Battle of the Bottle Top

A growing number of consumer groups and health experts are voicing concern over the safety of giving cow's milk to children.

Meanwhile, milk consumption in American girls aged 12 to 19 fell by 38% between 1978 and 1996, while consumption of canned soda drinks rose by 91% over the same period.

Between the ages of 9 and 17, children need to take in around 1,300mg of calcium a day, but is milk a safe and viable source?

This month, we present the arguments for and against feeding our children cow's milk.

Calcium is critical in early formation of bone density. It also helps nerve conduction, muscle contraction, blood clotting and may help reduce blood pressure.

However, anti-milk lobbyists claim that hormones and antibiotics fed to cows to aid milk production may be making their way into the food chain with harmful effects.

Robert Cohen, author of Milk: The Deadly Poison believes hormones found in cow's milk may be leading to the onset of early puberty with records of girls as young as 8 developing breasts. But Dr Ines Guttman-Bauman of the Children's National Medical Centre in Washington argues "it is very unlikely you will find a high concentration of hormones in milk or even meat" as the life of a hormone is relatively short lived.

So are antibiotics given to livestock making our children resistant to treatment? Milk is tested for antibiotics and discarded if it tests positive, according to Kathryn Boor of Cornell University. However, the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine in Washington argue that up to a third of cow's products may contain antibiotics.

Lactalbumin, a protein found in milk is also believed to lead to the onset of juvenile (type I) diabetes. The pro-milk campaign have little evidence to refute this claim, but believe that milk proteins would only lead to diabetes in people who are already genetically at risk.

The American Dietetic Association currently recommends cow's milk is not fed to children under the age of 2, but in a recent paper stated "It is very difficult to meet children's calcium needs without a source of milk in the diet".

Want to know more about the benefits and risks of cow's milk? Visit www.notmilk.com.

Saturday, 30 June 2001