques (recombinant DNA biotechnology - rBGH). Small-scale industry-sponsored trials showed that this hormone was effective in increasing milk yields by an average of 14 per cent if injected into cows every two weeks. In 1985 the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the United States approved the sale of milk from cows treated with rBGH (also known as BST) in large-scale veterinary trials and in 1993 approved commercial sale of milk from rBGH-injected cows. At the same time the FDA prohibited the special labelling of the milk so as to make it impossible for the consumer to decide whether or not to purchase it. [Here we have yet another example of American “democracy’ at work; but this isn’t to say that most other countries are any better, when it comes to put greed before people’s health and lives!] Concerns about the safety of milk from BST-treated cows were raised as early as 1988 by scientists in both England and the United States. One of the main concerns is the high levels of IGF-1 found in milk from treated cows; estimates vary from twice as high to 10 times higher than in normal cow's milk. There is also concern that the IGF-1 found in treated milk is much more potent than that found in regular milk because it seems to be bound less firmly to its accompanying proteins. In his 1996 article in the International Journal of Health Science, Dr. Samuel Epstein of the University of Illinois, warned of the danger of high levels of IGF-1 contained in milk from cows injected with synthetic bovine growth hormone (rBGH). He postulated that IGF-1 in rBGH-milk could be a potential risk factor for breast and gastrointestinal cancers. Despite assurances from the FDA and industry-paid consultants there are now just too many serious questions surrounding the use of milk from cows treated with synthetic growth hormone to allow its continued sale. Bovine growth hormone is banned in Australia, New Zealand and Japan. The European Union has maintained its moratorium on the use of rBGH and milk products from BST-treated cows are not sold in countries within the Union. Canada has also so far resisted pressure from the United States and the biotechnology lobby to approve the use of rBGH commercially. In light of the serious concerns about the safety of human consumption of milk from BST-treated cows consumers must maintain their vigilance to ensure that European and Canadian governments continue to resist the pressure to approve rBGH and that the FDA in the United States moves immediately to ban rBGH-milk or at least allow its labelling so that consumers can protect themselves against the very real cancer risks posed by IGF-1. Certainly, banning the sale of all milk from BST-treated cows would be a very wise and rational step to take.

 As already mentioned above, most cows’ milk contains herbicides and pesticides. Indeed, dairy products are one of the largest contributors to daily intake of chlorinated insecticides. For example, a 1988 FDA survey of milk samples from groceries stores in ten U.S. cities, carried out in 1988, found that seventy per cent of the samples contained pesticides residues. In India, a seven-year study of pesticide residues in milk in 12 Indian states revealed that at least 2,205 samples of bovine milk contained HCH isomers well above the tolerance limits. (HCH isomers, such as ‘Lindane’, are poisonous chemicals which have been used worldwide as insecticides.) Pesticides, such as ‘Chlordane and ‘Heptachlor’ cause cancer, harm the immune system, and it is suggested they may disrupt the endocrine system. The long ‘half-lives’ make sure they remain biologically active for decades. Many of the dairy cattle in Oahu (Hawaii) were accidentally fed pineapple leaves containing heptachlor residues. As a result, the local milk and dairy supply remained contaminated for years. Between 1981 and 1984, the legal standard for heptachlor residues in food (0.3 ppm) was exceeded ten-fold in milk and dairy products. Follow-up investigations found that the breast milk of women who had consumed local dairy products contained heptachlor at levels averaging 200 ppm - some cases exceeded 400 ppm. As the result of this contamination, breast cancer incidence among Japanese women in Hawaii increased 42% between 1970 and 1985.

 Dioxins are the most deadly chemicals ever produced by man. In fact, they are 170,000 times deadlier than cyanide! According to a 2010 article by the University of Queensland (Australia), Dioxins can cause adverse health effects in humans and wildlife including cancer, and act on development, reproduction, immunotoxicity, and the endocrine system. An Australian study analyzed 23 different pesticide formulations, containing 15 different active ingredients currently used in Australia, including insecticides, herbicides and fungicides. Dioxins were detected in all samples. These include commonly used pesticides, such as PCNB, MCPA, 2,4-D, chlorothalonil and triclopyr/picloram. Others are Fluroxypyr, Mecoprop, Flumetsulam, Imazamox, Prochloraz, Fenamisphos, Chlorpyrifos, Lindane; 2,4-D; 2,4-DB; Chlorthal and Quintozene. Researchers estimate that approximately 200 pesticides have the potential to contain dioxins. These pesticides are used on crops including cotton, potatoes, lettuce, tomatoes, beans and peanuts, as well as in parks and recreation areas, at turf farms and plant nurseries.

 According to the findings of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the levels of dioxin in a single serving of a well-known vanilla ice cream tested was found to be almost 200 times higher than the regarded safe daily dose. It is a little known fact that the primary source of dioxins for the general population is food, especially meat, fish, and dairy products. This is because dioxins - being a by-product of many industrial processes - can penetrate the environment via air, water, and soil, thus incorporating themselves in the food chain. According to a 1999 Polish study, the major source (90 per cent) is the consumption of a variety of food (commercial cow’s milk in particular). The ongoing consumption of dioxin-contaminated cow’s milk leads to the accumulation of these deadly poisons in human tissues, thus exceeding the established “acceptable levels”.

An article in the January 1998 edition of the American Journal of Animal Science, explained that “The lipophilic (related to lipids) nature of dioxins results in higher concentration in the fat of animal and fish products, and their excretion via milk secretion in dairy cattle, may result in relatively high concentrations of dioxin contamination in high-fat dairy products.” Research has shown that dioxin is also found in milk which is packaged in chlorine bleached paper cartons. In fact, three cups of milk (the daily dose recommended by the U.S. AFD), even from cartons that have been lined with plastic, contain more dioxin than the recommended allowance. Here, the carefully concealed truth is that the only safe level of dioxin exposure is no exposure at all. And the same is true about most of the other unnatural and unhealthy substances found in commercial penicillin and antibiotics. In the New England Journal Of Medicine, Doctors Holmberg, Osterholm et al., pointed out that “The widespread practice of feeding antibiotics to cattle to speed up their growth creates potentially deadly bacteria that can infect humans. Seventeen persons became sick and one died because a herd of South Dakota cattle was fed antibiotics.”

Cow’s Milk-related Diseases in Developing Countries

 Regrettably, it is an undisputable fact that too many people worldwide haven’t got the faintest idea of what is the right diet for them, and, metaphorically speaking, they keep digging their own early graves with their knives, forks, and spoons. In other words, unlike the other members of the Animal Kingdom, they keep going against Nature with dire consequences for their health and the health of their children! To be sure, the majority of people in the world (especially in Asia and Africa) have always avoided cow’s milk and dairy products. But, unfortunately for these people’s health, the ever growing flow of Western tourists to these countries has gradually contributed to the increasing local incidence of obesity, certain cancers, cardiovascular illnesses, diabetes, osteoporosis, and other diseases so common in Western societies. In other words, Asians and Africans, for example, are gradually becoming victims of the so-called ‘diseases of affluence’. Also, those people from Asia and Africa who have emigrated to the West have fallen victim of one or more of these diseases. That is, people who have emigrated to the U.S., Australia, Canada, the U.K., or other Western countries - and have adopted these countries’ unhealthy meat and milk-rich diets - have done so at the expense of their health.

 It is true that cow’s milk and its derivative products have helped to reduce the incidence of the so-called ‘diseases of poverty’ in some Asian, African, and some other so-called developing countries. But, unfortunately, it did (and does) so at the expense of these people’s future health. Be that as it may, when faced with death by starvation, even such a disease-causing food as cow’s milk can become a necessity - a ‘necessary evil’, so to speak.

 When it comes to developing countries adopting Western diets, Vietnam, is a very good example. Unfortunately for their health, many Vietnamese people started consuming cow’s milk and dairy products, with the result that that country’s ‘diseases of poverty’ have been gradually replaced with the ‘diseases of affluence’. This started happening at about the end of the 1990s, when the tourist influx to that country greatly increased. When I firstly visited Vietnam in 2001 - and travelled from South to North, I saw hardly any obese people. Also, upon inquiring, I found out that osteoporosis was almost unknown in Vietnam. This didn’t surprised me, as very few Vietnamese drank cow’s milk and ate cheese, butter, yoghurt and other milk-derived products. The second time I visited Vietnam, two years later, I spent two months in Da Nang - a large city located about half way between Ha Noi and Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon). Being a keen photographer, I spent much of my day time on the back of a motorbike looking for interesting buildings, people, landscapes, and other of the many subjects that make Vietnam a photographer’s paradise. One of the things that struck me about Da Nang was the fact that I saw no more than a handful of overweight people. In fact the overwhelming majority of the men and women I came across in that city were skinny. At that time, I attributed this fact to genetics and/or a typical characteristic of the Vietnamese people. But, as soon as I returned to Australia I found out I was wrong. That is, in Adelaide (the city I lived at that time) I saw many Vietnamese Australians who were anything but skinny!

