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Forum PointsSHOULD CHILDREN DRINK
COW'S MILK? Should
children drink milk? The answer depends on two things: which children,
what kind of milk. For children drinking mother's milk, the answer,
universally and unequivocally, is yes. For any age children drinking
cow's milk, the answer depends on the culture, the family, and the
child. And in our society, more often than not, it is no. The
Physicians Committee on Responsible Medicine, headed by Dr. Neil
Barnard, cautions against the near universal custom of giving children
pasteurized homogenized cow's milk, as it is associated with juvenile
diabetes, allergies, and mucus conditions. Frank Oski, MD, a member of
that group and the author of Don't Drink Your Milk (Syracuse:
Mollica Press, 1983), points out that many cultures normally lose the
lactase enzyme that helps digest lactose, or milk sugar, around the age
of weaning. Therefore, people of Asian, African, Malay, Filipino, and
Native American descent are often lactose intolerant and respond to
milk products with digestive distress.
What is the role of milk? As you know, the females of the mammalian
species produce it to feed their newborns until the young ones can eat
regular food. Thus milk is the perfect food for infants. With all
mammals, the infants are weaned at the appropriate age and never again
partake of milk. The exceptions are certain groups of humans, such as
Hindus, Europeans, and their American descendants, who consume the milk
of cows or other animals throughout their lives. A sizable majority of
traditional cultures in the world do not drink milk, including most
Asian and African populations. Europeans brought the consumption of
milk and its derivatives (cheese, yogurt, ice cream, and the skim
products) to the US; here, this dietary custom has been relentlessly
promoted by the dairy industry, whose influence has reached the entire
nutrition education establishment as well as the government. As a
result, peoples whose tradition does not include milk have been using
it, with the predictable result of an increase of the diseases of
"civilization," such as heart disease, obesity, and diabetes.
What about children? Isn't milk the most nutritious food for them? The
fact is that milk is a whole food: it is designed to nourish an
infant/baby calf completely until the infant is ready to partake of
other nourishment. Therefore, technically nothing else is needed in the
diet when milk is consumed. Obviously, we cannot feed growing children
nothing but milk; yet adding milk to an otherwise well-balanced diet
simply overloads the meal. As a result, children who drink milk or eat
cheeses and ice cream often do not have much of an appetite for other
foods. Many parents complain that their children will not eat
vegetables, so they at least try to get them to drink milk or eat ice
cream. But children do not like vegetables because they eat dairy foods.
They are actually making a very reasonable nutritional choice, because
milk is vegetables that went through the cow, so why should they eat
them twice? I have found that children who do not consume milk products
generally eat vegetables with gusto.
What are some of the problems with milk?
Production:
Most milk nowadays is extracted from cows that are kept producing milk
with the help of hormones, long after they need it for their calves. The
cows are fed commercially created feeds that may include hay, grain,
cardboard, and wood shavings; they are regularly plied with antibiotics;
and they are often sick and below par. The injection of genetically
engineered (recombinant) Bovine Growth Hormone (rbgh) into dairy cows
promises to increase milk production from 15 to 25 percent. This is good
for the farmers but bad for the drugged cows, which are more prone to
infections when under that drug. These infections are then treated with
large amounts of antibiotics, which then find their way into the milk.
We don't know yet if milk from cows treated with rbgh is good for
people, but surely it won't be any better than it is now. Do we really
need more milk production when there already is a surplus?
Processing:
Milk is naturally sterile when it comes out of the nipple, but as soon
as it comes in contact with the air, bacteria begin to grow rapidly.
Cow's milk is pasteurized, a process that kills the bacteria present up
to that point; what most of us forget is that all those dead bacteria
are still floating in the milk. New live bacteria continue to
proliferate shortly afterwards.
