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It is as appropriate for us to drink cow's milk as it is to drink milk from a horse or rat. T. Colin Campbell has shown very persuasively that one of the bigg
by hachiya 17y ago
It is as appropriate for us to drink cow's milk as it is to drink milk from a horse or rat.
T. Colin Campbell has shown very persuasively that one of
the biggest problems with milk consumption is a particular
protein it contains, casein. The research described in his
book, "The China Study", links casein to cancer.
Also, a convincing resource to many, though at times
inflammatory, is Dr. Robert Cohen's site, http://notmilk.com http://notmilk.com
He is the author of "Milk: The Deadly Poison".
It is food for thought. We need to remember that if we
don't consume milk, to replace the Vitamin D that it is
fortified with (naturally, milk does not contain much
Vitamin D, so it has been fortified to help prevent
rickets) by adequate sunlight and/or supplementation.
For calcium, eating a healthy diet of enough calories will
provide an adequate amount. Also, a low sodium diet has
been shown to reduce calcium requirements.
- davidw 17y ago> It is as appropriate for us to drink cow's milk as it is to drink milk from a horse or rat. Nothing wrong with horse milk: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kumis http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kumis (For that matter, horses themselves are pretty good eating). In terms of rat's milk, I don't think it would be economically efficient to extract it, although, who knows, maybe you could breed the things to produce a lot of milk.
- hachiya 17y agoI am well aware that some cultures do drink milk from other animals, goats being most common, but my point is that to us, drinking cow's milk only appears normal because it has been done traditionally. However, objectively, to our physiology, drinking cow's milk makes as much sense as drinking milk from rats, cats, dogs, horses, etc... we are not baby calves. Also, the fact that it may be economically efficient to extract sweeteners in the form of refined sugars from corn and sugar cane in no way contributes to an argument that they are not harmful to our health.
- davidw 17y agoBeing omnivores, drinking cow's milk makes perfect sense, and is probably more politically acceptable than breeding and keeping women for milking.
- hachiya 17y agoPerfect sense hardly appears to be an appropriate description here, when 1) No other animal drinks the milk of another animal. 2) No other animal drinks milk after being weaned. In nature there is no model for the consumption of milk of another species, after weaning. Women don't need to be bred for milking, as the only humans that need milk are those that the women themselves have bred, and this is for the first years of life only.
- davidw 17y ago> No other animal drinks the milk of another animal. No other animal sits around getting involved in fruitless (and off topic) discussions on hacker news, either... Edit: As for me, I don't like milk much, but I'm a big fan of gelato, and various tasty cheeses.
- scott_s 17y agoWhat does it matter if other species don't do it? We're also the only species to domesticate other species. And that's precisely why some of us can digest lactose into adulthood: our ancestors domesticated cows, and evolved that ability because it provided an advantage. It sounds like you're parroting PETA/vegan talking points.
- yummyfajitas 17y agoI guess Milk: Slightly more dangerous than you think, but much less dangerous than driving at night, while more accurate, would not sell as well.
- cx01 17y agoRegarding the casein, what do you make of this: "For example, many people are allergic to the casein in milk. It's one of the two most common alleriges, along with gluten. Both casein and gluten are proteins. A normally functioning stomach at the proper pH should completely digest casein." Source: http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/2009/02/sugar-hydrogen-bacteria-and.html http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/2009/02/sugar-hydrogen...
- bmj 17y agoIt's also worth noting that casein is found in lots and lots of other foods. I know several people that have casein allergies, and it is surprising what is made with casein.