White Lies: The health consequences of consuming cow’s milk

A scientific report by Dr Justine Butler, VVF Health Campaigner

In the UK and other northern European countries as well as North America, we have developed a strong emotional attachment to the idea that milk is a natural and healthy drink for us, even as adults.

Milk is the first food that we consume, our mother’s breast milk if we are fortunate, if not then specially formulated substitutes based on cow’s or soya milk are generally used in the UK.We associate milk with comfort and nurturing and consider milk to be a wholesome nutrient-rich component of the diet that is essential for normal growth and development, which for a baby it is. However, all other mammals on the planet are weaned off milk at an early age, whereas some humans continue drinking milk into adulthood. Not only that, we drink the milk of another species, something no other mammal does. To be fair, contrary to popular belief, most people in the world do not drink milk; it would make many of us ill. But in the UK, we are a nation of milk drinkers, along with most other northern European countries and North America. Infants, the young, adolescents, adults and the aged all consume large quantities of milk, cheese, butter and yogurt every year.

But why are we so convinced that milk is some kind of wonder food?

Milk, it seems, can help you lose weight; it can also make you gain weight. Milk promotes healthy skin; it may also cause acne.You need milk for good bone health, but the incidence of osteoporosis is highest in countries that consume the most milk.These conflicting reports leave us confused and unsure who to believe.

The dairy industry invests millions in milk advertising and promotion. It could be argued that they present a biased view motivated by financial interest. An increasing amount of scientific evidence now shows that cow’s milk is not the wonder food the dairy industry would have us believe. This research goes further in linking the consumption of cow’s milk to a wide range of health problems...........

Source: Report: The health consequences of consuming cow’s milk

Link: Vegetarian & Vegan Foundation


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Milch und Milchprodukte in der Ernährung (de)

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