10 Facts the Dairy Industry Doesn’t Want You to Know (about Milk)
by Tallis Keaton on Jan 26, 2008 with 32 Comments
It makes no sense for humans to drink the milk of another species, yet we are constantly told that this unnatural habit is an essential part of our diets.
Here are 10 myth-busting reasons to consider milk from a different point of view.
Milk is Not an Essential Part of the Human Diet
Humans are the only species that drinks milk into adulthood. We are also the only species that drinks the milk of another species. Milk is only an essential dietary requirement for baby mammals, who should even then only be consuming the milk of their own species. Humans between two and five years old no longer require milk in any form, and have in fact lost the ability to digest it properly.
Cows’ Milk is the Perfect Food for Calves, and Only Calves
Every mammal produces milk specifically designed for the babies of that particular species and no other. It is necessary for a calf to increase its weight tenfold during the first year of its life, and its mother’s milk provides all the vitamins, minerals, proteins, and fats required for this level of growth. Human babies do not increase their weight by anything like this ratio in the first year of life – 70lb one-year-olds are hardly a common occurrence! Cows’ milk contains far more protein and fat than a human, particularly a human baby, requires.
Milk’s complex structure requires a more extensive digestive system than that of a human, again making it a wholly unsuitable food for us.
Milk Consumption has Many Adverse Side Effects in Humans
Milk is not designed to be broken down by the human digestive system. It can therefore lead to gastrointestinal problems such as bloating, stomach cramps, and wind. It also increases mucus formation, leading to catarrh, chronic coughs, and sinus blockage. It is interesting to note that the human body produces excess mucus as an allergic response.
There is also a worrying link with certain types of cancer, due to the hormones given to non-organic dairy cows in order to encourage excess milk production. These hormones are present in the milk from these cows, and are therefore consumed by whomever drinks it.
Milk Can Actually Contribute to Bone Depletion, Rather than Preventing it
High levels of protein in the diet upset the body’s natural pH levels, making the body more acidic. This potentially dangerous side effect is countered by the body’s wonderful ability to maintain a safe balance. However, in order to balance the pH and raise it to a safe level of alkalinity once more, the body needs calcium. When faced with this crisis, calcium stores (i.e. the bones) are raided in order to reduce the acidity. This calcium cannot be reabsorbed, and is later excreted by the kidneys.
Milk contains high levels of acidic animal protein. Combined with the average modern diet, the consumption of dairy products results in high levels of protein, which therefore causes a depletion of the body’s calcium stores. Eating less protein (and therefore consuming fewer dairy products) is a vital step to reducing the likelihood of bone depletion.
It is also interesting to note that the highest levels of dairy consumption occur in the Western world, which also has the highest number of osteoporosis sufferers. Very few, if any, dairy products are consumed in Eastern countries such as China and Japan, which also happen to have the world’s lowest rates of osteoporosis. So claims that dairy products are essential for combating this disease would not seem to be held up by these examples.
Milk is a Highly Inefficient Source
of Calcium
Despite all the constant claims that dairy products are an essential source of vital calcium, and should therefore be consumed regularly and in particular fed to our growing children, milk is actually a terrible source of dietary calcium. While it is true that milk contains high levels of calcium, it is a little-known fact that this calcium is in a form that is indigestible to the human body.
The calcium in milk is bonded to casein, a protein. In order to digest this calcium, it must be separated from the casein using two bodily enzymes: rennin and lactase. Baby mammals produce these enzymes so that they can digest their mother’s milk properly, but once they reach an age where milk should no longer be a part of their diet, their bodies stop producing these now obsolete enzymes.
Humans over the age of three years old no longer produce rennin at all, and 75% of people stop producing lactase as well. Without these enzymes, the calcium cannot be separated from the protein, and is therefore useless to the human body. Nearly all of milk’s supposedly wonderful source of calcium is actually excreted in urine, having done the body no good whatsoever.
There is Plenty of Calcium to be Found in a Balanced Diet, Without the Need for Dairy Products
The best dietary sources of calcium are leafy green vegetables, beans, nuts and seeds. Sesame seeds are particularly high in calcium, as are vegetables such as watercress, spinach, kale, and broccoli. After all, cows get all their calcium from grass – an especially leafy green plant.
Lactose “intolerance” is actually a normal state for adult humans. 75% of the world’s population is unable to digest lactose.
