Imagine what people were like 10,000 years ago. Cold, covered in animal fur and fighting for every bite of food. Most of their time was spent foraging: hunting, fishing, or gathering what few fruits, seeds, tubers, or herbs they could find. Imagine the children crying from hunger. It is not difficult to imagine this, the crying of children has not changed over the millennia. Life was hard. And suddenly one of those prehistoric people noticed that mammals fed their young the same way women fed their children.
A little bit of history
This is how the dairy story begins. The natural instinct to ensure the survival of the young, the next generation, made people start using the milk of other species to feed themselves. They began capturing wild goats and cows to collect their milk, inventing special vessels to do so. They noticed that that milk didn’t stay fresh for long, starting to ferment and separate into curd and whey. Because they didn’t know how to wash those dishes, bacteria always remained on them, and with the help of those bacteria cultures, they produced tasty and nutritious cheese that lasted longer than milk.
Thus they managed to ensure a constant source of food. Their bodies have adapted to lactose and the bacterial colonies in dairy products. They freed up some of their time used until then to run for food. Their brains have developed, allowing them to do more than secure food. If they had grass and sunshine to feed the mammals captured for their milk everything would be fine.
Then they thought they needed shelter for the animals. This is how farms were born. They noticed that cows give the most milk, so they focused more on their breeding than on other mammals. They also started producing milk and cheese for those who did not have cows. Those who had mammals for milk became the rich of those times. Raising cows for milk and meat and cultivating the land gave rise to civilization.
Humans began to multiply exponentially. They needed more space, so towns appeared. They started raising animals in the towns to feed the large population. And since there were no pastures in the towns, they fed the animals with leftovers, sometimes leftovers from distilleries. Animals were getting sick, and their milk began to carry diseases: tuberculosis, typhus, diphtheria, scarlet fever. These diseases began to wreak havoc in crowded towns that, in those days, had no water treatment system, sewage, and other methods of keeping them clean.
In the late 1800s, it was recognized that milk produced under these conditions was dangerous to health, and two solutions were proposed. Pasteurization was one of the proposed solutions to eliminate pathogenic bacteria from milk originating from these unsanitary conditions. The other solution was the production of milk under hygienic conditions and with healthy animals. What do you think was the solution adopted? Bingo! Pasteurization. Raw milk, obtained under healthy conditions, became a rarity, and was used as medicine, to feed the sick and children whose mothers could not feed them.
Pasteurization
Since then, pasteurization has been used to ensure “clean” milk. Milk produced for pasteurization and from concentrated animal feeding operations is generally unsanitary and unsafe for raw consumption. Such milk is produced under conditions where animal health is compromised, antibiotics and hormones are used to stimulate higher levels of milk production, there is an abundance of manure and a corresponding rate of pathogens. This type of milk is collected in the same containers from several farms, which increases the risk of pathogen exposure.
Such milk is pasteurized, i.e. heat-treated at temperatures between 63-72 degrees Celsius, for several minutes, to destroy most of the bacteria present in it. This milk is then quickly cooled and packed in special containers, which are sterilized and hermetically sealed. More recently, UHT (ultra-high temperature) milk was also invented, whose technological process is similar, except that temperatures between 135-150 degrees Celsius are used, for a few seconds, to destroy all the microorganisms present in it. This process means that milk can be kept at room temperature for longer without the need for refrigeration or the addition of preservatives.
Pasteurization and UHT kill bacteria, both harmful and beneficial, as well as enzymes present in unheated milk.
Cow’s milk
The composition of the milk varies depending on the animal from which it comes, providing the correct rate of growth and development for the young of that species. Indeed, the popular consensus among health professionals is that regular cow’s milk, goat’s milk, condensed milk, powdered milk, evaporated milk, or any other type of milk should not be given to a child under one year of age. This is due to differences in milk composition that have been revealed by recent research. Cow’s milk and human milk contain a similar percentage of water, but the amounts of carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins and minerals vary greatly, these amounts being adjusted for the offspring of the mammal species from which the milk is derived.
The higher the protein plus leucine content of the milk, the faster the newborn doubles its birth weight. For example, the leucine content of rat milk is 11 grams per liter, and the rat doubles its birth weight in just four days. Cat’s milk contains 8.9 grams per liter and it takes the cat 10 days to double its birth weight. Cow’s milk contains 3.3 grams per liter and the calf doubles its birth weight after 40 days. Human milk contains 0.9 grams per liter and the human infant, the slowest growing mammal, doubles its birth weight after 180 days.
Another reason why cow’s milk is not recommended for babies is that it tends to be low in essential fats, which are necessary for human brain development. A rapid increase in body size is imperative for cows, more so than rapid brain development, so cows produce milk that is high in saturated fat to help their calves grow rapidly in size. The fatty acid composition of cow’s milk is more suitable for a calf than for a human. Also for the same reason cow’s milk has 4 times the calcium content of human breast milk: to grow the calf’s bones quickly to support the body weight. The bioavailability of calcium in cow’s milk is very low, so although cow’s milk has a lot of calcium, humans cannot absorb it. And the content in other minerals and vitamins is completely different in cow’s milk compared to human milk, once again emphasizing its inappropriateness for children.
This is where this question arises: if the entire medical body is in agreement about not recommending cow’s milk for children under 1, why would cow’s milk be good for children over 1 and for adults?
To drink or not to drink milk?
