Milk. It Does A Body Good?

When we watched Forks over Knives there were several things that, when they were said, really made since to me. Either because it sounded logical or because I've experienced this myself. They drew many connections between our diet and the presence of disease. One study that hit home in a hard harsh way was the connection between consuming low or non-fat dairy products and prostate cancer. Right at 4 years ago my Grandfather passed away after battling with prostate cancer. Prior to his illness he was the picture of health. He had been in the navy as a young man and I think a lot of those disciplines stuck with him. He was very active and strong, always watched what he ate. Consumed very little red meat and what he did eat was super lean. He ate fish, lots of veggies, & took his vitamins. One thing he was also strict about was his consumption of dairy, in a low fat or non-fat form. He, like most Americans, believed that the fat in milk was bad for you but you need the calcium so reduced fat was the 'better' choice.

"The fat in milk is there for a reason, namely to help the body absorb the milk's calcium and Vitamin D; improperly absorbed calcium can be 'toxic'." - Joanna Evans of the magazine What Doctors Don't Tell You

My Grandfather wasn't a smoker nor did he have any other risk 'factors'. For me, my Grandfather is a perfect picture of these studies. The 'modified' dairy makes since in connection to his cancer. In retrospect it makes me very sad that this one, simple thing, could have given us more time together and his final years less of a struggle.

I thought this was a good article from a UK men's health magazine explaining the issue.

There is a clip in the film where they explain how your body processes milk and absorbs the calcium. It also explains how the calcium in cow's milk is not easily absorbed. When we consume milk it creates an acid-like condition in the body called metabolic acidosis. The body leaches calcium from your bones in an effort to neutralize this, causing our bones to become weak and brittle. This, based on what we've been taught (mostly by the dairy industry), seems backwards. But my mom's mom is another example of this. Now, she did smoke for MANY years which probably only compounded the issue but she drank lots of milk. She was diagnosed with osteoporosis and like so many these days, dealt with hip fractures.

Another concern with milk and dairy products is casein. Casein is the main protein present in milk and (in coagulated form) in cheese. It's commonly found in mammalian milk, making up 80% of the proteins in cow milk and between 60% and 65% of the proteins in human milk. It is used in processed foods and in adhesives, paints, and other industrial products.

In T. Colin Campbell's The China Study he describes a direct correlation between casein administered to rats and the promotion of cancer cell growth when exposed to carcinogens. One group of rats was put on a 5% protein diet and another group on a 20% protein diet. Regardless of the amount of aflatoxin (a potent carcinogen) administered to these rats, NONE of the rats on 5% protein developed foci, precursors to cancerous cell growth, and EVERY rat on 20% protein developed the pre-cancer foci. Other studies conducted by Dr. Campbell on humans confirmed this correlation between the amount of protein consumed and the promotion of cancerous cell growth. Basically, he discovered that cancer growth could be turned on and off by adjusting the amount of animal protein in the diet. Casein has also been shown to aggravate the symptoms of Autism causing many with the disease to adhere to a gluten-free casein-free diet. *

Sadly casein & rennet, another bovine derived protein, are found in TONS of stuff, just like corn, including soy and almond cheeses. This makes it pretty much impossible for anyone eating a typical American diet to stay under that 5% and is why 1 out of every 2 men and 1 out of every 3 women will get cancer.

We've been using almond and coconut milks and like them a lot. They taste great and don't cause any digestive issues for the boys. I think this is a change we'll make permanent.


More reading:
Cancer Project

* from Wikipedia

The Why

The science is clear.
The results are unmistakable.
Change your diet and dramatically reduce the risk of cancer, diabetes, heart disease and obesity.

We've made a change & accepted the challenge of eating vegan for this month. It's not a willy-nilly decision. After watching several documentaries, reading lots of blogs and websites, and considering my personal experience, I feel like it's a wise choice. Some of the most compelling evidence comes from two Dr.'s, surprisingly both raised on cattle farms, Dr. T. Colin Campbell and Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn.

Dr. Campbell, a nutritional scientist at Cornell University, was concerned in the late 1960′s with producing "high quality" animal protein to bring to the poor and malnourished areas of the third world.

Dr. Esselstyn, a top surgeon and head of the Breast Cancer Task Force at the world-renowned Cleveland Clinic, found that many of the diseases he routinely treated were virtually unheard of in parts of the world where animal-based foods were rarely consumed.

Their research led them to a startling conclusion: degenerative diseases like heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and even several forms of cancer, could almost always be prevented – and in many cases reversed – by adopting a whole foods, plant-based diet. Despite the profound implications of their findings, their work has remained relatively unknown to the public.

