Friends Don't Let Friends Drink Milk!

When people happen to find out I'm vegan one of the first things they ask me about is calcium. "How do you prevent osteoporosis?" they wonder. I kindly respond by telling them that I believe dairy products don't prevent osteoporosis, and, in fact, many studies link dairy consumption to bone loss.

At this point, people look at me like I've sprouted horns. "How ridiculous that parents and schools and nutritionists and doctors and companies would lie to the public for decades about this. How ridiculous that you would believe those blasphemous studies."

Well, not shockingly, many studies that reinforce the myth of healthy milk products are funded by dairy industries (not exactly unbiased research). And why are we surprised that dairy councils push the health of their products? They're in business! They want to stay in business!

As for parents and schools and nutritionists and doctors saying milk is good for us, of course they're going to tell us this! We've all been duped. I was told the same thing when I was a kid, but once I started researching milk products I came to believe they're not healthy at all, and that for many (most?) people they're downright unhealthy.

Below is an article about some recent research on the dairy/calcium issue, but it's not the first. Many studies have been conducted (and published in reputable sources like the JAMA), most of which never make it into the news. It doesn't take much imagination to figure out why the research doesn't get into the news. Not only is the dairy lobby in this country strong, but people feel an attachment to dairy products (it's feel-good food, I guess). So not only are we prevented from hearing about this research, but even if we do hear about it we don't believe it. We just think there are some whacky researchers out there who are bent on taking our beloved milks, cheeses, and ice creams away from us and we'll be damned if we let that happen.

Well, countless studies have something important to say about this calcium issue, and below is one that actually got publicized in the Chicago Tribune a few days ago, so read up, kiddies. And keep an open mind because the research just might be right.

NOT MILK? NEW RESEARCH QUESTIONS VALUE - IF NOT SAFETY - OF DAIRY

By Julie Deardorff
Chicago Tribune
Feb. 12, 2006

You know it like the Pledge of Allegiance: "Milk helps build strong teeth and bones."

But does it really? Or, as nutrition researchers from Harvard and Cornell Universities are radically suggesting: Have we all been duped by the dairy industry's slick, celebrity-driven "got milk?" advertising campaign?

Milk, the sacred cow of the American diet, is under attack, and not just by animal-rights activists. Though federal dietary guidelines and most mainstream nutrition experts recommend that people age 9 or older drink three glasses of milk a day, researchers are examining the role of dairy in everything from rising osteoporosis rates, Type 1 diabetes and heart disease to breast, prostate and ovarian cancer.

Last March, the journal Pediatrics published a review article concluding there is "scant evidence" that consuming more milk and dairy products will promote child and adolescent bone health. Some leading practitioners of integrative medicine, including best-selling author Dr. Andrew Weil, suggest eliminating dairy products from the diet to help treat irritable bowel syndrome, asthma, eczema and ear infections. The late Dr. Benjamin Spock reversed his support of cow's milk for children in 1998 in his last edition of his world-famous book Baby and Child Care. One fact is indisputable: Our bodies need the mineral calcium to build and maintain bones and teeth. Calcium also helps with blood clotting, muscle function and regulation of the heart's rhythm. The debate centers on whether milk is really the best - or even a necessary - source. Ten thousand or so years ago, cow's milk was not part of the human diet.

For consumers, the issue is profoundly confusing, especially when it comes to osteoporosis. On one hand, we've had it hammered home since grammar school that milk is a health food. We're told that increasing calcium intake by drinking milk will prevent osteoporosis, the weakening of bones.

But researchers Walter Willett, chairman of the department of nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health, and T. Colin Campbell, professor emeritus of nutritional biochemistry at Cornell University, say there is little evidence that shows boosting your calcium intake to the currently recommended levels will prevent fractures.

Willett, who co-authored The Nurses' Health Studies, one of the largest investigations into the risk factors for major chronic diseases in women, found that women with the highest calcium consumption from dairy products actually had substantially more fractures than women who drank less milk.

Campbell, who like Willett comes from a dairy-farming family, found the same thing after spending several decades surveying health-related effects of a plant-based diet and death rates from cancer in more than 2,400 Chinese counties.

Both men say there is no calcium emergency; Americans get plenty. And they argue that the unnecessary focus on calcium prevents us from using strategies that really work in the fight against osteoporosis, including getting enough exercise and vitamin D and avoiding too much vitamin A.

"The higher the consumption of dairy, animal protein and calcium, the higher the fracture rate - an indisputable observation in my view," said Campbell, whose life work is compiled in The China Study (Benbella Books, $24.95), one of the most comprehensive nutritional studies undertaken.

The link between milk and cancers is sketchier - peer-reviewed studies back both pro- and anti-dairy viewpoints - though a growing body of evidence has shown that animal-based foods are associated with prostate cancer, possibly because of the high intake of calcium and phosphorus, Campbell said.

The dairy industry, the federal government and most conventional registered dietitians and nutritionists say just the opposite. Milk is more than just calcium; it's a relatively cheap little package of fat, vitamins, proteins, carbohydrates and minerals.

Some research shows calcium may help protect against colon cancer and high blood pressure. A large-scale government study called DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) found that a balanced, low-fat diet rich in fruits, vegetables and low-fat dairy foods may help reduce blood pressure as effectively as some medications.

