Superfood or poison? Raw or pasteurized? Organic or conventional? Indulge or ration? A glass of milk brings more controversy, questions and confusion nowadays than it does nutrients. Here is a map of the complex field of conflicting theories that abound out there. The trail leads to a foregone conclusion: organic milk has no rival.
Milk or no milk?
YES. Humans have relied on ruminant milk for millenia (as early as 8,500 B.C. in Mesopotamia where sheep and goats abounded) to meet their needs in calcium, vitamin D and protein. Essential to promote the proper development of young children, milk is also a major factor in giving adults strong bones and contributes to reducing the risk of colon cancer. Consumed regularly, low-fat milk helps lower cholesterol and the risk of stroke and heart attack. Rich in potassium and magnesium, milk is also credited with helping prevent hypertension.
NO. Cow milk is designed by Nature to support the growth of new-born calves until they reach grazing age, not to feed humans. Adults are especially ill-equipped to digest milk. Children are endowed until the age of 4 or 5 with lactase, the enzyme that is necessary to metabolize lactose (milk sugar). Lactase activity then declines into adulthood, leading to varying degrees of lactose-intolerance depending on ethnicity: it is estimated that 20% to 40% of adult Caucasians are lactose-intolerant, while up to 90% of Blacks, Native American and Asians are affected.
Cow milk lactose is a BIG molecule that compromises the optimum health of young children whose lactase is designed to metabolize human milk. Many studies link the consumption of cow milk to allergies, ear and tonsillar infections, bedwetting, asthma, intestinal colic, intestinal irritation, intestinal bleeding, anemia and diabetes. In adults, the problems seem centered more around heart disease and arthritis, allergy, sinusitis, even leukemia, lymphoma and cancer.