Continued from Part 1
Now that the dairy industry has become so high-tech, it is time to take a look at what we are really drinking and eating when we consume dairy products in the US.
Problems with Milk
Most dairy found in grocery stores is terrible for your health, because it comes from cows that are fed high-protein grains and are pumped full of hormones and antibiotics to increase productivity. Everything they are putting into the cow gets transferred into your milk, for you to consume. The dairy industry stresses the importance of calcium, but are hormones and antibiotics good for us too?
Are we really getting any nutritional naturally from the milk we drink? The answer is no. They are all being added afterwards, using man-made supplements.
Many dairy producers use pasteurized and homogenized milk to produce their dairy products. These processes remove the proteins from milk, and many of the nutrients too, making them un-useful for your body, and in some cases making them even border on being harmful.
Because these enzymes are broken down at high temperatures, they destroy phosphatase, which is an enzyme that helps your body absorb the calcium found in milk. It also destroys the vitamins B12, B6 and C, while killing off all of the good bacteria in the milk.
Homogenization of milk alters the fatty contents and good cholesterol found in milk, making it easier to form free radicals, which can cause cancer (see Carolyn Stone”s guide on Antioxidants and Free Radicals for more information).
Producers homogenize the milk to give it a more universal texture and to keep globules of fat from floating to the surface (think about the layer of film produced on the top of buttermilk). It is all for cosmetic purposes, and really has nothing to do with how good the milk is for you.
Cows are often bred to have an overactive milk supply, so that farmers can get the most out of the cow as possible, exploiting them under harmful conditions. Constantly milking them can lead to health problems and infection in the cows, including mastitis as well as milk duct infections. To solve this problem, cows are just fed more antibiotics and hormones in order to keep producing. But in the meantime, all the infection, antibiotics and hormones are all going into the milk we drink. Does this sound like milk is good for you?
Continued in Part 3
