The One
31st October 2013, 22:04
Is there a reason for humans to drink cow’s milk?
We’re also the only ones with thumbs, but humans are the only mammalian species on the planet that both drinks the milk of another species and continues to drink milk after childhood. There’s little dispute that milk is helpful in supporting the growth and development of children, but is there any reason for adults to drink milk? (http://www.alternet.org/story/141469/do_grown-ups_really_need_to_drink_milk)
This issue was undertaken recently by Ari LeVaux over at AlterNet, both looking at why we drink milk as adults and the consequences the current economy has had for the milk industry.
Why milk might not be such a good idea
The Journal of the American Dietetic Association has published a report saying that as many as 75 percent of the world’s population loses the ability to digest lactose, a sugar found in milk, after infancy.Research from Harvard suggests that the high level of estrogen in milk — particularly when pregnant cows are milked, which is pretty common — is correlated to an increased risk of hormone-related cancers such as ovarian, prostate, testicular and breast cancer.
But it says right there on the food pyramid that we’re supposed to get three servings of dairy a day, doesn’t it? Yes, but of course the dietary guidelines are heavily influenced by industry, and the dairy industry has a pretty big interest in keeping people consuming milk and other dairy products for as long as possible.
The dairy bust
The other problem with the dairy industry these days is that prices paid to farmers have dropped considerably while prices at the grocery store are still high. That means farmers are losing money on their milk, and many have dropped out of the business, selling their animals to slaughterhouses to help reduce the supply of milk.High supply and low demand mean farmers are making a lot less than they used to, and huge farms with 1,500 to 7,000 cows each dominate the supply even for organic milk. Small farmers contend that these big business organic dairies aren’t in fact organic at all, but one company found guilty of violating organic rules received no fines in punishment and did not have its organic certification revoked.What’s more, cows contribute a lot of greenhouse gasses to the atmosphere, so there’s an argument to be made that people who care about the planet should consume less dairy (along with less meat) to cut their contribution to the world’s emissions.
What you can do
For all these reasons, the article ends up by suggesting that people make dairy products a much more occasional food choice rather than eating cheese or drinking milk more than once a day.And as with other products, when it’s possible to buy truly organic or locally produced dairy products, that’s probably a better choice than large-scale organic or conventionally produced options. The higher cost may automatically cause you to begin thinking about dairy as a special occasion food.
http://calorielab.com/news/2009/07/29/cows-milk-human-adults-cancer-greenhouse-gas/
We’re also the only ones with thumbs, but humans are the only mammalian species on the planet that both drinks the milk of another species and continues to drink milk after childhood. There’s little dispute that milk is helpful in supporting the growth and development of children, but is there any reason for adults to drink milk? (http://www.alternet.org/story/141469/do_grown-ups_really_need_to_drink_milk)
This issue was undertaken recently by Ari LeVaux over at AlterNet, both looking at why we drink milk as adults and the consequences the current economy has had for the milk industry.
Why milk might not be such a good idea
The Journal of the American Dietetic Association has published a report saying that as many as 75 percent of the world’s population loses the ability to digest lactose, a sugar found in milk, after infancy.Research from Harvard suggests that the high level of estrogen in milk — particularly when pregnant cows are milked, which is pretty common — is correlated to an increased risk of hormone-related cancers such as ovarian, prostate, testicular and breast cancer.
But it says right there on the food pyramid that we’re supposed to get three servings of dairy a day, doesn’t it? Yes, but of course the dietary guidelines are heavily influenced by industry, and the dairy industry has a pretty big interest in keeping people consuming milk and other dairy products for as long as possible.
The dairy bust
The other problem with the dairy industry these days is that prices paid to farmers have dropped considerably while prices at the grocery store are still high. That means farmers are losing money on their milk, and many have dropped out of the business, selling their animals to slaughterhouses to help reduce the supply of milk.High supply and low demand mean farmers are making a lot less than they used to, and huge farms with 1,500 to 7,000 cows each dominate the supply even for organic milk. Small farmers contend that these big business organic dairies aren’t in fact organic at all, but one company found guilty of violating organic rules received no fines in punishment and did not have its organic certification revoked.What’s more, cows contribute a lot of greenhouse gasses to the atmosphere, so there’s an argument to be made that people who care about the planet should consume less dairy (along with less meat) to cut their contribution to the world’s emissions.
What you can do
For all these reasons, the article ends up by suggesting that people make dairy products a much more occasional food choice rather than eating cheese or drinking milk more than once a day.And as with other products, when it’s possible to buy truly organic or locally produced dairy products, that’s probably a better choice than large-scale organic or conventionally produced options. The higher cost may automatically cause you to begin thinking about dairy as a special occasion food.
http://calorielab.com/news/2009/07/29/cows-milk-human-adults-cancer-greenhouse-gas/