Opposing Digits

With greater awareness of the many health problems associated with pasteurized dairy products, many people are turning to vegetarian milk substitutes like soy milk and rice milk. I’m not a big fan of either. Here are some reasons why I don’t think soy or rice milk should be staples in your diet:

1. Many brands of soy and rice milk contain polyunsaturated vegetable oils which can contribute to an imbalance of essential fatty acids in your body. As harmless as this might sound, I am convinced that a chronic imbalance of essential fatty acids caused by regular consumption of polyunsaturated vegetable oils is a major cause of cardiovascular disease. Polyunsaturated fats that contribute to this harmful imbalance are found in safflower, corn, soybean, sunflower, and cottonseed oils. I recommend that you stay away from these oils completely.

2. Some brands of soy and rice milk contain rice syrup, evaporated cane juice, or some other natural sweetener. Natural or not, most sweeteners put significant stress on your pancreas and liver. They also raise your insulin levels, which significantly increases your risk of suffering from unhealthy weight gain, high blood pressure, heart disease, premature aging, and several other negative side effects.

3. While fermented forms of soy like miso, tempeh, and natto can be healthy choices for some people, non-fermented soy products can cause a variety of health problems if consumed in large quantities on a regular basis. I will discuss the details of when soy can be good and when it can be bad in a future newsletter.

Full Article by Dr. Ben Kim with a recipe for Almond Milk

Lactose Tolerance in Humans

All human babies, being mammalian ones, are essentially 100 % tolerant to milk. One of the principal ingredients of milk is the complex sugar lactose that is broken down into simpler digestible form by the enzyme lactase. As in most mammals, once the weaning period is over the availability of milk becomes scarce and the matured animals move on to other forms of sustenance. So it is with humans. Over the 3 million years of bio-cultural evolution humans have been through the particular gene coding that initiates lactase production becomes inactive by the time most humans reach adolescence (Robert Jurmain et al, 1999).

Full Article by Sumanta Sanyal

All you need to know about milk

One piece of research says women who have more than 90g of fat a day from sources such as full cream milk are at an increased risk of breast cancer. This could be because pregnant cows produce oestrogen, which goes into the milk. Excess oestrogen has been linked to breast cancer.

This could also explain Japan's low rates of breast cancer - they prefer soya milk.

Because whole cow's milk is high in saturated fat, it can lead to heart disease, high cholesterol and even cancer. Milk is also considered a trigger for eczema.

Anecdotal evidence links drinking milk to increased phlegm production. It therefore should be avoided by those with respiratory conditions such as asthma.

Another study linked high consumption of full-fat milk to increased risk of coronary heart disease in women. Again, this could be because of its high fat content, which is linked to elevated cholesterol.

Meanwhile, a study in Finland has suggested that children may be vulnerable to insulindependent diabetes later in life after exposure to cow's milk - as opposed to breast milk - while very young. The evidence has not been regarded as conclusive, however.

Milk needs to be avoided by those who have lactose intolerance - a deficiency in the body of the enzyme lactose which is needed to break down and digest dairy products.

Now new Swedish research has linked drinking more than a glass of milk a day to ovarian cancer. The milk sugar lactose is thought to over-stimulate the production of hormones, which could encourage tumours.

This applies not only to fullcream milk, but also to semiskimmed and skimmed cow's milk.

Full Article by Angela Epstein

Raw milk is probably a lot safer to use since it has enzymes and other little goodies that are killed by pasteurization (For those who find it hard to quit). Raw milk also has the cream separate from the milk making the actual milk naturally low fat if you use the cream for making butter instead of drinking it. I personally use olive oil instead of butter, and butter instead of shortening.