Caucasians are in the vast minority in the world, as the majority of Caucasians has a genetic mutation that allows their bodies to keep producing lactase beyond young childhood, thereby allowing them to digest lactose. Approximately 15% of Caucasians are lactose intolerant. But in other racial groups, particularly Africans and Asians, the percentage of lactose intolerance is far higher: between 70 and 90%. It is also much higher in Mediterranean populations and indigenous peoples such as Native Americans.
Lactose intolerance should therefore be considered the norm for adult humans, and sensibly so, as there is no need for us to continue being able to digest milk of any kind beyond the age of weaning. Milk is for baby mammals. Adult mammals do not require it, so an inability to digest it properly should come as no surprise.
Milk is a Junk Food
Like any junk food, consuming a few dairy products now and again won’t kill you. And there’s no escaping the fact that cheeses, ice creams and dairy-based desserts are downright tasty! But no dairy product is an essential part of the human diet, and are in actuality very unhealthy foods. They should therefore be considered in the same category as that delicious cheeseburger or tempting chocolate bar; a junk food that is okay in moderation, but should not be consumed regularly or considered a vital requirement!
Dairy Farming has Terrible Connotations for Animal Welfare.
Intensively farmed dairy cows do not live happy lives. They are impregnated on a regular basis so that their milk yield does not wane. They are hooked up to milking machines and frequently end up with udder infections (mastitis) due to the constant demand on them. They are butchered for their meat as soon as they reach an age at which they are no longer producing enough milk.
A dairy cow is separated from its calf at birth so that the milk intended to feed that calf can be harvested for human consumption. This is terribly distressing for the mother cow and her newborn calf. The calves are killed for pet food, raised as dairy cows if female, or sent to become the products of veal farming, which has extreme cruelty issues of its own. Many people reject veal for this reason, but keep consuming milk quite happily, unaware of the direct connection between the two.
Milk Contains Allowable Amounts of Pus
Disgusting, but sadly true, modern dairy farming does not allow for the milk from a cow with mastitis to be separated from the milk from healthy udders. The industry therefore requires certain amounts of pus from the infected cows to be allowed in the saleable milk. Otherwise known as the “somatic cell count”, the allowable amount varies considerably in different parts of the world. Somatic cells include any non-reproductive mammalian cell, but the somatic cell count of milk is almost exclusively made up of leucocytes, otherwise known as white blood cells.
These cells are the body’s way of combating infection, and are found wherever an infection is present. The formation of pus occurs as a result of leucocytes fighting a bacterial infection, and the presence of high enough amounts of these “somatic cells” in milk indicates a strong likelihood of the presence of pus. As well as containing leucocytes, pus also contains a thin, protein-based fluid and some bacteria which have yet to be fought off. Hardly a desirable additive to something supposedly fit for human consumption.
Australia, New Zealand, and most of Europe have a required somatic cell count of no more than 400,000 cells/ml. It is argued that milk from a healthy udder will contain no more than 200,000 cells/ml. So 400,000 cells per millilitre of milk is arguably twice the amount that should be found if the milk is coming from healthy cows. Other countries have considerably higher somatic cell count regulations, with Canada requiring a limit of 500,000 cells/ml and the United States having a whopping limit of 750,000 cells/ml.
Cows’ milk is not the health food we’re constantly told it is. It’s not good for us, it’s not a vital part of our diets, and it should be reserved exclusively for the calves it is perfectly designed to feed. It is so ingrained into our society that shaking off the myths that surround it are not easy. But if consuming it benefits no one but the dairy industry, why should we still do it?
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Published in: Consumer Information
SunGoddess | Jan 27, 2008 | Reply
As one of the lactose intolerant persons in this world, I found your article to be very informative and well written. The photos are icing on the cake! Great job!
Ryan | Jan 28, 2008 | Reply
If milk is such a terrible junk food, why had the FDA given dairy products such a large wedge of the food pyramid (yes, even the new one)? I am legitimatly curious here.
Tallis | Jan 29, 2008 | Reply
Thanks for your comment, SunGoddess! I’m glad you found the article informative.