 Since then, I have visited Vietnam another eight times, and the last two times I did so, I noticed two significant changes: 1) the number of skinny Vietnamese men and women had decreased; and 2) the number of Western tourists, and Western restaurants (especially Italian and French ones) had increased, and so had the number of Vietnamese people who often ate in these foreign restaurants. From an anatomical and physiological point of view, Vietnamese people have not changed at all. What has changed for the worse, however, are the figures and state of health of those Vietnamese people who adopted the typical Western diet and lifestyle. The first few times I visited Vietnam, the overwhelming majority of people ate various types of noodles soups for breakfast; but gradually, many of them started eating more Western-type foods (especially cow’s milk and its derivative products) with dire consequences for their health! In other words, most of the Vietnamese people who have been unwise enough to adopt Western eating and drinking habits (or have emigrated to the West) not only have lost their slim bodies, but have contracted the same degenerative diseases so common in milk gulping Western societies. To be sure, those Vietnamese men and women who have started drinking cow’s milk, as well as eating more meat and sugary foods, are growing taller and bigger. Also, in my latest trip to that country I noticed that young men, in particular, are generally more muscular now than their counterparts were about 15 years ago. But I also found out that - apart from obesity - the number of breast, prostate, bowel, and other cancers, as well as diabetes, osteoporosis, arthritis, cardio-vascular illnesses, and other typical Western diseases has now increased. No doubt, a high consumption of meat, milk, cheese, and other animal-derived foods leads to taller, larger, and more muscular bodies, but it also leads to an earlier grave! [In the last chapter we have seen how big muscle can be obtained on a meat and milk-free diet, as proven by many vegan strongmen and other athletes. The same chapter also contains a long list of top wrestlers and bodybuilders who died young because of their high consumption of milk and meat, as well as their derivative products.]

Dairy Farming Environmental Destruction

Let’s now briefly consider the worldwide ecological damage caused by dairy farming. In other words, large dairy farms have an enormous detrimental effect on the natural environment. For example, in California -America’s top milk-producing state - manure from dairy farms has poisoned hundreds of square miles of groundwater, rivers, and streams. In that state, factory-farmed animals, including those on dairy farms, produce an average of 1.65 billion tons of manure each year, and much of which ends up in waterways and drinking water. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, agricultural runoff is the primary cause of polluted lakes, streams, and rivers. Also, the dairy industry is the primary source of smog-forming pollutants in California. This is not surprising, as a single cow emits even more of these harmful gasses than a car does!

Animal products deplete resources such as land and water massively, since the animals have to be daily fed and supplied with water all through their lives. For example, each cow raised by the dairy industry consumes as much as 40 gallons of water per day! Growing loads of crops for animals and then feeding on them is a terribly inefficient, wasteful, and expensive way for people to feed themselves. For example, it takes up to 10 kg of grains to make 1 kg of animal food! As much as 50% of India’s annual maize crop becomes cattle feed. In the U.S., two-thirds of all agricultural land is used to raise animals for food or to grow grain to feed them. According to an United Nations study, animal products use a whopping 70% of the world’s agricultural land and are responsible for 18% of the greenhouse gas emissions, and considerable deforestation. People’s carnivorous choices lead to the breeding - and subsequent torture & killing - of tens of billions of farm animals (several times the entire human population) in one year! In other words - apart from many other considerations - there is simply not enough land and water on Earth to sustain the world on animal products!

Quotations on Cow’s Milk, Dairy Products, and Related Topics

 At this point, I realize that many readers may be sceptical about the validity and scientific value of my highly critical views on cow’s milk and dairy products in general. After all, I am a Clinical Nutrition Consultant and Herbalist, not a medical doctor or scientist. This is why I am including the following quotations on and appraisals of cow’s milk and dairy products, which come mostly from highly qualified American medical scientists, researchers, and other specialists in the fields of nutrition and health. The following list is based on Robert Cohen’s book Milk A-Z.

         ALLERGIES

"Dairy products may play a major role in the development of allergies, asthma, sleep difficulties, and migraine headaches."
Israel Journal of Medical Sciences 1983; 19(9): 806-809 Pediatrics 1989; 84(4): 595-603

 "In reality, cow's milk, especially processed cow's milk, has been linked to a variety of health problems, including: mucous production, hemoglobin loss, childhood diabetes, heart disease, atherosclerosis, arthritis, kidney stones, mood swings, depression, irritability, allergies."
Townsend Medical Letter, May, 1995, Julie Klotter, MD

"At least 50% of all children in the United States are allergic to cow's milk, many undiagnosed. Dairy products are the leading cause of food allergy, often revealed by diarrhea, constipation, and fatigue. Many cases of asthma and sinus infections are reported to be relieved and even eliminated by cutting out dairy."
Natural Health, July, 1994, Nathaniel Mead, MD

 "Most formula fed infants developed symptoms of allergic rejection to cow milk proteins before one month of age. About 50-70% experienced rashes or other skin symptoms, 50-60 percent gastrointestinal symptoms, and 20-30 percent respiratory symptoms. The recommended therapy is to avoid cow's milk."
"Epidemiological and Immunological Aspects of Cow's Milk Protein allergy and Intolerance in Infancy." Pediatric-Allergy-Immunology, August, 1994, 5(5 Suppl.)

BREAST CANCER

There are hundreds of millions of different proteins in nature, and only one hormone that is identical between any two species. That powerful growth hormone is insulin-like growth factor, or IGF-I. IGF-I survives digestion and has been identified as the KEY FACTOR in breast cancer's growth. IGF-I is identical in human and cow.

"Human Insulin-like growth factor (IGF-I) and bovine IGF-I are identical. Both contain 70 amino acids in the identical sequence."
Judith C. Juskevich and C. Greg Guyer. SCIENCE, vol. 249. August 24, 1990.

"IGF-I is critically involved in the aberrant growth of human breast cancer cells."
M. Lippman. J. Natl. Inst. Health Res., 1991, 3.

 "Estrogen regulation of IGF-I in breast cancer cells would support the hypothesis that IGF-I has a regulatory function in breast cancer."
A.V. Lee, Mol-Cell- Endocrinol., March, 99 (2).

 "IGF-I is a potent growth factor for cellular proliferation in the human breast carcinoma cell line."
J.C. Chen, J-Cell-Physiol., January, 1994, 158 (1)

 "Insulin-like growth factors are key factors for breast cancer growth."
J.A. Figueroa, J-Cell-Physiol., Nov., 1993, 157 (2)

 "IGF-I produces a 10-fold increase in RNA levels of cancer cells. IGF-I appears to be a critical component in cellular proliferation."
X.S. Li, Exp-Cell-Res., March, 1994, 211 (1)

 "IGF-I plays a major role in human breast cancer cell growth."
E.A. Musgrove, Eur-J-Cancer, 29A (16), 1993

 "IGF-I has been identified as a key factor in breast cancer."
Hankinson. The Lancet, vol. 351. May 9, 1998

 "Serum IGF-I levels increased significantly in milk drinkers, an increase of about 10% IGF-1 accelerates the growth of breast cancabove baseline but was unchanged in the control group."
Robert P. Heaney, Journal of the American Dietetic Association, vol. 99, no. 10. October 1999

 "IGF-I accelerates the growth of breast cancer cells."
M. Lippman Science, Vol. 259, January 29, 1993

CROHN'S DISEASE

The most serious bacterial disease of cows is caused by mycobacterium paratuberculosis. Mycobacterium paratuberculosis causes a bovine disease called "Johne's."

Cows diagnosed with Johne's Disease have diarrhea, and heavy fecal shedding of bacteria. This bacteria becomes cultured in milk, and is not destroyed by pasteurization. Occasionally, the milkborne bacteria will begin to grow in the human host, and irritable bowel syndrome and Crohn's results.

 "It is reasonable to conjecture that M. paratuberculosis may be responsible for some cases of Crohn's disease."
Journal of Clinical Microbiology 1992; 30 (12): 3070-3073

 "Of 77 milk samples (taken from cows with Johne's disease), 11.6% were culture-positive (contained M. paratubercolosis)."
Journal of Clinical Microbiology 1992; 30 (1): 166-171

 "Mycobacterium paratuberculosis is capable of surviving commercial pasteurization, when there are more than 10 bacteria per millilitre in raw milk."
N. Sung, Applied and Environmental Microbiology: 64(3), Mar 1998.

EAR INFECTIONS

"Milk allergies are very common in children... They are the leading cause of the chronic ear infections that plague up to 40% of all children under the age of six."
Julian Whitaker, M.D., ‘Health & Healing’, October, 1998, Volume 8, No.10

"Cow's milk allergy is associated with recurrent otitis media (ear infection) during childhood."
Acta Otolaryngol 1999; 119 (8)

 "Breastfeeding protects US infants against the development of diarrhea and ear infection."
Pediatrics 1997 Jun; 9 (6):E5

"If a bottlefed baby has an ear infection, eliminate milk and dairy products from the child's diet for thirty days to see if any benefits result...a cause of frequent ear infections in children is food allergies."
James Balch, MD, "Prescription for Nutritional Healing" ISBN 0-89529-727-2

"Concerning ear infections, You just don't see this painful condition among infants and children who aren't getting cow's milk into their systems."
William Northrup, M.D., Natural Health July, 94

“Cow’s milk has become a point of controversy among doctors and nutritionists. There was a time when it was considered very desirable, but research has forced us to rethink this recommendation... dairy products contribute to a surprising number of health problems (including) chronic ear problems..."
Benjamin Spock, M.D., "Child Care," 7th Edition

FAT

"The most popular definition for fat is a 'greasy or oily substance.'Milk fat and the associated lipid material are present in milk...about 1500 billion or more may be found in a pint of milk. The fats of plant origin in the cow's diet contain large amounts of polyunsaturated fatty acids. These fats are hydrolyzed in the cow's rumen. The liberated fatty acids are then converted into saturated fatty acids."
Lincoln Lampert, "Modern Dairy Products," Third Edition

 "Milk fat has been identified as a cholesterol-elevating fat because it contains cholesterol and is primarily saturated."
Journal of Dairy Science 1991; 74 (11)

"Preference for a diet high in animal fat could be a pathogenic factor, and milk and high fat dairy products contribute considerably to dietary fat intake."
J. Am Coll Nutr, 2000 Apr, 19:2 Suppl.