"Early in his career as a researcher with MIT and Virginia Tech, Dr. Campbell worked to promote better health by eating more meat, milk and eggs -- "high-quality animal protein ... It was an obvious sequel to my own life on the farm and I was happy to believe that the American diet was the best in the world." He later was a researcher on a project in the Philippines working with malnourished children. The project became an investigation for Dr. Campbell, as to why so many Filipino children were being diagnosed with liver cancer, predominately an adult disease. The primary goal of the project was to ensure that the children were getting as much protein as possible. "In this project, however, I uncovered a dark secret. Children who ate the highest protein diets were the ones most likely to get liver cancer..."

He began to review other reports from around the world that reflected the findings of his research in the Philippines. Although it was "heretical to say that protein wasn't healthy," he started an in-depth study into the role of nutrition, especially protein, in the cause of cancer. The research project culminated in a 20-year partnership of Cornell University, Oxford University, and the Chinese Academy of Preventive Medicine, a survey of diseases and lifestyle factors in rural China and Taiwan. More commonly known as the China Study, "this project eventually produced more than 8000 statistically significant associations between various dietary factors and disease."

The findings? "People who ate the most animal-based foods got the most chronic disease ... People who ate the most plant-based foods were the healthiest and tended to avoid chronic disease. These results could not be ignored. The idea that whole foods, plant-based diets can protect against and even treat a wide variety of chronic diseases can no longer be denied...now there are hundreds of detailed, comprehensive, well-done research studies that point in the same direction" said Dr. Campbell. In The China Study, Dr. Campbell details the connection between nutrition and heart disease, diabetes, and cancer, and also its ability to reduce or reverse the risk or effects of these deadly illnesses. The China Study also examines the source of nutritional confusion produced by powerful lobbies, government entities, and irresponsible scientists." - from the China Study website

The China Study is said to be the most comprehensive large study ever undertaken of the relationship between diet and the risk of developing disease. Most of the FDA approved studies performed in the US deal with how a specific food effects a specific ailment, for example the antioxidant Lycopene in tomatoes and it's benefit in protecting against breast and prostate cancers. For this reason the China Study is often dismissed.

It's probably no surprise that many who decide what the nutritional guidelines for our country, and work for the FDA & USDA have strong ties to corporate giants in the meat & dairy industry. This is not to induce a theory about the government, just a statement that those making our 'Food Pyramid' are not acting in an ethical & 'above-reproach' manner. This makes it difficult to trust the validity of what they say. For me anyway. If we're supposedly eating healthier, why are Americans stricken with heart disease as much as we were 30 years ago?

Dr. Caldwell B. Esselstyn, has done a 20+ year study with advanced heart disease patients all of whom stopped the progression of the disease and 70% reversed it with a plant-based diet. Do you need to re-read that? STOPPED. ALL OF THEM. One participant in his study was diagnosed with cancer & sent home to die with a 6 month life expectancy. She changed her diet under Dr. Caldwell's supervision and 27 years later she's still going strong. 27 YEARS! His son, Rip, is an Austin firefighter who has launched what is called the Engine 2 Diet (or E2 for short), a plant based diet which his fire house whole heartedly embraced after one of their own was knocking on death's door and reversed his diagnosis with the help of this new way of eating. The Diet also incorporates Neal Barnard, MD's research with Georgetown University that proved diabetes can be reversed with a plant-based diet as well as Campbell's 20-year China Study that produced more than 8000 statistically significant associations between various dietary factors and disease.

All of these studies are discussed in the documentary "Forks Over Knives".

"Two out of every three of us are overweight. Cases of diabetes are exploding, especially amongst our younger population. About half of us are taking at least one prescription drug. Major medical operations have become routine, helping to drive health care costs to astronomical levels. Heart disease, cancer and stroke are the country’s three leading causes of death, even though billions are spent each year to "battle" these very conditions. Millions suffer from a host of other degenerative diseases. Could it be there’s a single solution to all of these problems? A solution so comprehensive but so straightforward, that it’s mind-boggling that more of us haven’t taken it seriously?" - Forks Over Knives

I am convinced that eating the right way can save your life. I would like to hope that this 28 day challenge will change our lifestyle forever and that starting my kiddos young will make it easier to make healthier decisions in the long run.


More Information:
You can read an excerpt from the China Study book here

Published studies: http://engine2diet.com/thescience/Published_Studies

Alona Pulde, M.D. And Matthew Lederman, M.D. – Transition to Health