Ryan, that’s a very good question, and it’s the one that concerns me the most regarding this whole issue. The vast majority of people in the Western world labour under the belief that dairy products are an essential part of our diet. We’ve been told it so often, for so long, that most people accept dairy as a perfectly normal, everyday food, and sadly believe that it’s one we can’t have a healthy, balanced diet without. There is no doubt whatsoever that calcium is an essential mineral that we require in a regular supply in order to maintain overall health and strong bones and teeth. No one would argue this. And it is true that milk contains high levels of calcium. But what most people don’t realise, and what I highlighted in my article, is that the calcium in milk is a highly inefficient source for the human body because we don’t have the means to extract the calcium and digest it, so it is excreted, doing us no good at all. When you combine that fact with all the other harmful effects milk has on the human body, it becomes clear that there are very few benefits to consuming it, and no good reason for it to be considered an essential part of anyone’s diet. A healthy, balanced diet will contain all the necessary calcium in a form that is far more digestible to the human body. Kidding people that they’re getting all the calcium they need by drinking milk prevents them actively seeking it elsewhere in a digestible form.
So why does the FDA and other similar bodies worldwide continue to insist that dairy products are essential for health? I could speculate many reasons, unfortunately few of which I could back up with hard evidence… but I honestly believe the crux of the issue is that we have been told for so long that we need dairy in our diets that to remove its wedge of the food pyramid now would go against the grain for many people and upset the balance of the food industry as we know it. I think the key is to provide people with the correct information so that they can then make informed decisions on their own without simply accepting what we’re all told unquestioningly. Continued education and slowly changing attitudes have always been a part of our growth as a species. I believe that is one of our most important traits.
Shari | Jan 31, 2008 | Reply
I’ve read some of these points before and (at least) some of them have been negated (the milk/mucus link is bogus, for instance – there are medical studies proving that milk consumption does not increase nasal secretions though people perceive it so because of the way it coats membranes).
I think that, while interesting, there is no conclusive evidence of the effects being listed here as undeniable truths and there is a lot of selective “fact” offering here. I think a more balanced approach would point out both sides of each of the assertions (and who is making them) and be far better researched in terms of proving these “facts” are true.
For one thing, it is asserted that lactase stops being produced in humans after infancy but that is not true. It diminishes in production slowly if you do not continue to drink milk. That means that regular milk drinkers do not stop producing lactase and can still digest lactose.
Also, saying humans are the only ones who consume something is a meaningless argument. Humans do a lot of things regarding food that animals do not including cook their food. Should we all consume raw meat because animals do not cook? We also process our food into more complex foodstuffs (like bread, pasta, etc.).
Milk is beneficial, at least for some regular consumers of it (medical studies say about half of people benefit from it, only 5% are harmed by it in some way, and the rest are neither helped nor harmed). There is medical evidence that mothers who consume milk while pregnant give birth to babies with stronger bones. Also, the nutritional picture of dairy product consumption is muddled by the fact that the presence of protein undermines the benefits of the calcium in them. It should be noted that milk is one of the few foods regularly fortified with Vitamin D (which aids in a person’s ability to absorb Calcium) that is a regular part of a Western diet.
Attempting to dissuade people en masse from consuming something which may be good for them is irresponsible and indicates a personal agenda more than an attempt to aid the reader in responsible decision-making.
NE | Jan 31, 2008 | Reply
where are sources?
Change Your Thoughts And You Change Your World | Feb 19, 2008 | Reply
I think the whole cow torture thing is messed up. But as for the bacterial pus thing, well isn’t that why diary companies pasteurize milk products?
Just a thought.
Milk is, in my opinion the best of all drinks in the world, except maybe water. It has a complete set of the essential nutrients like amino acids, proteins, and some other good stuff ( I learned that one in biology). However it should, like all things, be ingested in moderation.
Having said that farming milk with this torturous procedure is not only cruel and inhumane, but I’m sure it also turns the milk into something that is not as nutritionally healthy as it should be. Animals, including humans, actually produce chemicals when they are happy, and when they are sad. I’m sure being tortured would have some effects in the by-products that cows produce.
Just A thought.
JD | Mar 27, 2008 | Reply
How much experience do you have with the dairy industry? Do you know how modern dairy farms in the US are operated? I have lived on dairy farms my entire life, in Europe, Canada, and here in the US. Dairy farming is my way life, so I feel that I must correctly inform you of some of the claims you make.