"Dietary fat during childhood may be more life-threatening than was originally suspected... Overweight children are usually the victims of the dietary habits of the adult members of the family...Reducing dietary fat to levels necessary to the control of cholesterol cannot be achieved if a child drinks whole milk or eats cheese."
Charles Attwood, M.D., "Dr. Attwood's Low-Fat Prescription for Kids"

GROWTH FACTOR AND IGF-I

Insulin-like growth factor (IGF-I) in humans and cows are identical. Like a key fitting into a lock, this hormone is a perfect match between two species of animal and exerts powerful growth effects. IGF-I is the most powerful growth hormone in the human body. Every sip of milk and every bite of cheese contains IGF-I.

"A strong positive association was observed between IGF-I levels and prostate cancer risk."
Science, vol. 279. January 23, 1998

 "Insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-I, a mitogenic and antiapoptotic peptide, can affect the proliferation of breast epithelial cells, and is thought to have a role in breast cancer."
The Lancet, vol. 351. May 9, 1998

 "Insulin-like growth factors (IGFs), in particular IGF-I and IGF-II, strongly stimulate the proliferation of a variety of cancer cells, including those from lung cancer. High plasma levels of IGF-I were associated with an increased risk of lung cancer. Plasma levels of IGF-I are higher...in patients with lung cancer than in control subjects."
Journal of the National Cancer Institute, vol. 91, no. 2. January 20, 1999

 "Insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) is expressed in many tumor cell lines and has a role in both normal cell proliferation and in the growth of cancers.
The Cancer Gene, 2000 Mar, 7:3

 "The insulin-like growth factor (IGF) system is widely involved in human carcinogenesis. A significant association between high circulating IGF-I concentrations and an increased risk of lung, colon, prostate and pre-menopausal breast cancer has recently been reported. Lowering plasma IGF-I may thus represent an attractive strategy to be pursued..."
J. Cancer, 2000 Aug, 87:4, 601-5

"...serum IGF-I levels increased significantly in the milk drinking group…an increase of about 10% above baseline-but was unchanged in the control group."
Journal of the American Dietetic Association, vol. 99, no. 10. October 1999

HEART DISEASE

Heart disease is America's number one killer. Most American's and scientific agencies are in agreement: Saturated animal fat and cholesterol do not do the heart any good. According to USDA figures, each day, the average American eats just 5 ounces of meat and chicken containing saturated fat and cholesterol, and 29.2 ounces of milk and dairy products (666 pounds per American) containing the same dangerous factors.

"Milk and milk products gave the highest correlation coefficient to heart disease, while sugar, animal proteins and animal fats came in second, third, and fourth, respectively."
A Survey of Mortality Rates and Food Consumption Statistics of 24 Countries, Medical Hypothesis 7:907-918, 1981

 "More patients who had suffered a myocardial infarction had elevated levels of antibodies against milk proteins than was found in a comparable group of patients without coronary heart disease."
Davies, Antibodies and Myocardial Infarction, The Lancet, ii: 205-207, 1980

 "Milk consumption correlates positively with cholesterol levels in blood as well as coronary mortality. In comparisons between 17 countries, there is a good correlation between national cholesterol levels and mortality from ischaemic heart disease."
European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 48:305-325, 1994

 "Although studies point out strong negative correlations between wine consumption and heart disease... six countries with the highest mortality show no correlation at all. Finland ranks highest of all in milk consumption, wine consumption and mortality from heart disease."
The Lancet, I, 1017-1020, 1979

 "Milk and many components of milk (butterfat, milk protein, calcium from milk, and riboflavin)… were positively related to coronary heart disease mortality for all 40 countries studied."
Circulation 1993; 88 (6): 2771-2779

 "For ischemic heart disease milk carbohydrates were found to have the highest statistical association for males aged 35+ and females aged 65+. In the case coronary heart disease, non-fat milk was found to have the highest association for males aged 45+ and females aged 75+, while for females 65-74, milk carbohydrates and sugar had the highest associations...animal proteins contribute to homocysteine production; however, milk more than meat lacks adequate B vitamins to convert homocysteine to useful products. Lactose and calcium in conjunction with homocysteine from consumption of non-fat milk may also contribute to calcification of the arteries."
Altern Med Rev, 1998 Aug, 3:4

 "Excessive milk consumption may adversely affect the circulation on account of the high calcium content of milk and because lactose promotes the intestinal absorption of calcium. Excessive calcium intake may cause calcification and rigidification of the large elastic arteries, which could be an important factor in causing myocardial ischaemia."
Med Hypotheses, 2000 May, 54:5

IRON DEFICIENCY

“ ... Hundreds of ailments can result from too-little iron, and milk consumption has been shown to cause intestinal bleeding, which ultimately results in lowering one's hemoglobin count. The result: weakness, depression, and irritability. "Cow's milk can cause blood loss from the intestinal tract, which over time, reduces the body's iron stores. Blood loss may be a reaction to cow's milk proteins."
Journal of Pediatrics, 1990, 116

 "Babies who are fed whole cow’s milk during the second six months of life may experience a 30% increase in intestinal blood loss and a significant loss of iron in their stools."
Pediatrics 1982; 89 (6)

 "...infants who consume cows' milk during infancy are at increased risk of developing anaemia. Breast milk is the ideal..."
Public Health Nutr, 1998 Jun, 1:2

 "Children with iron deficiency had a higher intake of cow's milk compared to those with sufficient iron. Intake of cow's milk is significantly higher in children with iron deficiency."
Acta Paediatrica, 1999 Dec, 88:12

 "Cow's milk-induced intestinal bleeding is a well-recognized cause of rectal bleeding in infancy. In all cases, bleeding resolved completely after instituting a cow's milk-free diet.
J. Pediatric Surg, 1999 Oct, 34:10

"Cow's milk allergy (CMA) is one of the most common food allergies in young infants...The clinical presentation of these infants may be very traumatic to their parents, as significant rectal bleeding is the most common symptom in this disease."
West Virginia Med Journal 1999 Sep-Oct; 95 (5)

"In reality, cow's milk, especially processed cow's milk, has been linked to a variety of health problems, including hemoglobin loss, mood swings, depression, and irritability."
Townsend Medical Letter, May, 1995

JUVENILE ILLNESSES

"Cow's milk allergy is a disease of infancy and usually appears in the first few months of life. The evaluation of infants for possible cow's milk allergy is one of the more common problems encountered by pediatricians."
Rev Eur Sci Med Farmacol 1990 Aug, 1 (4-5)

 "About 20% of babies suffer from colic, or abdominal cramping and gas. Milk proteins may be one of the leading causes of this digestive disorder."
Pediatrics, 1991; 87 (4):4

 "Chronic diarrhea is the most common gastrointestinal symptom of intolerance of cow's milk among children...cow's milk can also cause severe perianal lesions with pain on defecation and consequent constipation in young children. In young children, chronic constipation can be a manifestation of intolerance of cow's milk."
N Engl J Med, 1998 Oct, 339:16, 1100-4

"At least 50% of all children in the United States are allergic to milk, many undiagnosed. Dairy products are the leading cause of food allergy, often revealed by constipation, diarrhea, and fatigue. Many cases of asthma and sinus infections are reported to be relieved and even eliminated by cutting out dairy."
Frank Oski, M.D., Chief of Pediatrics at Johns Hopkins Medical School Natural Health, July, 1994

 "Cow's milk allergy (CMA) is a common disease of infancy and childhood. An appropriate cow's milk substitute is necessary for feeding babies with CMA."
J Allergy Clin Immunol, 1999 Jun, 103:6

 "Laboratory and clinical investigations over the past two decades have demonstrated that food allergy plays a pathogenic role in a subset of patients, primarily infants and children, with atopic dermatitis. Removal of the causal food protein(s) leads to clinical improvement but requires a great deal of education because most of the common causal foods are ubiquitous in the food supply."
J Allergy Clin Immunol, 1999 Sep, 104:3

"Allergic asthma and rhinitis, atopic dermatitis (AD) urticaria and gastrointestinal allergy, are common diseases of infants and children. Cow's milk appears to be the most common offending food both in gastrointestinal and in cutaneous manifestations of atopic disease. It was recently estimated that 14% of children suffer from AD and about 25% from adverse reactions to cow's milk."
Eur Rev Med Pharmacol Sci, 1998 May

KILLER BACTERIA

"Salmonella are widespread in the environment and hence can enter the dairy factory from various sources. Butter readily supports growth of salmonella at room temperature, but refrigeration or freezing for brief periods does not eliminate it. Salmonella can remain viable in butter for up to 9 months."
Journal of Dairy Science 1992; 75 (9):2339

 "Raw material from animals which are inadvertently contaminated with fecal matters during production will carry antibiotic resistant lactic acid bacteria into the final fermented products such as raw milk cheeses..."
Antonie Van Leeuwenhoek, 1999 Jul, 76

"The administration of sub-therapeutic doses of antibiotics to livestock introduces selective pressures that may lead to the emergence and dissemination of resistant bacteria. The present findings clearly demonstrate that antibiotic-resistant bacteria in beef and milk pose a serious problem."
J Food Prot, 1999 Jun, 62:6

“... Last month I left you with some very disturbing facts about the contamination of milk with loads of bacteria and millions of white blood cells (pus cells) which bare there to help fight off the infections found in cows and milk ...”
Dr John McDougall - from his ‘April 2003 Newsletter’

 “Listeria organisms excreted in cow’s milk escaped pasteurization, grew well at a refrigerator temperature, and were ingested by consumers.”
New England Journal of Medicine, 1985, 312 (7)

 “In 1992, 19,000 deaths were attributed to milk infection caused  by antibiotic-resistant organism. They played a partial role in another 50,000 deaths that same year.”
‘Your Health’, June 1994

 “The bovine leukemia virus has been classified in the same group  as the human T-cell Leukemia/Lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I), which is known to cause leukemia and lymphoma in humans.”
Dr John McDougall - ‘Adult T-cell Leukemia/lymphoma’

LACTOSE INTOLERANCE

Lactose, a milk sugar, is made up of two other sugars, glucose and galactose. (Galactose has been identified as a causative factor in heart disease and cataracts). Most adults "lack" the enzyme, lactase, to break down lactose. Instead, lactose is broken down by bacteria in the lower intestine bacteria. The problem is that their own body wastes combine with those sugars to ferment into gas and toxins causing bloating and cramps.

