The Great Dairy Debate

Should milk really be one of the mainstays of the British Diet? Is it a safe source of calcium and other nutrients for our children?

Few foods are more nourishing than milk, wouldn't you agree?

Milk is viewed as a good 'whole' food which is considered an essential source of protein, iron and calcium and along with milk, dairy produce are the mainstay of the British diet.

However as a nutritionist I venture another side to the story.

Cows milk is really designed for baby cows and not baby humans. Calves are able to stand up within one day and therefore the nutrient content of milk is designed to reflect the speed that a calf will grow.

NOT SO GOOD?

Cows milk is very different from human milk in a number of ways, including its protein, calcium, phosphorus, iron and essential fatty acid content. The protein (casein) in cows milk is very dense and hard to digest and coagulates into large lumps on contact with the stomach acid, compared with human milk which is much easier to digest. Cows also have more than one stomach with which to digest their milk !!!

Indeed human beings only introduced dairy foods around 10,000 years ago which is when man started to pen animals and grow crops. In evolutionary terms therefore humans are not really designed to consume milk.

SOURCE OF CALCIUM

With regards to milk being a rich source of calcium, - this can not be disputed but relying on dairy products for calcium is likely to lead to magnesium deficiency and imbalance. Magnesium is a VITAL MINERAL needed for the proper utilisation of calcium in bone and it is NOT found in milk.

The truth is, that milk is NOT a very good source of many minerals. Manganese, chromium and magnesium are all found in higher levels in fruit and vegetables. Eating foods such as seeds, nuts and crunchy vegetables like kale, cabbage, carrots and cauliflower provide far more calcium and magnesium as well as other minerals.

ALLERGIES AND INTOLERANCES

Milk allergy or intolerance is very common amongst both children and adults. There has been a huge increase in childhood ailments such as persistent colic, asthma, eczema, catarrh and glue ear .... and for some time, dairy products have been closely linked to all these problems, often when early feeding of human babies on cows milk has occurred. (Cows milk should NEVER be given to infants under four months old).

There is also evidence that there may be a link between child-onset diabetes and an allergy to bovine serum albumin (BSA) which in is dairy products. This results in the immune system destroying the cells in the pancreas that produce the hormone insulin and accounts for many deaths in the UK each year.

Many adults lose the ability to digest lactose which is milk sugar. Symptoms include bloating, abdominal pain, wind and diarrhoea. Also equally common amongst adults is an intolerance or allergy to dairy produce. The most common symptoms of this are blocked nose, excessive mucus production, respiratory complaints and a variety of digestion problems.

CUTTING OUT DAIRY

In optimum nutrition, a healthy diet would not include dairy products. Substitutes to try include soya, rice and oat milk. If you think you might have a problem with dairy products then it might be wise to have this checked. At Bromley Health Management we can test for food allergies (which includes all diary products) using the BEST System.

If you can not face life without drinking cows milk then buy organic where possible to avoid hormones and antibiotics that may be present in normal pasteurised milk and try to limit your intake to no more than 2 pints per week.

And Finally .........can you think of any other species apart from humans that continue to drink milk after weaning ?

And ........have you ever wondered where elephants get their huge strong bones from ? It certainly is not from drinking milk !!! ( green leaves / vegetation contain both calcium and magnesium).

Wednesday, 4 April 2001

© 2001 Bromley Health Management