No Milk Today.

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Milk, cholesterol, and heart disease

Milk contains fat, also known as saturated fat. General is known that these fats increase the cholesterol level and the risk of cardiovascular disease significantly.

In the so-called China Study, run by Professor T. Colin Campbell, he says that those who follow an animal-protein diet had 17 times more chance to have heart disease than people who get their nutrients from fruits and vegetables, such as the Chinese.

Prof. Katan, professor of nutrition at the Center of Food Sciences at Wageningen (WCFS- Netherlands), has his comments on this research. There are other possible connections. Maybe Chinese do more physical exercises, smoke less, are thinner, less unhealthy eating.

According Katan the result is not just attributed to protein. But Katan find it better to avoid the fat in milk. Milk fat is very rich in saturated fatty acids. They raise your cholesterol and that leads to atherosclerosis and heart disease. Skimmed milk, low-fat yogurt and buttermilk are fine products. Professor T. Colin Campbell is of the opinion that not only the fat increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases, but that the proteins in milk are even at more risk. So according to him drinking skimmed products has no sense.

The China Study also concluded that the less animal fat you eat, the better. A total plant-diet is the most ideal diet for humans.

Dairy and cancer

There are also growing links between the consumption of milk and cancer. These research results are still only preliminary and need further investigation. Opinions still differ greatly. According to Campbell, the rate of cancer suffers, such as the rate of cardiovascular diseases in America is many times higher than in Asia.

In our body we have protein known as IGF-1, the Insulin-like Growth Factor. This we need to let our body grow and strengthen. When we mature and we still consume an excessive amount of animal protein such as milk, then the IGF-1 has nowhere to go, because we are already mature. The danger is that these substances then settling on cancer cells, so the risk of cancer increases many times. However, milk is not only bad; health studies demonstrated that the calcium in milk reduces the risk of colon cancer. But I think we can consume calcium in other ways.

Lactose Intolerance

The vast majority of the world (70% of adult humans) are lactose intolerant, so they are sick of drinking milk. This means that they can not digest lactose. (Breast milk also contains lactose, but babies can digest it). Ninety percent of Asians, seventy percent of Africans and fifty percent of South Americans are lactose intolerant. While only fifteen percent of whites are lactose intolerant. And it is striking that if you stop drinking milk, your body naturally become lactose intolerant.

In Sweden and the Netherlands, where dairy products are consumed, many people break a hip.

In countries where much less milk is consumed, such as China and Japan, it's much less frequent. The figures: In the Netherlands, 12 out of 10,000 people had break a hip. In Sweden it is 20, China 10, Japan 9.

No link between drinking milk and (prevention of) fractures.

Prof. Walter Willett, food scientist at Harvard University, examines the relationship between dairy and osteoporosis since 1976. He says it has not been shown that drinking a lot of milk prevents fractures. Prof. Colin Campbell, a biochemist at Cornell University, is even more negative: according to him, the proteins in the milk produce an acid that causes a breakdown of bone. Both scientists are convinced that the human body is not built to drink cow's milk. According to them cow's milk is meant for the calf (that has four stomachs), just as mother’s milk is for the baby.

Calcium

There is no doubt that the human body needs calcium for bones. According Prof. Willet we do get enough when we live healthy lifestyles, even without milk. Green vegetables are important. A cow consumes the calcium by eating green grass. And it is important to be outdoor to get vitamin D.

My Body Tip

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