"An estimated 50 million Americans experience intestinal discomfort after consuming dairy products. Symptoms include bloating, stomach pain, cramps, gas, or diarrhea."
Postgraduate Medicine 1994; 95(1)

 "Overall, about 75 percent of the world's population, including 25 percent of those in the U.S., lose their lactase enzymes after weaning."
J. of the American Dietetic Assoc. 1996; 96

"Lactose intolerance is widespread...Lactose mal-digestion may coexist in adults with irritable bowel syndrome and in children with recurrent abdominal pain. Management consists primarily of dietary changes."
Postgrad Med, 1998 Sep, 104:3.

 "Lactose maldigestion may be a contributory factor in children with irritable bowel syndrome, and lactose avoidance in these patients may reduce medication use to relieve symptoms."
South Med J, 1999 Aug, 92:8

 "Lactose malabsorption and lactase deficiency are chronic organic pathologic conditions characterized by abdominal pain and distention, flatulence, and the passage of loose, watery stools. Once correct diagnosis is established, introduction of a lactose-free dietary regime relieves symptoms in most patients...who remain largely unaware of the relationship between food intake and symptoms."
J Clin Gastroenterol, 1999 Apr, 28:3

"Females with lactose malabsorption not only showed signs of irritable bowel syndrome but also signs of premenstrual syndrome and mental depression... Lactose mal-absorption should be considered in patients with signs of mental depression."
Dig Dis Sci, 1998 Nov, 43:11

"Allergies and food intolerance together comprise the manifestations of 'adverse food reaction'. The best known and most common are: allergy to cow's milk proteins, intolerance to lactose, and gluten intolerance. Treatment of these conditions is based on management of the diet by exclusion (or reduction) of the responsible food or antigen."
Rev Prat, 1998 Feb, 48:4 (French journal)

 “Knowing the strength of the evidence against animal foods, cow’s milk in particular, for both Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and Type 1 diabetes, and knowing how much in common all the autoimmune diseases have, it is reasonable to begin thinking about food and its relationship to a much broader group of autoimmune diseases.”
Dr T. Colin Campbell, Ph D. - ‘The China Study’

 “...The consumption of animal-based foods, especially cow’s milk, also increases with distance from the equator. In fact, in one of the more extensive studies, cow’s milk was found to be as good predictor of MS as latitude (i.e., sunshine).”
Dr T. Colin Campbell, Ph D. - ‘The China Study’

NASAL CONGESTION

Long distance runners know. Opera singers know. Broadway actors and actresses are told not to consume milk or dairy products or their voices will become "phlegmy." Eighty percent of milk protein is casein, a tenacious glue and allergenic protein. Eat casein and you produce histamines, then mucous. The reaction is often delayed, occurring 12-15 hours after consumption. Few people note the ill effects because milk and dairy products represent 40% of what the average American eats (about 666 pounds per American per year), and these proteins are continuously eaten. By eliminating ALL milk and dairy for just one week, most people note the differences, which include better sleep, more energy, better bowel movements, clarity in thought, muscle, bone, back pain relief, and no nasal congestion.

"Allergy to cow's milk proteins has been defined as any adverse reaction mediated by immunological mechanisms to one or several of these proteins. Reactions to cow's milk have been classified according on their onset as immediate (< 45 min) or delayed-type (from 2 hours to days). In the challenge test, 10 hours after milk intake the patient presented serous rhinorrea, sneezing and nasal blockade."
J Investig Allergol Clin Immunol, 1998 Jul, 8:4

"...62.7% of the children were confirmed to be allergic to milk..." (153 hospitalized infants with pneumonia or bronchitis were tested)
Roczniki Akademii Medycznej 1995; 40(3) (Polish Journal)

 "Allergy to cow's milk protein often persists beyond 4 years of age. Clinical presentation changed over time: at onset symptoms were prevalently gastrointestinal, while at the end of the study there was an increased frequency of wheezing and constipation and a higher frequency of delayed reactions...infants with persistent cow's milk protein intolerance exhibited atopic disease: asthma, rhinitis, eczema."
Clin Exp Allergy, 1998 Jul, 28:7

 "Cow's milk is one of the most frequent food allergens. Whole casein appears to be highly allergenic...85% of the patients presented a response to each of the four caseins. "
Int Arch Allergy Immunol, 1998 Mar, 115:3

 "Symptoms of milk-protein allergy include cough, choking, gasping, nose colds, asthma, sneezing attacks..."
Annals of Allergy, 1951; 9

 "Symptoms seen most frequently in babies who are identified as allergic to cow's milk included diarrhea, repeated vomiting, eczema, recurrent attacks of nasal congestion, and recurrent bronchitis."
Frank Oski, M.D., ‘Don't Drink Your Milk’

 "Some textbooks of pediatrics either avoid mentioning cow's milk allergy or only lightly refer to it...On the other hand, there are those, particularly among pediatricians, and to a lesser extent among general practitioners, who over-zealously label infants 'milk sensitive' and who are inclined to recommend discontinuing the use of cow's milk whenever an infant has a gastrointestinal upset, respiratory symptom, or a skin rash."
Allergies to Milk, 1980 SL Bahna, M.D., DC Heiner, M.D.

OSTEOPOROSIS AND BONE FRACTURES

American women have been consuming an average of two pounds of milk per day for their entire lives, yet thirty million American women have osteoporosis. Drinking milk does not prevent bone loss. Bone loss is accelerated by ingesting too much protein, and milk has been called "liquid meat."

In order to absorb calcium, the body needs comparable amounts of another mineral element, magnesium. Milk and dairy products contain only small amounts of magnesium. Magnesium is the centre atom of chlorophyll.

“Milk, in particular, is poor insurance against bone breaks ... the healthiest calcium sources are green leafy vegetables and legumes ...”
Dr John McDougall

 "Osteoporosis is caused by a number of things, one of the most important being too much dietary protein."
Science 1986; 233 (4763)

 "Countries with the highest rates of osteoporosis, such as the United States, England, and Sweden, consume the highest quantity of dairy products. Japan and Vietnam, for example - where people eat much less dairy foods - have low to very low rates of osteoporosis."
Nutrition Action Health Letter, June, 1993

 "What appears to be important in bone metabolism is not calcium intake, but calcium balance. The loss of bone integrity among many post menopausal white women probably results from genetics and from diet and lifestyle factors. Research shows that calcium losses are increased by the use of animal protein, salt, caffeine, and tobacco, and by physical inactivity."
Neal Barnard, M.D., Physician's Committee for Responsible Medicine, Understanding Health, December, 1999

 "About 50,000 Americans die each year of problems related in some way to osteoporosis."
Osteoporosis International 199 3 (3)

 "Even when eating 1,400 mg of calcium daily, one can lose up to 4% of his or her bone mass each year while consuming a high-protein diet."
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 1979;32 (4)

 "Increasing one's protein intake by 100% may cause calcium loss to double."
Journal of Nutrition, 1981; 111 (3)

 The average man in the U.S. eats 175% more protein than the recommended daily allowance and the average woman eats 144% more!
U.S. Surgeon General's Report on Nutrition and Health, 1988

 "Calcium intake demonstrated no protective in preventing bone fractures. In fact, those populations with the highest calcium intakes had higher fracture rates than those with more modest calcium intakes."
Calif Tissue Int 1992; 50

  “ Data indicates that frequent milk consumption and higher dietary calcium  intakes in middle aged women do not provide protection against hip  or forearm fractures... women consuming greater amounts of calcium  from dairy foods had significantly increased risks of hip fractures, while no increase in fracture risk was observed for the same levels of calcium from non-dairy sources."
12-year Harvard study of 78,000 women American Journal of Public Health 1997;87

 "Consumption of dairy products, particularly at age 20 years, were associated with an increased risk of hip fractures...metabolism of dietary protein causes increased urinary excretion of calcium."
American Journal of Epidemiology 1994; 139

PESTICIDES AND POLLUTION

The higher up one eats on the food chain, the more one consumes concentrated toxins from flesh and body fluids of animals. Eat one portion of broccoli or lettuce and you'll ingest one dose of pesticides and dioxins. After all, these chemicals are in the environment. Ingest body fluids from animals who eat thousands of doses, and you deliver these same concentrated residues of poisons to your own body.

