In 2012, about 212 billion liters of cow's milk was consumed globally. A huge proportion of the 212 billion liters was consumed in America. The average American consumes 375 pounds of dairy products every year and 1 out of every 7 dollars spent in grocery stores in the United States goes for the purchase of dairy foods. Cow's milk is more American than apple pie, which should not be a surprise although apple pie does not have a multi-billion dollar industry lobbying congress leaders to do its biddings and a multi-million dollar advertising budget to promote it as the perfect food for humans, especially children.
In nutrition classes in school, we were taught that milk is one of the four basic food groups required for proper nutrition and maintenance of good health. Obviously, the dairy products we ingest are obtained from cow's milk. However, our instructors failed to tell us that the milk of cows is designed to increase the size of a 65-pound baby calf into a 700-pound cow pending when the cow’s digestive system will be ready to take in solid food. This generally takes about one year. In the words of Dr. Michael Klaper, one of world’s leading specialist in nutrition-based medicine, “Cow's milk is baby calf growth fluid.”
Comparing Cow's Milk and Human Milk
The composition of cow's milk is similar to that of human milk, but the concentrations of these components differ. Milk from cows contains much higher amount of proteins, such as casein and whey, and even higher concentrations of sodium, potassium, fats, minerals and hormones, including the potent cancer promoters estrogen and insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) than the milk obtained from human mammary glands. These nutrients promote the rapid growth of a baby calf but are not well suited for other species, including humans.
Casein is not well suited for our digestive system; it coagulates and form curds in our gastrointestinal tract. On the other hand, whey, as it is found in higher proportion in human milk, is more easily digested by human babies. In addition, high levels of casein together with other proteins and hormones found in cow milk, such as estrogen, lactoalbumin, and IGF-1 has been linked to the development of diseases, such as asthma, acne, breast cancer, prostrate cancer, type-1 diabetes and even mouth ulcers.
Is Dairy Part of a Healthy Diet?
The answer is simple: No. All the nutrients required to maintain good health can be obtained from whole food plant based diets. Cow's milk is designed to meet the nutritive needs and sustain the rapid growth of a calf. We do not have the need to gain hundreds of pounds in a few months. Humans absolutely have no business drinking the growth fluid of baby calves.
Note: We are grateful for the comments below from Veterinarian Amy Amy Levinsky which helped us to improve this blog. Helpful comments are always welcome and appreciated. We invite our readers to sign up for membership at DrCarney.com and join in the conversations.
Additional Information:
(1) Give up Dairy Products to Beat Cancer