Pasteurization also destroys up to 50 percent of the vitamin C present
in the milk. Homogenization breaks up the milk fat globules so that the
fat mixes throughout; this process has been associated with hardening
of the arteries, a problem that in some cases begins at birth. The
addition of vitamins A and D can cause the problems associated with
hypervitaminosis; it is well known that these two fat soluble vitamins
produce toxic reactions when used in excess. In fact, vitamin D promotes
calcification and in milk it may cause serious damage to the kidneys.
There have been hundreds of scientific papers showing the damaging
effects of added vitamin D; among these effects are kidney stones and
urinary calculi, hypercholesterolemia, and damage to the eyes.
Idiopathic hypercalcemia of infants-a condition that emerged in the
1950s after milk began to be fortified with irradiated ergosterol-is
characterized by extremely high levels of blood calcium, often
accompanied by increased levels of cholesterol in the blood. Its
consequences may be severe mental retardation due to abnormal
development of the bones of the head and face; irreversible damage to
the heart and circulatory system due to deposition of bone matter in
these tissues; and generalized arteriosclerosis of infancy, which may
result in mild or severe mental retardation later in life. There is
evidence that this condition may develop in utero because of maternal
supplementation with D2.
All these problems have been recognized for years, yet we keep plying
our children with this substance in a food that naturally does not have
it in such large quantities. A study in the New England Journal of Medicine
investigating eight cases of vitamin D intoxication in children studied
the milk from one dairy and found that the amount of vitamin D in the
milk there varied "from undetectable to 232,565 IU per quart." The RDA
is 400 IU per day, which is the amount allowed per quart. Another study
in the same issue of that journal found that seven of ten samples of
infant formula contained more than 200 percent of the amount of added
vitamin D stated on the label; the sample with the highest concentration
contained 419 percent of the labeled amount.
Health conditions and effects:
Allergies to milk and its products are extremely common and result
often in fatigue or behavioral problems. Dairy consumption is related to
runny noses, frequent colds, bronchitis, ear infections, being
overweight, digestive distress, intestinal upsets, and skin outbreaks.
In addition, it worsens asthma and breathing disorders. The culprit is
not the fat but the protein, so low-fat or skim products are not any
better. In fact, a higher content of butterfat in the diet may be
helpful for children with neurological problems (as the 80 percent fat
ketogenic diet is helpful for those with seizures). Where, then, do we
get our calcium? The answer to that question is quite simple: from the
same place that cows, horses, and elephants get theirs-the vegetable
kingdom. Leafy and dark green vegetables are an excellent source, and we
don't have to eat the amounts suggested by the RDA's; the World Health
Organization finds that most populations on calcium levels as low as 400
mg per day have no calcium deficiencies, as long as they get it from
natural animal and vegetable sources. Other dietary sources of calcium,
as well as additional minerals, include beans, nuts, sea vegetables, and
sesame seeds. For those who are not vegetarians, calcium is found in
whole fish with bones such as sardines and smelts, and soft shell crabs;
stock made with bones and a bit of vinegar or wine, which draws the
calcium out of the bones into the stock, is an excellent and very
traditional source of calcium and other minerals.
Thus, for good nutrition without milk products put some fresh chopped
parsley on one dish per meal; always have something dark green,
including broccoli, kale, mustard greens, collards, arugula, or
watercress; use beans regularly; use chicken, beef, or fish bones to
make stocks; eat the bones of fish such as sardines, canned salmon, and
fresh anchovies; give older kids crisp, well-cooked chicken bones to
chew on; add sea vegetables, like kombu, to soup or stock; and sprinkle
roasted and ground sesame seeds on your rice or barley, a condiment that
is a superior calcium source. Let your kids snack on it anytime they
want.
WAKAME GOMASIO
1 ounce dry wakame seaweed, baked at 350 degrees for 10 minutes
1 cup toasted unhulled sesame seeds
Grind the wakame in a mortar or bowl until powdered; discard the tough
inner ribs. Measure out 2 tablespoons. In a suribachi or mortar, grind
the sesame seeds a bit, add the wakame, and continue grinding by hand
until well mixed. Use as a condiment or snack.