"A 1988 FDA survey of milk samples from grocery stores in 10 cities found that 73% of the samples contained pesticide residues."
Environmental Contamination and Toxicology, 1991; 47

 "In India, a seven year study of pesticide residue in milk in 12 Indian states has attracted considerable public concern. Over 50% of India's population are vegetarians who consider milk an important part of their diet...Dr. G.S. Totefa, who summed up the report, pointed out that of the 2,205 samples of bovine milk, 85% of the samples contained levels of HCH isomers above the tolerance limits...the level of pesticides in milk is intolerable and dangerous to human health, and that the government has been generally apathetic -- particularly regarding research and development into alternatives to dangerous pesticides."
Pesticide News, October, 1994

 "In 1987, a multidisciplinary dairy project was initiated at the Mahoning County Farm in Canfield, Ohio...Residue determinations during the first year of study clearly pointed out that these soil residues from DDT represented a source of pesticides which would contaminate livestock.... grass was suspected to be a carrier medium for the residues from the soil to the cows."
OARDC Research Bulletin 1190, 1987

 "The pesticides chlordane and heptachlor cause cancer, harm the immune system and may be endocrine disruptors...their long half-lives ensure they remain biologically active for decades...many of the dairy cattle in Oahu were accidentally fed pineapple leaves containing heptachlor residues. As a result, the local milk and dairy supply remained contaminated for years. Between 1981 and 1984, the legal standard for heptachlor residues in food (0.3 ppm) was exceeded ten-fold in milk and dairy products...Follow-up investigations found that the breast milk of women who had consumed local dairy products contained heptachlor at levels averaging 200 ppm -- some cases exceeded 400 ppm...breast cancer incidence among Japanese women in Hawaii increased 42% between 1970 and 1985."
Environmental Health Perspectives, Volume 105, Supplement 3, April 1997

 "Indeed, the largest contributors to daily intake of chlorinated insecticides are dairy products, meat, fish, and poultry."
Living Downstream, by Sandra Steingraber, Ph.D.

 "Dioxins are highly toxic by-products of many industrial processes e.g. chemical and municipal waste incineration or production of chlorophenols. These compounds penetrate the environment via air, water and soil and are then incorporated in food chains. The major source of human exposure (90% of total exposition) is consumption of a wide variety of common foods (meat, fish and dairy products) containing small amounts of dioxins. Food contamination with dioxins leads to enhanced accumulation of these compounds in human tissues to the extent of exceeding acceptable level."
(Polish Journal) Rocz Panstw Zakl Hig, 1999, 50:3

 "Dioxins are the most deadly substances ever assembled by man... 170,000 times as deadly as cyanide..."
United Press International. March 11, 1983.

 "The level of dioxin in a single serving of the Ben & Jerry's World's Best Vanilla Ice Cream tested was almost 200 times greater than the "virtually safe [daily] dose" determined by the Environmental Protection Agency."
Steve Milloy, author of junkscience.com. Milloy tested samples of ice cream for dioxins. The only major newspaper to report the story was the Detroit Free Press  -  11/08/1999

 "The majority of toxic dioxin is and (or) has been derived from industrial chlorination processes, incineration of municipal waste, and production of certain herbicides. The lipophilic nature of dioxins results in higher concentrations in the fat of animal and fish products, and their excretion via milk secretion in dairy cattle may result in relatively high concentrations of dioxin contamination in high-fat dairy products."
Journal of Animal Science, 1998 Jan, 76:1

"The primary source of dioxins (PCDDs), dibenzofurans (PCDFs) and coplanar PCBs for the general population is food, especially meat, fish, and dairy products."
Chemosphere, 1998 Oct, 37:9

RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS

"Rheumatoid arthritis is more severe than osteoarthritis, is most common in the hands and feet, and is characterized by swelling of joints. Since this type of joint pain can be a symptom of a food allergy, dietary change sometimes has a profound effect. Dairy products, the most common food allergen, are one likely candidate as a contributing causative factor."
Vegetarian and Vegan Nutrition by George Eisman, M.A., M.Sc., R.D.

"...of the 43 patients with rheumatoid arthritis, those assigned to a vegan diet...had improvement in rheumatoid arthritis symptoms."
British Journal of Rheumatology, 36 (1) 1997

 “In the case of the eight year old female subject, juvenile rheumatoid arthritis was a milk allergy. After avoiding dairy products, all pain was gone in three weeks."
Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, 1985, 78

 "In 1964, I learned of the experiences of Dr. William Deamer of San Francisco. He had pointed out the frequency of milk protein's casual relationship to musculoskeletal pain in children and especially the so- called 'growing pains.' Since that time, I have had several children with what appeared to be early rheumatoid arthritis relieved and returned to good health by little more than reassurance and careful dietary manipulation."
Don't Drink Your Milk, by Frank Oski, M.D.

 "In systemic arthritis, lkie Rheumatoid, the cause is coursing through the blood, and it got there through the diet. When all of the joints are involved, the cause is not physical, but chemical. It's usually casein. (Eighty percent of milk protein is casein). I once saw a 65 year old man, Bob, who complained of neck stiffness and headaches. His hands were so stiff and sore. Bob lived to play golf. I instructed him to give up all milk and dairy products. Since giving up dairy products, he no longer experienced pain and headaches, and his hands were also pain-free. Joy, a 42 year old woman noticed that her knees were pain-free after eliminating dairy products. Once, after drinking a glass of milk, her knees swelled within 20 minutes."
‘No Milk’, by Daniel Twogood, D.C.

 "There is a colossal amount of information linking the consumption of milk to arthritis... and a multitude of other problems as documented by Hannah Allen, Alec Burton, Viktoras Kulvinskas, F. M. Pottenger, Herbert M. Shelton, and N.L. Walker, among others."
‘Fit for Life’, by Harvey and Marilyn Diamond

"Of the nearly 7 million Americans who have rheumatoid arthritis, most are women. Symptoms are stiffness, aching muscles, fatigue, pain that accompanies motion, and tenderness. Nutritional therapy, not drugs, is the cornerstone of alternative treatment. A treatment for arthritis that relieves symptoms in a large percentage of patients is based on the theory that most arthritic symptoms are allergic reactions."
What Your Doctor Won't Tell You, Jane Heimlich

 "Certain foods trigger the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis, and eliminating these foods sometimes causes even long-standing symptoms to improve or even remit entirely. It is important to avoid the problem foods completely, as even a small amount can cause symptoms. All dairy products should be avoided: skim or whole cow’s milk, goat’s milk, cheese, yogurt, cream, etc."
Neal Barnard, M.D. www.pcrm.org

SUDDEN INFANT DEATH (SIDS)

There exist hundreds of studies in the medical literature attesting to the fact that infants who are breast-fed have lower rates of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). Those performing the research rarely consider the alternative. Is it a component in breast milk that protects infants, or a component in the alternative (cow's milk protein) that triggers the allergic reaction? Cow's milk proteins are very allergenic. For some, the response is anaphylactic. The bronchioles fill with mucous, and breathing becomes difficult. For some infants, it's deadly.

"Breast feeding is known to protect an infant against gastrointestinal pathogens and epidemiological studies indicate that compared to breast fed infants, formula fed infants are at a greater risk of dying from sudden infant death syndrome."
Immunol Med Microbiol, 1999 Aug, 25:1-2

"Hypersensitivity to milk is implicated as a cause of sudden death in infancy."
The Lancet, vol. 2, 7160, November 19, 1960

 "Those infants who died of SIDS expressed inappropriate or inflammatory responses suggesting violent allergic reactions to a foreign protein. Lung tissue and cells showed responses similar to bronchial wall inflammation in asthma."
The Lancet, vol. 343, June 4, 1994,

 "Those who consumed cows milk were fourteen times more likely to die from diarrhoea-related complications and four times more likely to die of pneumonia than were breast-fed babies. Intolerance and allergy to cow's milk products is a factor in sudden infant death syndrome."
The Lancet, vol. 344, November 5, 1994

 "The three most common milk proteins are casein, beta-lactoglobulin, and alpha-lactalbumin. The correlation between these three cow proteins and childhood allergies is high...a strategy of soy protein as a substitute for cow's milk is suggested."
Pediatr-Med-Chir., September/October, 1994, 16 5)

 "Constipation symptoms returned to a controlled group of infants 48 to 72 hours after they were placed on a regimen of cow's milk proteins. Constipation in infants may have an allergic pathogenesis."
Journal of Pediatrics., January, 1995, 126 (1)

"Diet has a significant effect on the developing immune system...formula fed babies, at the age of 3 months, were secreting low levels of serum antibodies to cow milk antigens contained in their formula."
Pediatr-Allergy-Immunol., August, 1994, 5 (3)

 "Formula fed infants developed symptoms of allergic rejection to cow milk proteins before one month of age. The majority of infants tested had two or more symptoms...About 50-70 percent experienced rashes or other skin symptoms, 50-60 percent gastrointestinal symptoms, and 20-30 percent respiratory symptoms. The recommended therapy is to avoid cows' milk."
Pediatr.-Allergy-Immunol., 1994, 5 (5 Suppl)

TUBERCULOSIS

Too many pasteurization errors have occurred in the past, and more will occur in the future. In 1985, 150,000 people got salmonella poisoning because milk was not pasteurized correctly in Chicago. Four people died. Nobody charted epidemiological data for subsequent tuberculosis death rates. Many of America's dairy cows are infected with tuberculosis. Does raw milk sound appetizing? Can you rely upon milk processors to properly pasteurize milk? Last year, there were dozens of major cheese recalls. Hundreds of thousands of cases of spoiled dairy products contained lethal virus and bacteria. Ingesting body fluids from diseased animals is a dangerous game of Russian Roulette.

