How healthy is dairy really? If you follow the mainstream argument you'd think it was the best thing since sliced bread. And it is for babies; for babies of the mother who produces the milk. Other than that, the benefits of dairy are a myth. How it ever came into being is a mystery.

There is one exception and that's the bacteria in live yoghurt. Although that is available in other foods.

Not only is there no healthy benefit in dairy, it is actually harmful, both to infants on formula milk and to adults. 

Cow’s milk is a wonderful food - for baby cows. Each species have unique requirements, including that for their young. Each species grow at different rates, develop at different rates, have different nutritional requirements and so on.

Cows grow at a phenomenal rate. They are huge animals with massive bones. They are fully mature in 12 months.

Humans grow at an incredibly slow rate, not being fully grown till around 16 - 17 years of age.

These two stark differences means that the diet must be very different. It also means that the milk, the first food, of the young will vary enormously.

Milk contains the perfect balance in the exact proportions for the growth of the young of the mother. Fat, protein, water, lactose (the milk sugars), minerals (including calcium and iron), enzymes, phospholipids (like fat) all vary according to the species. Human milk is much lower in calcium, protein and sodium, than cow’s or goat’s milk. This is to accommodate the much slower growth rate.

This is why formula fed babies gain weight much more quickly than breastfed babies. And there are consequences for this later on in life.

Dairy milk contains 1200mg calcium per quart. Human milk contains 300mg per quart. Yet the breastfed baby absorbs more calcium than does the formula fed baby.

It isn’t the amount of the nutrition in the food that is important. It the bio availability that matters.

Other differences are that human milk contains higher levels of polyunsaturated fats, carbohydrates, iron and vitamin C.

Mother’s milk is also a source of protection from infections for the infant, because babies don’t have an immune system. It is yet to develop. Bovine infections are very different from human infections.

All the different types of milk that are produced in an attempt to keep people drinking milk and other dairy products, such as lactose free milk and a2 milk are creating the same problems. Processing anything de-natures it creating complex and long term health issues for the consumer.

The more a food is processed, the less nutritional content it contains.

Pasteurized milk is considered as a safety measure as it is heated in an attempt to kill off bacteria such as streptococcal. But it only manages to reduce the numbers and strep throats are still very common.

Homogenized milk is done to mix the cream in with the milk. Both pasteurisation and homogenization are processes that severely de-nature the milk, adding in more problems for the consumer, including heart related health issues.

Once a youngster has been fully weaned, there is no benefit to their health in drinking another species milk. Their digestive enzymes have changed, matured.

The only reason a baby needs to consume another species milk is when a mother can’t make enough milk for her baby. And she doesn’t live near any human milk bank.

Getting good homeopathy help may be able to help the mother produce more milk.

The diseases common in infants or children who drink fresh milk (or any product which contains dairy) include:

• iron deficiency anaemia
• anaemia from a steady gastrointestinal haemorrhage too small to be visible in the stool

• diarrhoea from poor assimilation

• allergies

• skin problems such as rashes, acne

• streptococcal pharyngitis (strep throat)
• asthma
• appendicitis
• atherosclerosis
• ear infections
• bronchitis
• may contribute to leukaemia
• may contribute to rheumatoid arthritis
• vague, recurrent abdominal pains, repeated headaches, aching muscles/joints
• simple bedwetting

Adults fare little better than children. The diseases common in adults who drink fresh milk (or any product which contains it) include:

• cramps
• diarrhoea from poor assimilation
• allergies
• central in the origins of atherosclerosis
• central in the origins of heart attacks
• may contribute to multiple sclerosis
• may contribute to dental decay

The only healthy milk is mother’s milk fed to her baby.

Many people feel that there are benefits in drinking milk if it is raw. Certainly raw milk is more natural as it isn’t processed as much. But that’s the only advantage. It’s still not the right food, so will still have an adverse effect on the consumers health.

What about organic milk? Surely that is healthier? Certainly it is a lot healthier as there aren’t the problems with toxicity from agricultural chemicals. But the other factors remain.

As it does in milk from grass fed cows.

Skimmed milk is a common diet food, but the above problems remain. The additional processing make the end product even less nutritious.

There is also an energetic impact on drinking another species milk. To obtain milk, the calf (or kid) is removed from the mother, usually at birth. The grief the mother (not to mention the baby) feels must be catastrophic. 

It is well known that mothers will go to any length to protect her baby. Separating mother from baby is the worse thing you can do to any mother or baby.

The energetic impact of the deep grief will be passed on in her milk.

Alternative milks, yoghurts and cheeses now abound.

In reality there are no benefits in drinking milk. It’s curious that this was ever believed to be so when you consider the animal that our dairy comes from. As already mentioned, cows (along with other herbivores - rhinos, elephants, antelopes, etc) grow to a great size, with massive bones, in a single year.

How healthy is dairy in reality? Is it the dairy we should consume? Or should we be looking at how cows get their nutrition?

It isn’t the cows milk that we should be focused on, it’s what the cows eat. Cows eat grass. Grass is a green leafy vegetable. Green leafy vegetables (kale, spinach, bok choi, silver beet, etc) are a rich source of macro minerals and trace elements that are easily digested and assimilated by the human digestive system.

References Frank A Oski MD, Neal Barnard MD, Michael Gregor MD

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