COW'S MILK? Should
children drink milk? The answer depends on two things: which children,
what kind of milk. For children drinking mother's milk, the answer,
universally and unequivocally, is yes. For any age children drinking
cow's milk, the answer depends on the culture, the family, and the
child. And in our society, more often than not, it is no. The
Physicians Committee on Responsible Medicine, headed by Dr. Neil
Barnard, cautions against the near universal custom of giving children
pasteurized homogenized cow's milk, as it is associated with juvenile
diabetes, allergies, and mucus conditions. Frank Oski, MD, a member of
that group and the author of Don't Drink Your Milk (Syracuse:
Mollica Press, 1983), points out that many cultures normally lose the
lactase enzyme that helps digest lactose, or milk sugar, around the age
of weaning. Therefore, people of Asian, African, Malay, Filipino, and
Native American descent are often lactose intolerant and respond to
milk products with digestive distress.
What is the role of milk? As you know, the females of the mammalian
species produce it to feed their newborns until the young ones can eat
regular food. Thus milk is the perfect food for infants. With all
mammals, the infants are weaned at the appropriate age and never again
partake of milk. The exceptions are certain groups of humans, such as
Hindus, Europeans, and their American descendants, who consume the milk
of cows or other animals throughout their lives. A sizable majority of
traditional cultures in the world do not drink milk, including most
Asian and African populations. Europeans brought the consumption of
milk and its derivatives (cheese, yogurt, ice cream, and the skim
products) to the US; here, this dietary custom has been relentlessly
promoted by the dairy industry, whose influence has reached the entire
nutrition education establishment as well as the government. As a
result, peoples whose tradition does not include milk have been using
it, with the predictable result of an increase of the diseases of
"civilization," such as heart disease, obesity, and diabetes.
What about children? Isn't milk the most nutritious food for them? The
fact is that milk is a whole food: it is designed to nourish an
infant/baby calf completely until the infant is ready to partake of
other nourishment. Therefore, technically nothing else is needed in the
diet when milk is consumed. Obviously, we cannot feed growing children
nothing but milk; yet adding milk to an otherwise well-balanced diet
simply overloads the meal. As a result, children who drink milk or eat
cheeses and ice cream often do not have much of an appetite for other
foods. Many parents complain that their children will not eat
vegetables, so they at least try to get them to drink milk or eat ice
cream. But children do not like vegetables because they eat dairy foods.
They are actually making a very reasonable nutritional choice, because
milk is vegetables that went through the cow, so why should they eat
them twice? I have found that children who do not consume milk products
generally eat vegetables with gusto.
What are some of the problems with milk?
Production:
Most milk nowadays is extracted from cows that are kept producing milk
with the help of hormones, long after they need it for their calves. The
cows are fed commercially created feeds that may include hay, grain,
cardboard, and wood shavings; they are regularly plied with antibiotics;
and they are often sick and below par. The injection of genetically
engineered (recombinant) Bovine Growth Hormone (rbgh) into dairy cows
promises to increase milk production from 15 to 25 percent. This is good
for the farmers but bad for the drugged cows, which are more prone to
infections when under that drug. These infections are then treated with
large amounts of antibiotics, which then find their way into the milk.
We don't know yet if milk from cows treated with rbgh is good for
people, but surely it won't be any better than it is now. Do we really
need more milk production when there already is a surplus?
Processing:
Milk is naturally sterile when it comes out of the nipple, but as soon
as it comes in contact with the air, bacteria begin to grow rapidly.
Cow's milk is pasteurized, a process that kills the bacteria present up
to that point; what most of us forget is that all those dead bacteria
are still floating in the milk. New live bacteria continue to
proliferate shortly afterwards.