"A Mycobacterium bovis-infected dairy herd of 369 Holstein cows with lactation duration between 200 and 360 days was tested... 170 cows had positive tuberculin test results, and 199 had negative results. Cows with positive test results produced less milk than did cows with negative test results...In this herd, tuberculosis was associated with a 4% decrease in milk production."
J Am Vet Med Assoc, 1998 Sep, 213:6

 "Many diseases such as tuberculosis are transmissible by milk products."
Journal of Dairy Science 1988; 71

"Some strains of mycobacteria, similar to those that are associated with tuberculosis, have been found to survive pasteurization."
The National Mastitis Council, Inc. 1970 Washington, D.C.

UTERINE AND OVARIAN CANCER

Women between the ages of 25 and 65 have been successfully targeted by the marketing representatives of the dairy industry's milk promotion board. What the dairy industry neglects to advertise is the fact that cow's milk contains a very powerful growth hormone, insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I). IGF-I is identical in humans and cows, and this hormone has been identified as a key factor in tumor growth.

"Poor absorption of lactose may more than double the risk of ovarian cancer in women."
American Journal of Epidemiology, 1999; 150

 "IGF-I can stimulate normally slow-growing cancers (like breast, ovarian, and prostate) to grow very quickly, causing them to appear in a decade or two or even less."
‘Delicious’ 12/95

"IGFs may be important in carcinogenesis, possibly by increasing the risk of cellular transformation by enhancing cell turnover. These emerging epidemiologic data indicate that high levels of IGF-I are associated with an increased risk of at least several types of carcinoma that are common in economically developed countries."
Horm Res, 1999, 51 Suppl 3

 "The uterus and ovary, like the breast, are hormone-sensitive organs. Not surprisingly, uterine and ovarian cancers are both linked to fatty diets in epidemiologic studies."
Cancer 1966; 19

 "Galactose is linked both to ovarian cancer and infertility...women who consume dairy products on a regular basis, have triple the risk of ovarian cancer than other women."
The Lancet 1989; 2

 "Interest in the role of the IGF axis in growth control and carcinogenesis has recently been increased by the finding of elevated serum (IGF-I) levels in association with three of the most prevalent cancers in the United States: prostate cancer, colorectal cancer, and lung cancer. IGFs serve as endocrine, autocrine, and paracrine stimulators of mitogenesis, survival, and cellular transformation."
J Cell Physiol, 2000 Apr, 183:1

 "IGF-I reacts in a synergistic manner with estrogen, and plays a role in the growth and proliferation of ovarian cancer."
J-Clin-Endocrinol-Metab, Feb. 1994, 78(2)

VEGETARIANS AND VEGANS

There are meat eaters, vegetarians, and vegans. Vegetarians drink milk and eat dairy other dairy. Vegans eat no animal products.

“Although a vegetarian diet is much healthier than a carnivorous diet, most lacto vegetarians tend to consume large amounts of dairy products. Unfortunately for their health, they keep deluding themselves that, just because they don’t eat any kind of animal flesh, they will stay healthy. They don’t seem to realize that as long as they keep consuming cow’s milk and its derivative products, they will be likely to contract even more degenerative illnesses than a meat eater who also happens to follow a dairy-free diet!”
Claudio Voarino, Clinical Nutrition Consultant and Clinical Herbalist

 "Vegan diets are appropriate for all stages of the life cycle, including during pregnancy and lactation."
Am J Clin Nutr. 1994;59 (suppl):1176S-1181S.

"Vegan diets can meet the nutrient and energy needs of pregnant women. Birth weights of infants born to well nourished vegetarian women have been shown to be similar to birth-weight norms and to birth weights of infants of non vegetarians."
Pediatrics. 1989; 84

 “A recent study measured testosterone levels in 696 Oxford University men. Of the study participants, 233 were vegan (ate no animal products) and 237 were vegetarian (ate milk and dairy products). The remaining 237 subjects were men who ate meat on most days of the week...vegans had higher testosterone levels than vegetarians and meat eaters."
British Journal of Cancer, 83(1), July 2000

 "Reduced colorectal cancer risk is associated with increased consumption of fiber, vegetables, and fruit."
Cancer Causes Control. 1991 1:427-442.

 "Breast cancer rates are lower in populations that consume plant based diets."
American Cancer Society Cancer Facts and Figures, 1994

 VITAMIN-D DEFICIENCY

"Adults need 10-15 minutes of sunlight, two or three times a week to ensure proper Vitamin D levels."
Journal of Pediatrics, 1985; 107 (3)

 "Consuming as little as 45 micrograms of Vitamin D-3 in young children has resulted in signs of overdose. (One quart of milk contains 400 IU, or 10 micrograms)."
Pediatrics, 1963; 31

 "Testing of 42 milk samples found only 12% within the expected range of Vitamin D content. Testing of 10 samples of infant formula revealed seven with more that twice the Vitamin D content reported on the label, one of which had more than four times the label amount. Vitamin D is toxic in overdose."
New England Journal of Medicine, 1992, 326

"Eighteen breast milk and 17 formula-fed infants, ages 2 to 5 months were studied. The serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (Vitamin D) level was significantly lower in breast milk- than formula-fed infants but bone mineral content was not different. This demonstrates adequate mineral absorption occurs from a predominantly vitamin D-free transport mechanism."
Journal of Pediatrics, 1998 Apr, 132:4

 "To investigate whether greater intakes of calcium, vitamin D, or milk products may protect against ischemic heart disease mortality, data from a prospective cohort study of 34,486 postmenopausal Iowa women were analyzed... results suggest that a higher intake of calcium, but not of vitamin D or milk products, is associated with reduced ischemic heart disease mortality in postmenopausal women."
Am J Epidemiol, 1999 Jan, 149:2

 "It has since been discovered that the Vitamin D necessary to absorb the calcium moving down the intestine must already have been in the bloodstream for a while; what is present with that calcium (in milk) is useless at that stage. Vitamin D is part of the mechanism to break bone down so that it can then stretch and grow. Thus an overdose of D can eventually lead to osteoporosis."
Vegetarian and Vegan Nutrition, by George Eisman, M.A., M.Sc., R.D.

WISCOWSINITIS

"I have run into patients who undergo marked alterations in behaviour patterns when ingesting dairy products, and whose behavior is totally changed by withholding them."
Letter, Pediatrics 1979; 64 (5) John J. Murray, MD

 “Even the FDA still cannot honestly assure the public that milk is safe."
Rep. Ted Weiss, chairman of the House Government Operations Subcommittee on Human Resources. Reported by AP 8/6/92

 “Cow’s milk in the past has been oversold as the perfect food, but we are now seeing that it isn’t the ‘perfect food’ at all, and the government really shouldn’t be behind any efforts to promote it as such.”
Benjamin Spock, M.D., Los Angeles Times, November 18, 1992

 “I would call milk perhaps the most unhealthy vehicle for calcium that one can possibly imagine, which is the only thing people really drink it for; but whenever you challenge existing dogma ... people are resistant.”
Neal Bernard, M. D., director of the Physician’s Committee for Responsible Medicine, www.pcrm.org

“Don’t drink milk for health. I am convinced on the weight of the scientific evidence that it does not ‘do a body good.’ Inclusion of milk  will only reduce your diet’s value and safety.”
‘Save Yourselves From Breast Cancer’, by Robert M. Kradjian, M. D.

 “Cow’s milk is not suitable for human consumption. Milk causes constipation, biliousness, coated tongue, headache, and these are the symptoms of intestinal auto-intoxication."
‘Back to Eden’, by Jethro Kloss

ZITS (ACNE)

Acne occurs when steroids (androgens) stimulate the sebaceous glands within the skin's hair follicles. These glands then secrete an oily substance called sebum. When sebum, bacteria and dead skin cells build up on your skin, the pores become blocked, creating a zit.

 What do you expect? When teenagers combine their own surging hormones with a diet saturated in animal fat, cholesterol, steroid hormones, dead white blood cells, and cow pus, they're going to get zits. The good news: The cure is an easy one: NO MILK!

"As pointed out by Dr. Jerome Fisher, 'About 80 percent of cows that are giving milk are pregnant and are throwing off hormones continuously.' Progesterone breaks down into androgens, which have been implicated as a factor in the development of acne...Dr. Fisher observed that his teenage acne patients improved as soon as the milk drinking stopped."
Don't Drink Your Milk, by Frank Oski, M.D. (Director, Department of Pediatrics, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine)

 "Acne usually begins at puberty, when an increase in androgens causes an increase in the size and activity of pilosebaceous glands....if a food is suspected, it should be omitted for several weeks and then eaten in substantial quantities to determine if acne worsens."
MERK Manual, Merk & Company, 2000

 Hormones found in cow's milk include: Estradiol, Estriol, Progesterone, 17-Ketosteroids, Corticosterone, Vitamin D, insulin-like growth factor, growth hormone, prolactin, oxytocin..."
Journal of Endocrine Reviews, 14 (6) 1992

 "We studied the effects of growth hormone (GH) and insulin-like growth factors (IGFs), alone and with androgen, on sebaceous epithelial cell growth...IGF-I was the most potent stimulus of DNA synthesis. These data are consistent with the concept that increases in GH and IGF production contribute in complementary ways to the increase in sebum production during puberty."
Endocrinology, 1999 Sep, 140:9, 4089-94

 "... serum IGF-I levels increased significantly in the milk drinking group…an increase of about 10% above baseline-but was unchanged in the control group."
Journal of the American Dietetic Association, vol. 99, no. 10. October 1999

MISCELLANEOUS

“My illness is due to my doctor’s insistence that I drink milk - a whitish, fluid they force down helpless babies.”
W.C. Fields

  “Humankind’s biggest curse: cow’s milk and dairy products. These are the dirtiest burning fuels with which the adult body contends. Milk and dairy products represent forty percent of the average American diet. Residues from milk cheese, and other dairy products include intact allergenic proteins and powerful bovine growth hormones that have been identified as key factors in the progression of a vast array of human diseases.”
Robert Cohen - Executive Director Dairy Education Board

 “... Pasteurization and Homogenization degrade the calcium, making it very difficult to utilize. Even if raw milk products are consumed, there is so much harmful potential in milk, it is not worth some possible good. ... The human body is remarkably adaptable, but cow’s milk simply isn’t designed for human.”
Herbert M. Shelton, Ph. D., ‘The Hygienic Care of Children’.