You claim:
It is necessary for a calf to increase its weight tenfold during the first year of its life, and its mother’s milk provides all the vitamins, minerals, proteins, and fats required for this level of growth.
Do you honestly believe a calf can increase its weight tenfold, strictly by drinking its mother’s milk for a year? I challenge you to feed a calf solely milk for a year and see how much it grows. Calf growth will level off within two to three months if solid feed is not introduced within that time.
You also claim:
Cows’ milk is also designed to be digested by an animal with four stomachs.
Earlier you said that only calves drink milk, but this completely contradicts this statement about four stomachs. A calf is not born with four fully-developed stomachs. The four stomachs only fully develop when roughages are introduced into its diet (something which will not occur if your “milk-only” diet proposed above is followed). A cow requires four stomachs due to the fact that she is able to digest roughages with high amounts of cellulose, and has absolutely nothing to do with milk absorption.
You claim:
These hormones are present in the milk from these cows, and are therefore consumed by whomever drinks it.
Please source this. The FDA has deemed milk from cattle given rBST just as safe as milk from cattle without rBST. Here is a source from Dr. Barbano from Cornel University, supported by the FDA:
“Milk from cows given supplemental bST contains no more bST than milk from cows not given the supplement.
There are no differences in nutrient content
(i.e., fat, protein, calcium, vitamins, etc.) or sensory characteristics (flavor,
color, etc.). There is no difference in bST content.”
Besides, 95% of the US milk supply is now BST free.
You claim:
Intensively farmed dairy cows do not live happy lives.
This statement is a contradiction in itself. The more content and happy cows are, the more milk they produce. Therefore, it is in the dairy farmer’s best interest to make the cow as comfortable, healthy, and happy as possible, as she will then yield a greater amount of milk. Have you ever stepped foot on a dairy? If you have, you will notice that cows will want to come into the parlor, they will walk in by themselves. Many dairies across the globe are using things such as rubber flooring to walk on, fans and misters and climate-controlled barns to keep cows cool in the summer, back scratchers, not to mention specially formulated food prepared fresh twice a day, if not more often.
You claim:
A dairy cow is separated from its calf at birth so that the milk intended to feed that calf can be harvested for human consumption. This is terribly distressing for the mother cow and her newborn calf.
Do you know why this is done? For the safety and health of both cow and calf. This is done to prevent the spread of diseases such as Johne’s disease. This also helps us monitor both the cow and the calf more closely and be able to treat them should something be wrong with either of them. And rest assured, the colostrum is caught separately and fed to the newborns to ensure that the calf receives an adequate amount within the first 24 hours of its life, maximizing the absorption of antibodies, which strengthens the calf’s immune system and decreases the risk of sickness dramatically. Tell me how this is inhumane.
You claim:
Disgusting, but sadly true, modern dairy farming does not allow for the milk from a cow with mastitis to be separated from the milk from healthy udders.
Do you know how a dairy farm operates and how the dairy farmer is paid for milk? Mastitis cows are detected in the parlor, isolated from the rest of the herd to prevent spreading the infection to other cows, and treated accordingly. It is to the dairy farmers disadvantage to not do this, as premiums are paid out for milk with low somatic cell counts. If mastitis cows are left in the herd, somatic cell counts will increase dramatically, and reduce the price the dairy farmer is paid.
Please do your homework before posting an article like this. Most Americans do not know much about the dairy industry, and articles like this paint a completely false picture for them. I do not appreciate having someone write this and disrespect me and my family’s livelihood. I work sunup until sundown caring for my cows, devoting my life to their health, safety, and comfort. Do not say the US dairy industry is mistreating its cows and supplying unhealthy milk. The US dairy industry is one of the highest regulated food product industry in the world.
I look forward to reading your reply.
CB | Apr 3, 2008 | Reply
thank you for telling the truth of us cattle farmers
cb | Apr 3, 2008 | Reply
theese people have obviusly never steped foot on a US farm
Rosie | Apr 7, 2008 | Reply
To JD and CB:
I appreciate your courage to present the other side of this issue, thus allowing American consumers like me a chance to weigh the information more evenly. However, your response does not address the issue of mega-factory farms, which supposedly not only cut corners for profit reasons (i.e. animal accommodation and labor), but also destroys business for smaller, local farms.