Pasteurization also destroys up to 50 percent of the vitamin C present
in the milk. Homogenization breaks up the milk fat globules so that the
fat mixes throughout; this process has been associated with hardening
of the arteries, a problem that in some cases begins at birth. The
addition of vitamins A and D can cause the problems associated with
hypervitaminosis; it is well known that these two fat soluble vitamins
produce toxic reactions when used in excess. In fact, vitamin D promotes
calcification and in milk it may cause serious damage to the kidneys.
There have been hundreds of scientific papers showing the damaging
effects of added vitamin D; among these effects are kidney stones and
urinary calculi, hypercholesterolemia, and damage to the eyes.
Idiopathic hypercalcemia of infants-a condition that emerged in the
1950s after milk began to be fortified with irradiated ergosterol-is
characterized by extremely high levels of blood calcium, often
accompanied by increased levels of cholesterol in the blood. Its
consequences may be severe mental retardation due to abnormal
development of the bones of the head and face; irreversible damage to
the heart and circulatory system due to deposition of bone matter in
these tissues; and generalized arteriosclerosis of infancy, which may
result in mild or severe mental retardation later in life. There is
evidence that this condition may develop in utero because of maternal
supplementation with D2.
All these problems have been recognized for years, yet we keep plying
our children with this substance in a food that naturally does not have
it in such large quantities. A study in the New England Journal of Medicine
investigating eight cases of vitamin D intoxication in children studied
the milk from one dairy and found that the amount of vitamin D in the
milk there varied "from undetectable to 232,565 IU per quart." The RDA
is 400 IU per day, which is the amount allowed per quart. Another study
in the same issue of that journal found that seven of ten samples of
infant formula contained more than 200 percent of the amount of added
vitamin D stated on the label; the sample with the highest concentration
contained 419 percent of the labeled amount.
Health conditions and effects:
Allergies to milk and its products are extremely common and result
often in fatigue or behavioral problems. Dairy consumption is related to
runny noses, frequent colds, bronchitis, ear infections, being
overweight, digestive distress, intestinal upsets, and skin outbreaks.
In addition, it worsens asthma and breathing disorders. The culprit is
not the fat but the protein, so low-fat or skim products are not any
better. In fact, a higher content of butterfat in the diet may be
helpful for children with neurological problems (as the 80 percent fat
ketogenic diet is helpful for those with seizures). Where, then, do we
get our calcium? The answer to that question is quite simple: from the
same place that cows, horses, and elephants get theirs-the vegetable
kingdom. Leafy and dark green vegetables are an excellent source, and we
don't have to eat the amounts suggested by the RDA's; the World Health
Organization finds that most populations on calcium levels as low as 400
mg per day have no calcium deficiencies, as long as they get it from
natural animal and vegetable sources. Other dietary sources of calcium,
as well as additional minerals, include beans, nuts, sea vegetables, and
sesame seeds. For those who are not vegetarians, calcium is found in
whole fish with bones such as sardines and smelts, and soft shell crabs;
stock made with bones and a bit of vinegar or wine, which draws the
calcium out of the bones into the stock, is an excellent and very
traditional source of calcium and other minerals.
Thus, for good nutrition without milk products put some fresh chopped
parsley on one dish per meal; always have something dark green,
including broccoli, kale, mustard greens, collards, arugula, or
watercress; use beans regularly; use chicken, beef, or fish bones to
make stocks; eat the bones of fish such as sardines, canned salmon, and
fresh anchovies; give older kids crisp, well-cooked chicken bones to
chew on; add sea vegetables, like kombu, to soup or stock; and sprinkle
roasted and ground sesame seeds on your rice or barley, a condiment that
is a superior calcium source. Let your kids snack on it anytime they
want.
WAKAME GOMASIO
1 ounce dry wakame seaweed, baked at 350 degrees for 10 minutes
1 cup toasted unhulled sesame seeds
Grind the wakame in a mortar or bowl until powdered; discard the tough
inner ribs. Measure out 2 tablespoons. In a suribachi or mortar, grind
the sesame seeds a bit, add the wakame, and continue grinding by hand
until well mixed. Use as a condiment or snack.
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