 “Cow’s milk and its derivatives butter, cream, yoghurt, and cheeses are strongly recommended against.”
Dr David Collison, MB., BS., Ph D.

  “... Cow’s milk is the most mucus forming food in the human diet, and from infancy to senility it is the most insidious cause of colds, flu, bronchial trouble, asthma, hay fever, pneumonia, tuberculosis, and sinus trouble, according to experience.”
Dr N. W. Walker, D. Sc.

 “A comparison of hip fractures in ten countries revealed that, as calcium intake increased, so did the rate of fractures. The traditional Eskimo diet contains between 1000 - 2000 mg of calcium per day, yet their rate of osteoporosis-related bone fractures is one of the highest of all population groups. The lowest osteoporosis rates belong to certain African people, such as the Bantu, who consume between 200 – 300 mg of calcium per day, and the Japanese, whose traditional diet contains under 500 mg, generally about 300 mg, per day.”
Dr David Collison, MB., BS., Ph D.

 “... Dairy intake is one of the most consistent dietary predictors for prostate cancer in the published literature, and those who consume the most dairy have double to quadruple the risk. “
Dr T. Colin Campbell, Ph D., world’s leading epidemiological researcher in the field of diet and health

 “In rural China where calcium consumption is modest and almost no dairy food is consumed, colon cancer rates are not higher; instead they are much lower than in the U.S.”
 Dr Junshi Chen, Dr T. Colin Campbell, Ph D., and Dr Junyao Li

 “ ... Scientific studies are showing that dairy isn’t the wonder food it was once touted to be. But there is much money to be made that even the federal government, under the influence of commercial interests, promotes dairy. This is done despite scientific information that dairy fat promotes heart disease, that dairy protein is the leading cause of allergies in this country, and that dairy sugar cannot be digested properly by seventy percent of the people in the world.”
Dr Terry Shintani, M.D., author of ‘Hawaii Diet’

 “The need of cow’s milk as a necessary part of the human diet is purely and simply advertising propaganda with no foundation in fact. The recommendation of its use by any members of the healing profession is indicative of a lack of the simple laws of the physiology of nutrition ...”
Dr N. V. Walker, D. Sc.

 “The milk of each mammal is structured exactly to meet the needs of its young and not the young of any other species. Humans are no exception. Breastfed babies acquire a great deal of immunity against illness and not only when they are very small, when it most matter, but right into adulthood. Cow’s milk, on the other hand, is a mucus-producing,  acid-forming substance, practically devoid of vitamin C, with three times the amount of sodium as human milk - just what a calf requires!”
Dr David Collison, MB. BS., Ph D.

 “Milk, it now seems clear, is not the solution to poor bone density. To the contrary, it is part of the problem.”
Dr Charles Attwood

 "In his recent book, MILK - The Deadly Poison (Argus Publishing, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1998), Robert Cohen, a tenacious investigative reporter, describes a level of corruption between Monsanto, the FDA and the Department of Agriculture that, in my opinion, warrants formal investigation and action against several individuals involved. This book documents how data was falsified and studies were fabricated, and tells how the scientific community and public have been misled regarding “rbST” Its effects on our health, and the amounts of this hormone present in milk. Folks, you won't believe this book. Robert Cohen gives names, dates and document numbers that are irrefutable. A few months ago I joined Robert Cohen as a board member of his newly formed Dairy Education Board. I strongly recommend that you get more information on the dangers of dairy products by reading Cohen's book, available from the Dairy Education Board, 1-888-NOTMILK (888-668-6455). www.notmilk.com"
Dr Julian Whitaker's Health & Healing (The largest medical newsletter in the world) October 1998 Vol. 8, No. 10

 “The dairy lobby remains cosy with most medical practitioners to perpetrate its ‘drink milk’ propaganda. However, not one of the 1,500 papers listed in Medicine that deal with milk, points to its goodness - only to the pus, blood, antibiotics, and carcinogens in milk, and the chronic fatigue anemia, asthma, and autoimmune disorders milk consumption causes.”
Shanti Rangwani is an allopathic doctor and a columnist for the ‘Times of India’.

The above list of quotations is by no means a complete one, but just a ‘tip of the iceberg’, so to speak. Mostly of the past and present authors of the above quotations were, or are, world-renowned epidemiologists, physiologists, biologists, medical practitioners, and natural hygienists, who have spent most of their lives researching the strong correlation between human diet and disease. In other words, the above information doesn’t just come from nutritionists and naturopaths, but mainly from highly qualified medical scientists. Therefore, I think this is a valid and compelling reason which should be taken very seriously by all those people who value their health and - more importantly, the health of their children!

Having said all the above, there is another reason why we should eliminated all dairy foods from our diets. This is one of the two main reasons why the number of vegans in the world is growing. This noble reason - which has nothing to do with our personal health - is what has motivated hundreds of thousands of people worldwide to become vegans. Yes, I am referring to the appalling cruelty to cows caused by dairy farming! This lack of true morality and ethical standards will be the subject of the final section of this very long chapter.

Cow’s Milk - Unhealthy To Humans, And A Main Cause Of Untold Suffering Inflicted Upon Cows

I think the consumption of meat and milk is one of the strongest proofs of people’s cruel streak and disregard for life. In the previous chapter, I have already briefly discussed the horrors of the slaughterhouse, and now I will be talking about the barbaric treatment hundreds of millions of cows receive worldwide in dairy farms, before been taken to the abattoir. The worldwide treatment of hundreds of millions of dairy cows is shockingly awful. Milk consumers not only contributes to atrocities (both physical and emotional), but also killing. For example, recently I watched a documentary on the Internet about the ongoing, horrendous atrocities committed against dairy cows in three different American states. Apart from many other atrocities, this film shows calve and cows being brutally punched and kicked in the head and in many parts of their bodies, hit with wooden and metal bars, jumped on top, brutally jabbed with pitchforks and tied up by the neck in such a way they could hardly move their heads! To simply saying I was deeply saddened and shocked by that film, it would be a gross understatement! I have no doubt that anyone who is still drinking dairy milk, after having witnessed such a display of human depravity, must be lacking all feelings of compassion, to say the very least!

 ‘Horizon Organic Dairy’, in Idaho, is America's leading producer of organic milk and dairy products with sales of over $50 million per year. The people at ‘Horizon’ want everyone to believe that their cows are so happy, that they've trademarked the phrase "HAPPY COWS." Robert Cohen, who has investigated this dairy farm, has the following say about the way these “happy” cows are treated there: “On Horizon's farms, cows end up tortured, dying alone with great fear and pain. The blood from their cut throats sprays out by the gallon, staining workers, flooding the slaughterhouse floors, causing the animals to gurgle and choke on their own blood. Horizon pretends to have happy cows, yet these animal's udders become so large that it is necessary to milk them three times per day. Most dairy farms milk their cows once or twice each day. When the cows no longer give milk and have outlived their usefulness, they will have their heads bashed and necks slashed. Their body parts will be cut into smaller pieces by men with sharp knives, and they shall feed the masses. Such is the fate of Horizon Farms' “happy” cows!”

 In view of the fact that a high consumption of cow’s milk and its derivative products are one of the main causes of the great majority of today’s degenerative diseases, I think that, when it comes to the barbaric habit of torturing and killing animals for food, these diseases are a fit punishment for the perpetration of these crimes!

 Unfortunately, the above-described atrocities don’t occur only in the U.S., but in many other countries as well. For example, in India cow’s are supposed to be sacred animals; yet in traditional Indian tabelas (dairies), cows are subjected to unbearable repeated forced pregnancies and a lot of other misery. At less than half their natural age, they are either thrown out on the streets to die eating plastic, or hurled into trucks, which take them to slaughter houses to die as atrocious a death as their lives have been! Anyway, for the purpose of this final section of Chapter Six, we will concentrate mainly on American dairy farming and ongoing cruelty to cow’s raised for milk.

Free range cows take a good care of their young and form lifelong friendships with one another. They have a wide range of emotions and personality characteristics; but cows raised for milk are cruelly confined, leaving them unable to fulfill their most basic desires, such as nursing their calves, even for a few days. In fact, they generally are treated like milk-producing machines. Worse still, they are genetically manipulated and are pumped full of antibiotics and hormones in order to produce more milk. Here, I think there is some sort of ‘poetic justice’ at work. That is, while cows endure a life of misery and suffering, on factory farms, people who keep drinking cow’s milk greatly increase their chances of developing heart disease, diabetes, various cancers, osteoporosis, and a multitude of other illnesses!