I find it hard to believe that “the US dairy industry is one of the highest regulated food product industry in the world” when dairy consumption is so high here (if not the highest in the world), which necessitates mass production.
Therefore, instead of looking at either JD’s or Tallis’ information as absolute fact, I must take responsibility as a consumer to research more into exactly where my dairy & meat (as well as veggies, fruits, nuts, clothes, etc.) are coming from.
JD | Apr 7, 2008 | Reply
Thank you Rosie, I am extremely thankful that there are consumers like you out there who realize that you must research for yourself where your food comes from and not blindly follow what any one person will tell you. I am extremely encouraged that there are consumers like you in the marketplace. Thank you.
I am however, concerned about your opinions on so-called “mega-factory” farms. I’m not sure what you classify as a supposed “mega-factory” farm. My family owns a 2000 head dairy farm in West Texas, and I can assure you that the cattle on our dairy here are cared for the same way that every cow was cared for back when we lived on a much smaller dairy in Canada, where we milked just 70 head. We have carried over our dairy practices from when we were much smaller. I personally know many other dairy farmers who have done the exact same thing: carried over the dairy farming practices from their own smaller dairies and then expanded and carried them over to dairies with upwards of 8000 head. The exact same principles apply whether you milk 60 head or 6000 head: care for the animals, the people, and the environment. If we as dairy farmers are not responsible stewards of what we have, we have our entire livelihoods to lose.
Also, many people assume that big farms are owned by corporations who have no involvement with the operation of the farm. This is not true at all. The big dairy farms that are milking thousands of cows are almost all family owned. I do not have the magazine with me right now so I cannot source it, but I was just reading that 98-99% of all dairy farms in the US are family farms (I wish I had that magazine with me so I could give you a more exact number, sorry). This is not to say that they are run solely by the members of the family that owns the dairy, but we have employees who help us care for the cattle. In fact, larger dairies are often able to provide better care for the animals, as they are able to spread costs out over more cattle. Costs such as having an in-house veterinarian, more advanced technology such as ultrasound, and high quality feed that is specifically created for the herd are only economically feasible when the herd is large enough.
Well Rosie, I have to run, but I encourage you to ask any questions you may have regarding dairy farming. I do not mind taking the time to explaining what my entire life has revolved around to people that are genuinely interested.
JD | Apr 7, 2008 | Reply
One more thing, you said that you find it hard to believe that the US milk supply is so highly regulated while milk consumption is so high and there is mass production. Why can a mass-produced product with high demand not be regulated to ensure safety? True, this calls for a very labor-intensive program that has quality checkpoints at many different points through all the milk processing channels, but this is precisely what the milk industry has. It amazes even me at how many times each load of milk that is shipped from any dairy in America is tested and re-tested to assure quality, cleanliness, safety, etc. If any milk at any point is deemed unfit for human consumption, it is removed from the human food supply.
Dany | Jun 18, 2008 | Reply
Hi, several here talking about their nice cows but the question is how good is for the human body? do you know, exept maybe for the organic feed cows, that owners inject antibiotics to the cows just to protect them agaist infections? the same with hormones to make them inflate, etc, then homogenized and pausterized. Do you know what the hormones are going to do to your body? nice thin today, future inflated fat tomorrow! the antibiotics prove to produce Candida in your body 80
% in america have it! with all the complications, homogenized milk and products make the milk less less digestable causing more ferment problems, pausterizing kils several nutricional properties in the milk. I rememver many times that my kisd were sick, the firs thing to do is cut complitly the take of milk or milk products and the sicknes begines to go. Grown up should use NO milk or very little better the Got milk organic and raw from a clean source, and if is made yougurth the better best.
Kim | Sep 10, 2008 | Reply
If milk is such a bad junk food then why do they tell people to drink it all the time???
Dee | Sep 14, 2008 | Reply
I am studying nutrition, and one of my tasks is to research the controversy of “should humans consume milk/dairy products?”. I have come across many sides of the argument, and it was interesting sitting here reading everyone’s comments.
Personally, I don’t drink milk very often, just a little in a cuppa on an odd occasion, but I do eat a lot of cheese.
Although milk does contain high levels of calcium and other nutrients, it is still possible to obtain all your dietary requirements from fresh fruits and vegetables.
The whole issue of ‘is milk good for us’ will probably be around forever, no matter what scientific evidence is available. As someone said up above, the key is moderation.