The calcium from some vegetables such as broccoli, bok choy and kale is absorbed as well as or better than calcium from milk and milk products, according to the National Dairy Council's Calcium Counseling Resource. But the report also says that to get the same amount of calcium absorbed from 1 cup of milk, one would have to eat nearly 2 1/2 cups of broccoli or 8 cups of spinach.

"The advantage of dairy is that it's convenient, and children are more likely to consume it over broccoli and prunes," said Jeanette Newton Keith, a gastroenterologist at the University of Chicago. She advocates a whole-food diet and recommends dairy as part of the DASH plan.

"Anti-dairy groups say you don't need it in the diet. Unfortunately, 83 percent of the calcium in our diets comes from dairy foods," Keith said.

Though dairy is high in saturated fat, the dairy industry claims that low-fat dairy products can encourage weight loss. During the last few years it has spent millions on a controversial "got milk?" advertising campaign, using milk-mustachioed figures such as television's Dr. Phil McGraw.

In response, the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) filed false-labeling petitions last June with the Federal Trade Commission and the Food and Drug Administration. They maintain that the "got milk?" weight-loss ads are "dishonest," because scientific evidence contradicts the claims. The dairy industry based its assertion largely on the work of University of Tennessee researcher Michael Zemel, who received funding from the Dairy Council and who also has patented a weight-loss program using calcium.

For Mickey Hornick of Chicago, showing kindness toward other creatures was the reason he began considering a dairy-free lifestyle. But he eventually turned vegan for health reasons.

"I was often congested and had asthma-like symptoms," he said. "When I removed all dairy from my diet, my breathing greatly improved without any medication."

Hornick and his wife, chef Jo Kaucher, who co-own the meat-free restaurant Chicago Diner, have found a growing market for their soy cheeses (casein-free), soy, rice and nut milks, organic soy ice creams, vegan cream cheese and tofu ricotta.

They send dairy-free cookies, muffins and cheesecakes to 18 Whole Foods stores across the Midwest and other local stores and restaurants, including Wild Oats grocery stores, Blind Faith, Argo Teas, Chicago's Kopi Cafe and Uncle Joe's at the University of Chicago.

The restaurant has been an oasis for Chicago's Rikke Vognsen and her husband, David Saxner, who cut dairy out of their diets 20 years ago to help with Saxner's arthritis. He also lost 80 pounds in the process. Their belief is that dairy creates dampness in the body and promotes yeast growth. But they also wanted to avoid ingesting residues of the hormones, antibiotics and other supplements given to the cows that produce non-organic milk.

"We saw immediate improvements in my husband's health after eliminating dairy," Vognsen said.

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A CLOSER LOOK AT MILK'S LINK TO CHILDREN'S HEALTH AILMENTS

Cow's milk, which is loaded with life-sustaining calories, fat, protein, vitamins and calcium, is considered to be nature's perfect food.

If you're a calf.

For human babies, breast milk is overwhelmingly better, and parents should wait until their children turn 1 before introducing cow's milk, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. (For those who can't or don't want to breast-feed or can't nurse for a year, formula is an alternative.)

The reason is that cow's milk has a different caloric balance as well as more minerals than human milk, according to Frank Greer, professor of pediatrics at the University of Wisconsin and a co-author of the academy's new guidelines on calcium, which will be released Monday.

"In a sense, it provides too much in the way of nutrients, hence we have a long tradition of 'diluting' it to make it appropriate for human infants. (Cow's milk) is also hard on the intestinal tract and can lead to microscopic blood loss in infants, which may lead to iron deficiency."

After a year, cow's milk is fine, according to the academy. At age 2, parents should switch to low-fat milk.

But emerging and highly controversial science shows there might be other reasons to avoid introducing cow's milk too early, such as Type 1 diabetes. Some evidence has linked child-onset diabetes to an allergy to bovine serum albumin in dairy products in genetically susceptible children. This type of diabetes strikes in the early teenage years and begins with the immune system destroying the cells in the pancreas that produce insulin, according to Patrick Holford, founder of the Institute for Optimum Nutrition in London.

"The depth and breadth of evidence now implicating cow's milk as a cause of Type 1 diabetes is overwhelming, even though the very complex mechanistic details are not yet fully understood," T. Colin Campbell wrote in "The China Study." "Human breast milk is the perfect food for an infant."

The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation has said there is currently "no compelling evidence to suggest that parents should change the dietary recommendations of their doctor, pediatrician, or nutritionist regarding consumption of cow's milk products."

At the same time, the foundation has partnered with the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development help resolve the conflicting data. The multinational study involves more than 40 centers across the United States, Canada, Europe and Australia and is large enough to provide definitive answers about cow's milk products, according to Dr. Duane Alexander, director of the institute.

Cow's milk also has been linked to other childhood maladies, including colic. Nursing mothers have long noticed a correlation between what they eat and how colicky their baby gets, according to parenting expert Dr. William Sears. Dairy is considered one of more than a dozen possible fuss foods.

In addition to colic, some traditional but mostly alternative healers suspect that dairy products play a role in childhood illness, including runny noses, constipation, ear infections and gas.

In 1998, Dr. Benjamin Spock wrote, "Cow's milk is not recommended for a child when he is sick - or when he is well, for that matter. Dairy products may cause more mucus complications and cause more discomfort with upper-respiratory infections."

But the mucus claim is controversial. A recent study published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition showed that milk consumption does not lead to mucus production or asthma.