 At the present (2015) there are more than 9 million cows on U.S. dairy farms; that is, about 12 million fewer than there were in 1950. Yet, from that time to now, milk production has increased from 52 billion liters per year to the present 93 billion liters. In their natural conditions, cows would produce only enough milk to meet the needs of their calves, but genetic manipulation and the use of antibiotics and hormones have forced dairy cows to produce more than 9,900 liters of milk each year. Dairy cows are also fed unnatural, high-protein diets, which include dead chickens, pigs, and other animals. This repulsive diet is fed to them so they can produce such a massive amount of milk. In view of all this, it isn’t at all surprising the lifespan of these unfortunate creatures is only about 3 - 5 years.

 It may have escaped the attention of milk gulpers, but there is only one reason why cows produce milk: to nourish their young, but calves on dairy farms are taken away from their mothers when they are about 1 day old. Because of the very strong maternal bond between a mother cow and her calf, this is a very pitiful occurrence for both the mother cow and her calf. This is also proved by the fact that mother cow shows strong signs of suffering and grieving, after her calf is removed from her, and will bellow desperately for many weeks for its return. This alone is a very distressing thing to see and hear for any caring and compassionate person!

Incidentally, ‘cows do not give us milk’ - as it is foolishly taught to children by their parents and school teachers. No. Milk is forcibly taken from cows! Baby cows, which are the only rightful owners of cow’s milk, are largely deprived of it. Here, one obvious question comes to my mind: “If people are drinking cow’s milk, what are calves drinking?” In fact, they are fed milk replacers (including cattle blood) so that their mothers’ milk can be sold to humans. Cows have a natural lifespan of about 15 to 20 years, and can produce milk for eight or nine years. However, the stress caused by the conditions on factory farms leads to disease, lameness, and unproductive cows worthless to the dairy industry by the time that they’re 4 or 5 years old, at which time they are sent to the abattoir.

The traditional method of extracting milk from cows includes repeated debilitating pregnancies, carried out through a rape by a bull, or artificial insemination. After giving birth, they lactate for a period of 10 months and are then inseminated again, continuing the cycle. In order to produce milk on a commercial basis, dairy cows are forced to give birth to a calf each year of their life until their milk production drops below profitable levels of about 4500 litres of milk per year. The strain of producing such a very large milk quantities causes painful swelling of the udder resulting in stretching and tearing of the ligaments. All this - added to the trauma of milking, which is carried out twice a day, using machines that vacuum the milk from the cow’s teats - is a far cry from a natural situation, where a calf would suckle its mother a few times a day. The calves that are not wanted for herd replacement, or to be used for ‘pink veal’, are sent to the abattoir as young as 5 days old - and those calves that make the journey there are left in crowded pens, with nothing to eat, were they await to be slaughtered. Because of the overstocking of trucks and the fragility of the calves, during their journey to the slaughterhouse, some of these unfortunate animals are seriously injured or crushed to death.

 Apart from other diseases such as, for example, diarrhea and pneumonia, many dairy cows suffer from Mastitis, which is a very painful inflammation of the mammary glands and a common cause of death. This illness is one of the dairy farmers’ most frequently adduced reasons for sending cows to slaughter. There are about 150 bacteria that can cause this disease. Although cows affected by Mastitis suffer much pain, symptoms are not always visible, so milk’s ‘somatic cell count’ (SCC) is checked to determine whether the milk is infected. The SCC of healthy milk is below 100,000 cells per milliliter. Lameness is another common problem in dairy cows; this is because they have to walk long distances to the milking shed where they have to stand for long periods of time on hard concrete floors whilst being milked or waiting to be milked. The weight of their swollen udders places additional stress on the cow’s hooves.

 During their shortened life, dairy cows are subjected to much cruelty, an example of which being ‘tail docking’. Tail docking is the removal of up to two thirds of a cow’s tail, and it is carried out at 12 - 18 months of age. This cruel practice is carried out in order to reduce obstruction to the udder when milking and to prevent workers from being swatted in the face by muddy tails. After this procedure, cows are subjected to chronic pain as a result of infection, inflammation and lesions. Tail docking is carried out by using a number of methods: tight rubber rings, a sharp knife, or heated docking iron. Needless to say, no anaesthesia is used, thus causing the cow excruciating pain during this procedure. Adding to their suffering, dairy cows are periodically injected with hazardous growth hormones like Oxytocin, causing them severe stomach cramps and bone weakness. Worst still, the so-called recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone (rBGH), already discussed above, is injected in the cows every other week to force them to produce more milk than their bodies normally would. Various studies clearly indicated that cows injected with POSILAC (the name Monsanto have been using for their rBGH) developed a larger number of enlarged hocks (ankles), as well as lacerations, enlargements, and calluses in the knee and the foot region, thus increasing the suffering of these animals! In fact, a warning label on Monsanto’s Posilac drug clearly states that ‘Cows injected with POSILAC are at an increased risk for clinical mastitis.’

‘Calving induction’ - another unnatural and stressful procedure - places great strain on the cow and increases the risk of mastitis, retained placenta, and infection. Furthermore, this procedure increases the cow’s likelihood of illness and an earlier death. Calving is certainly not done for the benefit of the cows, but to insure that their milk production meets market demands. Regardless of when the mating or the conception took place, cows are injected intramuscularly with corticosteroid by a veterinarian, who had prematurely triggered the calf’s birth. This procedure mimics the time of the calf birth’s signal, thus causing cows to give birth at a prescribed date.

 In addition to their misery and suffering, most dairy farm cows spend their entire lives standing on concrete floors; others are confined to greatly over-crowded sheds, where they are forced to live amid their own feces. For example, a North Carolina dairy had to close down, following revelations from a whistleblower that the cows were forced to eat, walk and sleep in knee-deep waste. Some studies have shown that providing cows with cleaner housing, more space, and better diets, bedding, and care lowers their milk’s ‘somatic cell count’ as well as their incidence of mastitis. A Danish study of cows subjected to automated milking systems found “acutely elevated cell counts during the first year compared with the previous year with conventional milking. The increase came suddenly and was synchronized with the onset of automatic milking.” Needless to say - instead of even trying to improve conditions in factory farms or easing cows’ production burden - the U.S. Dairy Industry, for example, is researching the possibility of using cattle who have been genetically manipulated to be resistant to mastitis.

 It is very doubtful many people are aware, or even care, that by drinking milk they subsidize the veal industry. Here is why. As it happens, some female calves are slaughtered and others are kept alive to produce milk. As for male calves, they are often taken away from their mothers when they are as young as 1 day old to be chained in tiny stalls for three to 18 weeks and raised for veal production. As already mentioned above, calves raised for this purpose alone, are fed a milk substitute that is designed to make them gain at least 1 kilogram per day, and their diet is purposely low in iron so that their flesh stays pale as a result of anemia. In addition to suffering from diarrhea, pneumonia, and lameness, calves raised for veal are terrified and desperate for their mothers!

 It is said that if slaughterhouses were made of transparent glass, meat consumption would drop dramatically; likewise, if people could see the horrors of dairy farming, cow’s milk and its derivative products would lose much of their popularity. As I have already said above, cruelty is one of the negative traits of human nature, another one being ignorance, and it is the latter which is at least partly responsible for the horrors of the slaughterhouses and dairy farms! Be that as it may, one thing is as certain as death - meat-eaters and milk-drinkers, all around the world, have been (and are) paying with their health and life for their ongoing contribution in making these horrors a reality!

 Regrettably and deplorably, cruelty to animals is a salient trait of human nature, primarily caused by people’s greed and ignorance, as well as the philosophical and religious delusion that they are something special, something above nature, the ‘kings of creation’, and other nonsense. Regrettably, despite the great scientific and technological progress of the last hundred years or so, there has not been a comparable advance in rational thinking, wisdom, and true morality. For example, the overwhelming majority of people worldwide have still to learn that animals are not ours to eat, drink their milk, wear, work to death, experiment on, use for entertainment and in sport, or abuse in any other way. Also, I think that in a truly civilized, morally sound, and rational world, there would be neither slaughterhouses, nor dairy farms. Sadly, for our personal health and all life on this planet, we don’t live in such a world, do we? And, speaking figuratively, I can’t really see any ‘light at the end of the tunnel’!

 We have now come to the end of this chapter in which, amongst many other things, we have learned some carefully concealed truths and facts about cow’s milk, osteoporosis, and calcium. In doing so, we have also debunked many myths about them. This has been quite a laborious task, which has resulted in an unusually long chapter. Surely, there are already thousands of books and articles on the topics discussed above. But, unfortunately, with a few exceptions, most of the books I read so far contained too many inaccuracies, misconceptions, myths, half-truths, and deliberate lies. This is why I decided to conduct my own research, and I trust this chapter on the many health dangers of cow’s milk and dairy products in general will open people’s eyes, so to speak, and make some contribution towards a healthier (or, at least, less diseased) world.

From a moral and ethical point of view, the physical and emotional suffering dairy cows have to endure all their lives, should be a valid enough reason for anyone to stop consuming all kinds of dairy foods. As for those who couldn’t care less about animal suffering, they will find enough scientific information and evidence against the consumption of dairy foods in general to prompt most people to eliminate them from their diet. As it has clearly shown above, far from being the best source of calcium, cow’s milk leeches this mineral from the bones! In fact, the very best type of calcium, magnesium, and the other nutrients necessary for bone health, can only be obtained from fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and beans, as Nature meant humans to do! In conclusion, what has been said in this chapter should be convincing and compelling enough to prompt all those who truly care about their health and wellbeing, to answer the question: “Milk, anyone?”, with a most definite: “NO THANK YOU!”