I live in Australia, and the milk industry here is very large. I’ve observed the local dairies and know how they treat their cows. My father also works on a farm (not a dairy farm), and I have asked him first hand about how they treat their livestock, and he said that without your cows (and in his case sheep as well) you don’t have a farm and a job.
I think for anyone who is doubt about the issue, you should do what you feel is right to you. Read into it, make up your mind, and follow the path you believe in. You can never know too much about something, only too little.
Beatriz | Oct 7, 2008 | Reply
The article is interesting, some of the statements have hard evidence as it is the fact that the body will stop the production of lactase is milk is not consumed. Also, that a good percentage of the population is lactose intolerant. Unfortunately sources are not cited which invalidates it as a scientific resource
debi | Jan 9, 2009 | Reply
i think these days that everything is bad for you, if you know where its coming from and you know there is know additives or chemicals in it, then its ok. its hard to go grocery shopping anymore, everything you pick up, you wonder!i know someone that has a farm with milking cows, the problem is when the big milk truck comes, it gets brought to a warhouse where they distribute it with other milk, and it mixes all together,in order for the milk to be pasturized.
Destiny, Feb 18, 2009 | Feb 18, 2009 | Reply
I love milk!!!!!
weber dairy | Mar 19, 2009 | Reply
I think you info. is very wrong and is not true. we farm and we think that the milk from the milk tank is better and more benifisal for your body than the milk from the store that most people buy. The thing when you buy from the store. the creamery takes all of the good stuff in the milk and kills it all.
bill | Apr 1, 2009 | Reply
read the wellness revolution by paul zane pilzer. There is no reason why humans should drink milk. No other species does this and he is right there is no nutritional value what so ever. People are so wrapped up in the american way of drinking milk no one will stop and think hey isnt this weird how im drinking the biproduct from the teat of another animal? why dont frogs hop up and suck on a goats nipple? it just doesnt happen. the only reason why people started drinking milk because in sweden when its dark for a large portion of the year people were calcium deficient because of the lack of sun which provides vitamin D to release and activate calcium in the body. so they figured milk from a cow is a great way to do this and it probably was at the time. but now with pasturization homoginization and hormones and all the other supplements that cows are given just to yeild more milk which is directly beneficial to the farmer to yeild more profit, the nutrition is lost. Like the author states there are better ways to get calcium and vegetables are much more healthy than milk. but this way of thinking will never be justified because there are way too many people that think milk is the greatest thing for the human body and thats the way it will stay.
JOHN | Apr 10, 2009 | Reply
I DO NOT WANT TO HEAR ANYBODY USE A GOVERNMENTAL AGENCIES RECOMMENDATIONS ON ANYTHING!!! I AM STILL WAITING ON WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION THAT OUR GOVERNMENTAL AGENCIES SAID WERE THERE. hOW MANY PRODUCTS DO THE fda APPROVE THEN BAN A YEAR LATER OR FIVE YEARS LATER? OUR WOMEN WERE ALSO TOLD TO SMOKE CIGARETTES SO THEY DIDNT HAVE LARGE BABIES. HUMMMMMM!!!! SOUNDS LIKE YOU ARE STILL IN THE DAIRY BUSINESS. THIS COUNTRY IS ONE BIG LIE FOR MONEY!!!! HOPE YOUR GREAT GRANDKIDS DONT ALL DIE OF THE COMMON COLD BECAUSE THIER IMMUNE SYSTEMS ARE NOT COMPROMISED FROM ALL THE ANTIBIOTICS FOUND IN MILK. BUT HEY, MAKE A BELIEVER OUT OF ME!
mr. new jersey | Apr 16, 2009 | Reply
I found your argument to be very informative as well as the responding comments. I thought, you (the author) had a valid point when you mentioned “humans are the only species that consume milk from another species” why do humans drink milk from another animal? Why do we feed our young (babies) milk from another animal? I think we (the people) give the gov. Too much credit, we suppose to trust the gov. , yet they have proven they are not trustworthy. For years of false information it can be very hard to tell the people… the truth, which we truly would not accept. GOT MILK!