It was very difficult for me to maintain my objectivity when writing this article. I bypassed partisan news sources that support one side while mercilessly dismantling the other side. I found “serious” studies promoting regular milk consumption, then other “serious” studies denying it. I looked for common points of both parties and thus tried to reach a conclusion.
1.Milk contains saturated fat, which leads to cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer’s and type 2 diabetes.
Here the partisans of milk consumption recommend the consumption of skimmed milk, without renouncing it, and the deniers of milk consumption thus have a serious reason not to consume milk. It’s just that recently there are more and more voices saying that saturated fats do not contribute to cardiovascular diseases. And skimmed and pasteurized dairy products no longer have any beneficial properties.
2.Milk triggers certain types of cancer: ovarian, breast, prostate, pancreas, lung, etc.
There are studies that confirm, others that contradict this theory, moreover, that say that it protects against some types of cancer.
3.Bone health.
Similarly, there are studies that confirm, others that contradict. It seems, however, that the studies that say milk does not contribute to bone health are newer, therefore more credible. In one study, researchers looked at diet, exercise and the rate of stress fractures in teenage girls and concluded that dairy products and calcium do not prevent stress fractures. Another study of 96,000 people found that the more milk men consumed as teenagers, the more bone fractures they suffered as adults.
So the myth that says “drink more milk for bone health” goes down. That makes me think of myself. As a child and teenager, I drank milk like water. That didn’t make me strong bones, osteoporosis set in on me long before the average age predicted for this condition.
There are also studies on menopausal women that say they have thriving health with a diet based on vegetables and leafy greens, without dairy.
4.Lactose intolerance and milk protein allergy (APLV)
The first is intolerance to a type of sugar found in milk, and the second is an allergy to milk proteins. The first is quite annoying but not life-threatening, and the second is more serious and potentially life-threatening. If you are lactose intolerant you can tolerate certain types and amounts of dairy, such as matured cheese or yogurts and other fermented dairy products, while if you have an allergy, you must very carefully remove any trace of dairy from your diet, sometimes even beef, not just the milk.
If you are intolerant to gluten, which is a protein from wheat, rye and barley, you may also be intolerant to lactose or milk protein. That’s why it’s not enough to use processed milk products with the mention “lactose-free”, because the problem could be the proteins, not the lactose.
5.“Dairy is not necessary in a diet for optimal health, but for many people, it is the easiest way to get the calcium, vitamin D and protein they need to keep their heart, muscles and bones healthy and work properly.”
Says Vasanti Malik, a nutrition researcher at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
I found this quote in several sources from both parties. Bottom line, dairy isn’t necessary, but some people are too poor or too comfortable to seek out less controversial forms of calcium, iron, and protein. Milk does not contain vitamin D, but is fortified with vitamin D, that is, a synthetic form of vitamin D has been added to pasteurized milk. As for calcium, iron, and protein in cow’s milk, we discussed it in the previous chapter.
If we give up dairy, what are we replacing its nutrients with?
This topic starts from a wrong premise: replacing dairy products with their vegan versions. Dairy advocates say plant-based dairy isn’t good because it doesn’t have the exact same nutrients as “real” dairy. Of course they don’t have the same nutrients, or even the same taste, even though the growing vegan industry is trying hard. Vegan dairy can be an alternative to dairy only from the point of view of psychological comfort (we were taught to drink milk and we miss this product if we give it up) or in recipes with milk, but in terms of nutrients we should look elsewhere.
A lot of emphasis is placed on the calcium content of dairy products. Calcium has no effect if it is not accompanied by magnesium, vitamin D and vitamin K.
There are very few foods that contain vitamin D, and dairy is not one of them, processed milk can only be fortified with synthetic vitamin D. Natural vitamin D can only be obtained through exposure to the sun. If we do not have this possibility, in the cold season or in the case of illnesses in which exposure to the sun is prohibited, we can take supplements.
What can we replace the nutrients in dairy with? With green leafy vegetables, cruciferous vegetables, sesame seeds, sardines with bones. We can get proteins from eggs, meat, legumes, nuts and seeds.
Conclusions
Milk produced by animals began to be consumed by humans about 10,000 years ago, it is not a very “old” food. Humanity has adapted to lactose in milk, and it appears that lactase (the enzyme that digests lactose) was a factor in natural selection at one point. Globally, about 70% of people do not continue to produce lactase after breastfeeding ends.
Opinions about milk and dairy consumption are radically divided. Some are pro and recommend 3-5 servings of dairy per day, others are against and recommend not to consume any kind of dairy, ever.
The industrial milk that exists on the market is processed, pasteurized, to eliminate the harmful bacteria present in the milk collected from animals raised in improper conditions. Along with the harmful bacteria, the beneficial bacteria and enzymes (including lactase which is present in raw milk) are eliminated.
In terms of health, whether drinking milk triggers certain diseases, or on the contrary, prevents them, are both pros and cons studies, so the choice of whether or not to consume dairy is a personal one. It’s easy to choose if you have a milk protein allergy or lactose intolerance. It is clearly a big “no”. And if you have irritable bowel or SIBO, as most people with autoimmune diseases do, say “no” to regular dairy consumption.
What about other people who don’t have the conditions mentioned above? As I said, the choice is personal. Everyone chooses whether to drink milk or eat other dairy products, in what quantity, skimmed or not.
Sources: here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.
