Milk is a complete food, which means it contains a wide range of nutrients, and there are many studies that show its health benefits. Many of the claims made by anti-milk advocates, such as over-marketing, causing osteoporosis, and cancer, are exaggerated or limited to a few cases of overconsumption, and in moderate amounts, milk is beneficial.
A long time ago, the world was rocked by the idea that milk, a supposedly perfect food, was harmful to the human body. The controversial book Lait, Mensonges et Propagande, among other things, presented a number of reasons why we shouldn’t drink milk. However, the book’s arguments suffer from exaggeration, partisanship, and insufficient evidence.
First, let’s look at why milk is considered a complete food. Milk is rich in calcium, which is beneficial for growing children and is effective in preventing osteoporosis. It’s also said to help prevent dementia, and it’s rich in other nutrients besides calcium, making it a healthy, diet-friendly food. Now, let”s take a look at the arguments of the anti-milk crowd and try to refute them.
First, they claim that the benefits of milk are the result of excessive marketing. There has certainly been lobbying by dairy farmers and marketing by milk producers, especially in the UK, where milk producers have been very successful in marketing milk as an essential food, like water, in schools. However, it’s a stretch to say that milk’s recognition as a complete food is solely a result of marketing. Milk would not have been recognized as a complete food if it were unnutritious or even harmful. In the past, when nutrition was more difficult, milk was a valuable food that could provide a wide range of nutrients. Nowadays, milk may not be as valuable as it used to be because of the relative ease of access to nutrients, but the fact remains that milk is a healthy food. This has been proven by many experiments.
Second, there are claims that milk is ineffective in preventing osteoporosis and actually makes bones weaker. Bones are kept healthy by a balance of osteoblasts and osteoclasts. Milk contains proteins that induce osteoblast proliferation and an important factor called IGF-1, which helps bone growth and regeneration. While Lait, Mensonges et Propagande acknowledges this, they also argue that consuming a lot of milk from childhood actually causes osteoporosis. The reason why osteoporosis develops in old age is because MSCs, the stem cells that make osteoblasts, age and the number of osteoblasts decreases. The book argues that high milk consumption in childhood causes MSCs to age faster, which promotes osteoporosis. While this seems like a compelling argument, it is overstated. This is only true if you consume enough milk to accelerate the aging of MSCs. As with all foods, too much of anything is poison, and while milk can help prevent osteoporosis in moderate amounts, too much can be harmful. A Swedish study published in the British Medical Journal in 2014 found that higher milk consumption was associated with increased mortality and hip fracture rates, but the study also found that one or two glasses of milk a day was associated with lower mortality and fracture rates. In other words, milk is beneficial in moderation, and excessive consumption is the problem. Also, hip fractures are often caused by external impacts, such as car accidents or falls, so it’s hard to make a direct link to milk consumption.
Third, there are claims that milk causes cancer. The idea is that drinking more than two glasses of milk a day increases the level of IGF-1 in the blood, which can lead to cancer. However, a university professor refuted this claim, saying that the concentration of IGF-1 in milk is too low to cause cancer. No matter how much milk you drink, IGF-1 levels in the body do not increase significantly; rather, milk contains functional fatty acids that help prevent cancer. IGF-1 is composed of protein, which is broken down into amino acids during digestion, so it cannot accumulate in the body to cause cancer. On the contrary, IGF-1 is essential for the body and has many health benefits, not just tumor cell proliferation. Anti-milk advocates are using a flawed logic by emphasizing only the negative effects of IGF-1.
Fourth, there are also claims that milk makes you sick. Two examples of this are milk alkaline syndrome and lactose intolerance. Milk alkalosis is a hypercalcemia that occurs when you consume too many high-calcium foods. However, given the recommended daily calcium intake, a glass of milk is only one-third of the recommended amount. Also, there are many other high-calcium foods that we consume on a daily basis, so it’s hard to blame milk alone. In the case of lactose intolerance, it is caused by a lack of enzymes that break down lactose, a problem that can be improved by consuming dairy products in moderation.
Fifth, anti-milk advocates claim that the production process is unsanitary and unreliable. The idea is that milk from cows that are fed nothing but feed and don’t move around is unhealthy. However, this is also true of meat. If you don’t drink milk for hygiene reasons, you shouldn’t eat meat or eggs either. Dairy and livestock farming are subject to strict legal standards, and milk from cows is thoroughly cared for before it reaches the consumer, so claims that the production process is harmful to health are unfounded.
The overwhelming majority of studies to date show that milk is beneficial to the human body. When we review the claims that milk is harmful, most of them are based on the problems that occur when we consume too much of it. Any food can be harmful when consumed in excess. Therefore, don”t be fooled by the claims that milk is bad for you, and try to consume it in moderation.
