Unless you're a calf – which is highly unlikely, since you're reading this article – it's not necessary (or healthy!) for you to drink cow's milk. And before you start getting defensive, please hear me out: cow's milk is designed to allow calves to double their weight in 47 days, grow four stomachs and weigh 300 pounds within a year. Basically, cow's milk is for baby cows, just as human milk is for baby humans. Studies show that consuming cow's milk – or milk from other animals such as camels and goats – can cause a variety of health problems in humans. It's safer and more natural for adults and children to consume soya milk and other dairy-free foods instead of cow's milk. According to nutritional expert Michael Klaper, MD, author of Pregnancy, Children, and the Vegan Diet, “Humans are the only creatures that drink milk from the mother of another species. It's as unnatural for a child to drink the milk of a cow as it is for a dog to nurse from a giraffe! Human children have no nutritional requirements for cow's milk and grow up healthy and strong without it. Cow's milk (and the products made from it) is laced with foreign, frequently allergy-inciting, bovine protein and frequently contains hydrocarbon pesticides and other chemical contaminants, as well as health-endangering saturated fat. Clinical experience suggests that cow's milk is linked to numerous common health problems (runny noses, allergies, ear infections, recurrent bronchitis, asthma, etc.) that often keep people returning to their doctors' offices, instead of to their jobs or classrooms. Parents should feel good about giving their children the many nutritious, tasty, nondairy alternatives instead.” In Baby and Child Care, the world-renowned pediatrician Dr Benjamin Spock wrote, “I no longer recommend dairy products. … The essential fats that are needed for brain development are found in vegetable oils. Milk is very low in these essential fats and high in the saturated fats that encourage artery blockage and weight problems as children grow.” A number of other health experts agree that people should not consume dairy products. Dr Frank Oski, the former director of pediatrics at Johns Hopkins University in the US, said, “There's no reason to drink cow's milk at any time in your life. It was designed for calves, not humans, and we should all stop drinking it today.” Many Egyptians cannot even digest cow's milk properly. Studies have shown that more than 8 million Egyptians are lactose intolerant. The consumption of cow's milk and other dairy products can cause gas, nausea, cramps, bloating and diarrhea. It can also cause cancer and other serious diseases. Researchers at Stanford University and the National Institutes of Health in the US found that high concentrations of IGF-I, a hormone that occurs naturally in humans and cows and in all milk, stimulates cancer cell growth. According to the World Cancer Research Fund and the American Institute for Cancer Research, 11 separate human population studies have tied dairy consumption to prostate cancer. The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) in Washington, DC, cites more than 12 epidemiological studies that show a positive correlation between the consumption of dairy products and breast cancer. Several other studies, including one conducted by researchers at Sweden's Karolinska Institute, have shown that women who consume large amounts of cow's milk may have a higher risk for ovarian cancer. Men who consume dairy products seem to have a higher risk of developing Parkinson's disease, a disorder in which movement-regulating cells in the brain die or become impaired. In one study, researchers followed more than 130,000 American adults for nine years and concluded that men who consumed a lot of dairy products, particularly milk, were more likely to suffer from Parkinson's. Other studies have shown that dairy products cause juvenile diabetes, Crohn's disease and acne – something most teenagers consider to be very serious! Dr Walter Willett and his colleagues at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston surveyed more than 47,000 women and found a link between women who had acne and those who drank a lot of milk. They suspect this is because of the IGF-1 and other hormones in milk. Organic milk contains the same hormones as non-organic milk and can also cause acne. Cow's milk really does not benefit humans in any way. Clinical and population evidence strongly implicates dairy in causing, rather than preventing, osteoporosis because its excessive protein content leaches calcium from the body, causing severe bone deterioration. Even studies funded by the dairy industry have shown that milk does not prevent bone loss. In fact, studies have shown that postmenopausal women who drank three glasses of milk a day actually lost bone mass twice as fast as those who didn't drink milk. According to the PCRM, “You can decrease your risk of osteoporosis by reducing sodium and animal protein intake in the diet, increasing intake of fruits and vegetables, exercising, and ensuring adequate calcium intake from plant foods such as … leafy green vegetables and beans. You can also use calcium-fortified products such as breakfast cereals and juices”. Soya, rice, oat and nut milks are tasty, healthy and humane alternatives to dairy products. As Bill Danby, a dermatologist who works at Dartmouth Medical School in New Hampshire, says, “Objectively, human consumption of large volumes of another species' milk, especially when that milk comes mainly from pregnant cows during the human's normally post-weaned years, is essentially unnatural”. It's time that we wean ourselves off dairy products and start eating natural, healthy, plant-based foods. See DumpDairy.com for more information. ** Jason Baker is the director of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) Asia. To get involved with PETA's work in the Middle East, visit PETAAsiaPacific.com. BM