Hollie | May 11, 2009 | Reply
I am an animal science student with a focus on veterinary medicine at the University of Idaho. I was interested in reading this article because I am going to be doing an internship at a dairy in Hagerman, ID in about a week. I was really rooting for JD’s arguments about dairies. Scientifically, they are all up to date as far as what I have learned in my classes from my professors as well as what I have personally read. No, I did not grow up on a farm/dairy, but I have met and talked to a lot of people that have, and I hope to learn a lot from my upcoming experience.
Like JD said, I would recommend that before anyone posts an article like this that they are sure to address both sides of the issue. Consumers read this kind of stuff and if they believe that it’s supposedly “healthier” not to consume dairy products, then a huge portion of dairy farms will be doomed to go out of business. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe that the dairy industry brings in the most money as far as cash receipts go when compared to any other cattle industry. This would be a huge loss for our economy, which is already obliterated as it is.
Moral of the story: please conduct a little research before you write. Everyone will become more educated instead of misinformed in the long run
.
Hollie | May 11, 2009 | Reply
I am an animal science student with a focus on veterinary medicine at the University of Idaho. I was interested in reading this article because I am going to be doing an internship at a dairy in Hagerman, ID in about a week. I was really rooting for JD’s arguments about dairies. Scientifically, they are all up to date as far as what I have learned in my classes from my professors as well as what I have personally read. No, I did not grow up on a farm/dairy, but I have met and talked to a lot of people that have, and I hope to learn a lot from my upcoming experience.
Like JD said, I would recommend that before anyone posts an article like this that they are sure to address both sides of the issue. Consumers read this kind of stuff and if they believe that it’s supposedly “healthier” not to consume dairy products, then a huge portion of dairy farms will be doomed to go out of business. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe that the dairy industry brings in the most money as far as cash receipts go when compared to any other cattle industry. This would be a huge loss for our economy, which is already obliterated as it is.
Moral of the story: please conduct a little research before you write. Everyone will become more educated instead of misinformed in the long run
.
Meg | May 12, 2009 | Reply
my thoughts – both sides of the argument are supported by believable evidence, however, it is hard to say which said is the one to choose if not having seen the actual dairies and you can never speak for all of the dairies in the world.. I personally have not a certain opinion on this because I know I have to research more than this to find out the truth, but one I can tell to all to you, who believe in the US government, in the lies of the media, and believe this funny thing – that everything approved by the FDA is not harmless to us – people. All I can say in this matter is that in this case I agree with John, and know tat I\’m correct.. I\’ve digged in on the secrets of this government for two years, researching it every day for hours.. it all started by wating to know if the story about 9/11 being caused by terrorists is true.. so start opening your eyes.. because otherwise you\’ll see when it\’s too late.
Mister Hume | May 30, 2009 | Reply
No sources given mean no real truth behind your claims. Try again.
RW | Sep 22, 2009 | Reply
I think to understand an issue you have to see all sides of the issue, and with an open mind. I become lactose intolerant in my early adulthood. Any dairy makes me horribly sick, but I’m just as health as people that consume ‘the recommended amount of dairy.’ My point is a diet for one person isn’t necessarily the right diet for the next person. Do your research and decide what’s best for your body. Don’t eat crap just because the FDA says it’s good for you. And I think everyone could benefit from eating more fruits and vegetables and less processed food. period.
JStreich | Sep 30, 2009 | Reply
THIS IS CRAZY IM A FARMER AND ITS NOTHING LIKE THIS, MY DAD TREATS HIS COWS BETTER THAN ME! A COW ISNT AN ANIMAL TO A FARMER IT IS A PET, ALL OF MY COWS HAVE NAMES AND ARE DEAR PETS TO ME. WOW THIS IS CRAZY PETA NEEDS TO LEARN SOMETHING STOP THINKING THEY KNOW EVERYTHING AND GET LIVES AND JUST STOP SPREADING LIES ABOUT THINGS THEY DONT KNOW ABOUT.
GRACE | Oct 1, 2009 | Reply
None of this is true. Their trying to get you to stop being healthy! JUST BUY SKIM MILK AND SOY MILK NOT ANY ATHER MILK
kelly | Nov 4, 2009 | Reply
i love it. i’m a kid and i’m doing a report for school. this is just what i needed. thanks so much.
kellya1210 | Nov 4, 2009 | Reply
who ever wrote this need to give them a big thanks.
kelly or kellya1210 | Nov 4, 2009 | Reply
kim thats what they are saying and can someone please reply to my letters.