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MILK

BY: CARSON BODON

For years Americans have been in love with nature’s most precious nutritious liquid, milk. Milk
from cows has been a huge staple in the lives of thousands of Americans, starting when they were just
babies, to the day they pass away. According to a study in America after a baby reaches six months of
age 50% of mothers will transition their babies from breast feeding to drinking baby formula instead
(Kellymom). Baby formula, most of the time is made from a cow milk protein-base (Staff). Right away
babies are introduced to cow milk which will last until they are old enough to be switched to drinking
whole milk. Even in schools kids are taught about the dietary food pyramid. The food pyramid is a
nutrition guide that is divided into different food group sections including each sections recommended
intake for each food group. According to the USDA, who created the food pyramid, suggests that for
children both boys and girls from age 9 to the day they die are recommended to have 3 cups of dairy a
day (USDA). From kids learning about this, to seeing milk posters in their school cafeteria, to watching
milk commercials, and having their own parents asking them to drink it, there appears to be no escape
for children from the dangerous world of dairy.

Many in America are led to believe dairy has high nutritional value and is even detrimental to
our health. However, in other countries we can see quite a difference in education. A young man by the
name of KunTai shares his experience of milk: He was born and grew up on a island just off the coast of
China called Taiwan. His father was high up in the Taiwanese military and was a very strict parent at
home. KunTai’s dad would not allow his kids drink milk. He taught his kids that drinking milk is very bad
for the body. He said, “Cow’s milk is not meant for the human body to drink but for baby cows only.”
KunTai grew up as normal as ever never drinking a drop of milk until he was introduced to it when he
moved away from home. Looking at this situation from most Americans perception where milk
surrounds their culture, they would think that KunTai’s father is crazy and wonder why would he do such
a thing to abstain his own children from milk. In the following paragraphs we will read some studies and
research that has been done on milk to see if KunTai’s father could possibly be right about his ideas of
milk.

Milk mustache ads have been around for a very long time sponsoring celebrities, musicians, and
famous actors to promote their product. The Federal Trade commission recently asked the USDA to
look into the scientific basis of claims made in their milk mustache ads. The panel of scientist stated the
truth clearly that first, milk does not help with athletic performance and second, there is no evidence
that dairy is good for your bones and prevents osteoporosis (Hyman). The Nurses Health Study did a
study with the intent to see if milk consumption during teenage years is correlated with risk of hip
fractures in older adults. The study included observing thousands of teens from ages 13 to 18 and saw
how much milk they were consuming a day and then the plan was to follow up with them later in life.
The study took place for over 22 years and finally when the teens were at the right age-- 96,000 white
postmenopausal women and men aged 50 years and older—the researchers were able to follow up
their initial study of the effects from dairy. The result that they found were: that “greater milk
consumption during teenage years was not associated with a lower risk of hip fracture in older adults.”
In fact each additional glass of milk per day increased a mans risk of hip fractures by 9% (Pediatr). A
similar study was done in Sweden and this time they conducted the study with more than 100,000
people. Their main objective was to examine whether high milk consumption is associated with
mortality and fractures in women and men. Their conclusions include; “high milk intake was associated
with higher mortality” to be exact women that drank three or more glasses of milk a day compared to
less than one had a much higher mortality rate by 95%. They also learned that a higher milk intake for
women also increased higher fracture incidences (Michaelsson).

Millions of people drink dairy milk for many different reasons including for calcium, protein,
vitamin D, potassium, and other vitamins and minerals. Because of the high amounts of calcium milk is
directed towards children so they can grow strong healthy bones for when they get older and also for
women who naturally have a lower bone mass on average than men which then leads to osteoporosis.
Osteoporosis, a medical condition usually caused by having a lack of vitamin D and calcium resulting in
the bones to lose its tissues making them very fragile and brittle. If milk would be good for you and your
bones you would think that drinking more of it would help prevent osteoporosis. In fact the United
States, being one of the largest dairy consumers in the world is also one of the larges on having the
highest percentage of osteoporosis. 1 out of every 4 men in the United States will encounter
osteoporosis in their lifetime (Roy). In contrast to this statistic places with the lowest amount of dairy
consumption like countries in Asia and Africa have some of the lowest percentages of osteoporosis.
According to the makers of the movie “Forks Over Knives” animal protein creates an acid like condition
in the body called metabolic acidosis. To combat this condition, the body draws upon its most readily
available acid buffer, which is calcium in our bones. As the calcium is extracted from our bones to
neutralize the excess acid, our bones are then weakened (Fulkerson). According to this statement
drinking milk is not only not helping our bones become strong, healthy, and prevent osteoporosis but
actually is making our bones weaker and more prone to receive osteoporosis.

In conclusion from just looking at the research shown we could at least say that there is a high
possibility that milk is not good for you. A lot more research is needed for sure but so far from it nothing
good has come. Thinking about it, drinking milk really does not make much sense in thinking that you
can take a milk from one species and think that it would be beneficial for another one. As soon as the
calf grows to about 10 months the more will stop producing milk because the calf doesn’t need it
anymore. Walter Willett a profound professor and Phd doctor is head of the nutrition department at
Harvard and is the second most cited for clinical medicine said; “Humans have no nutritional
requirement for animal milk, an evolutionarily recent addition to the diet (News).”

Works Cited
Forks Over Knives. Dir. Lee Fulkerson. 2011.

Hyman, Dr. Mark. Dairy: 6 Reasons You Should Avoid It at all Costs. 2016.
<http://drhyman.com/blog/2010/06/24/dairy-6-reasons-you-should-avoid-it-at-all-costs-2/>.

Kellymom. Parenting Breastfeeding. 2018. <https://kellymom.com/fun/trivia/bf-numbers/>.


Michaelsson, K. Milk intake and risk of mortality and fractures in women and men: cohort studies. 28
October 2014. <https://www.bmj.com/content/349/bmj.g6015>.

News, Postmedia. Drinking Milk Not Essential for Humans Despite Belief it Prevents Osteoporosis,
Nutritionist Says. 23 January 2014. <http://nationalpost.com/appetizer/drinking-milk-not-
essential-for-humans-despite-belief-it-prevents-osteoporosis-nutritionist-says>.

Pediatr, JAMA. Milk Consumption During Teenage Years and Risk of Hip Fractures in Older Adults.
January 2014. <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24247817>.

Roy, Vincent. 11 Countries with the Highest Rates of Osteoporosis in the World. 7 July 2017.
<https://www.insidermonkey.com/blog/11-countries-with-the-highest-rates-of-osteoporosis-in-
the-world-359037/?singlepage=1>.

Staff, Mayo Clinic. Infant & toddler health, Infant Formula. 19 January 2016. <2.
https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/infant-and-toddler-health/in-depth/infant-
formula/art-20045782>.

USDA. All About the Dairy Group. 3 November 2017. <https://www.choosemyplate.gov/dairy>.

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