Milk Can Sabotage Your Diet

Another food recommended for its nutritionaladults who drink as little as two glasses of milk a
advantages without consideration for the harm itday risk a buildup of excessive levels of calcium in
can cause is milk. Dr. Duane Alexander, director oftheir bodies. Yet a recent revision in the guidelines
the National Institute of Child Health and Humanof the U.S. government's Food Pyramid, published
Development, is quoted as saying, "Withouton April 20, 2005, in the New York Times, ignores
including milk in the diet, it is nearly impossible tothis information by recommending three cups of
meet calcium needs." Some medical authorities,milk for adults daily, one more cup than it
concerned about the deficiency of calcium in therecommends for children. In adults who drink milk
diets of young people, believe that drinking moreevery day, the calcium is apt to be deposited in
milk is the solution. A national survey revealedthe wrong places, for example, in the
that only 13.5 percent of girls and 35.3 percent ofreproductive organs, in the bile duct, or in the
boys between the ages of twelve and nineteenureters, the ducts that convey urine from the
consume the recommended amount of calciumkidneys to the bladder.The well-known downside
for teenagers: 1,300 mg of calciumof drinking milk is that it induces the
daily.Teenagers may be short on calcium, butmucus-secreting glands to overproduce. Excessive
they need to satisfy their calcium requirementsamounts of mucus cause unfriendly germs to
by eating calcium-rich foods rather than bymultiply faster because it's a food they thrive
drinking milk because milk puts them at risk foron.But far more dangerous to health than excess
developing a serious, sometimes fatal healthmucus is the elevation of blood insulin that the
problem later on in life. Milk causes a spurt inconsumption of milk by adults causes. Excessive
growth by stimulating the release of the humaninsulin in the blood makes glucose levels drop
growth hormone somatotropin. This increases thedrastically. This gives rise to binge eating, which
teenager's chance of getting cancer as an adult ifbrings the blood sugar back up; however, because
his or her milk-drinking habit causes growth aboveblood sugar goes too high, insulin again rises
a certain height. A study published in the Journalexcessively and once again causes the blood
of the American Medical Association andsugar to plummet. These wild swings in blood
conducted at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute,sugar give rise to hypoglycemia (low blood sugar),
Brigham and Women's Hospital, and the Harvardand when the overproducing insulin glands stop
School of Public Health found that taller people inworking, the hypoglycemic individual becomes
general were more likely to get both pancreaticdiabetic.Elevated insulin levels have also been
and colon cancer. Dr. Dominique Michaud, animplicated in the development of cancer. Women
investigator at the National Cancer Institute,with breast cancer who have high insulin levels are
states that this increase in cancer risk is relatedsix times more likely to have a recurrence.The
to exposure to the growth hormone in milk duringdeficiency of a nutrient in the body is not always
adolescence. (This is the growth hormone thatthe result of a diet that is lacking in that particular
occurs naturally in milk, not the hormone addednutrient. Calcium deficiency is a case in point. The
by dairy farmers to increase cows' production ofbody can be deficient in calcium even though the
milk.)With each generation in America anddiet meets the calcium requirements if the
elsewhere growing taller than the previous oneindividual lacks vitamin D or the mineral boron.
because of increased milk consumption, andBoth are necessary for the absorption and
therefore increasingly likely to get cancer -- asutilization of calcium.Vitamin D is found only in the
well as diabetes and calcium-hardened tissues --fat in meat, milk products, and seafood. The
it's time that the human body's calciumlow-fat diet, by depriving the body of vitamin D,
requirements were satisfied by eating foods thatcould be responsible for the widespread calcium
are high in calcium, such as yogurt, cheese, anddeficiency in teenagers. In a study published in
root vegetables, rather than milk. (Yogurt andThe Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent
cheese, although made from milk, have beenMedicine, 24 percent of the 307 teenagers tested
chemically altered by fermentation, so, unlike milk,had a severe deficiency of vitamin D, and 42
they don't stimulate the release of somatotropin,percent were slightly deficient in the vitamin.The
the human growth hormone.)Not only shouldonly way to overcome nutrient deficiencies is to
teenagers avoid drinking milk because of theeat the foods that are indicated for your
health risks involved when they become adultsmetabolic type. The metabolically appropriate diet
but also because the processed milk available inis geared toward normalizing mineral levels in the
supermarkets today won't satisfy their calciumbody and providing the fats and oils needed to
needs. Standard brands of milk produced byassimilate minerals. The danger to health caused
agribusinesses have been heated, for theby consuming large quantities of milk to
purposes of extending their shelf life, to aovercome a calcium shortage make it clear that
temperature of 212 degrees Fahrenheit.foods should not be evaluated solely on the basis
Pasteurization at such high heat destroys theof their nutrient values but also on what effect
acidity in milk; without it calcium can't be brokenthey have on long-term health.an excerpt from
down, and undigested calcium can't be absorbedthe book Eat Right for Your Metabolism by Felicia
and utilized by the cells.Drinking commerciallyDrury Kliment
pasteurized milk not only fails to satisfy thePublished by McGraw-Hill; April 2006;$16.95US
body's calcium requirements, but because$22.
undigested calcium particles are not assimilated,