MILK

‘Milk does a body good’ is a slogan most of us have heard. It’s used by the American Dairy
Association to promote cow’s milk. Raw milk has some great benefits, but processed milk as
we get it from the store does not do our bodies good.
I grew up on cow’s milk, believed the hype and have been told that milk is our best source of
calcium. I grew up in an area where dairy was big business – lots of dairy farms. I was
taught that homogenization and pasteurization were very good for the milk. I have found that
they are simply ways to mass produce dairy milk without strict standards for large production
facilities. Pasteurization, heating/cooking of the milk to destroy any bacteria, actually makes
calcium less bio-available, less digestible and actually denatures some of the proteins in milk.
Milk neutralizes hydrochloric acid in the stomach, making it much harder for the body to
digest. Studies show that the people who drink more milk have the lowest calcium levels in
their bodies. It is just not useable by the body in its grocery store form. If you can get your
hands on certified raw milk, that does have benefits. Drinking processed milk actually makes
the body less efficient at absorbing nutrients, not just from milk, but from all foods. This is
caused by the mucous layer milk leaves on our stomach and intestines. That’s why we are
often told to drink milk for an upset stomach or to prevent absorption for some poisons.
Another problem with milk is its high protein content. Our bodies make 70% of what we
need and get the rest from plant-based foods. Animal-based proteins found in milk are
harder for the body to process and cause calcium leaching to try and rid the excess from our
blood. Remember, calcium is used to maintain pH. Excess protein in the blood makes the
blood more acidic and the body has to remove it.
Cow’s milk is for calves.