Dairy products are the leading source of saturated ("bad") fat in Northern America |
By Neil D. Barnard, M.D., Good Medicine, Autumn 2012
In
America’s schools, every lunch tray has a carton of milk on it. That will
change if PCRM’s petition to the U.S. Department of Agriculture succeeds. PCRM
filed the petition because studies clearly show that milk does not build strong
bones. Nor does it cause weight loss, reduce PMS, or deliver the other supposed
benefits the dairy industry has used in media promotions. The science
supporting milk for bone health was always shaky, and with a new Harvard study
showing zero benefit for children’s bones (see “Got Truth?” in this issue), the
argument has crumbled.
This
matters because dairy products do a surprising amount of harm. First, they are
the leading source of saturated (“bad”) fat in the North American diet, and
that spells obesity, heart disease, and diabetes. Meanwhile, nonfat milk gets
most of its calories from sugar—that is, lactose. Ounce for ounce, nonfat milk
is about as fattening as a typical soda. Dairy products are under investigation
for their roles in type 1 diabetes, prostate cancer, arthritis, digestive
problems, and childhood anemia, among other conditions.
And
the animals are not having a nice time either. Dairy cows are impregnated
annually to force continuous milk production. Pregnant cows give birth, and
male calves are taken away from their mothers and crated up to prevent them
from walking, so their muscles are artificially flabby—the way restaurateurs
like their veal. Female calves are dehorned without anesthesia and recruited
into the impregnation-lactation cycle until their milk production flags. At
that point, they become cheap beef.
In
turn, the health problems caused by fat, sugar, and calories have become the
subjects of massive research efforts. Take diabetes, for example. In 2011, the
U.S. government spent $559 million on diabetes experiments using an estimated
72,200 animals, mainly in the quest for yet another diabetes drug.
Enough
already. It is time to bring humanity back into health and research policy. The
Diabetes Prevention Program proved that lifestyle changes are more powerful
than drugs for preventing diabetes. And in 2006, PCRM’s research team showed
that a plant-based diet was a powerful treatment for people with diabetes.
Avoiding animal products helped participants slim down, cut their blood sugars,
and reduce their need for medicines.
Changing
the contents of children’s lunch trays is just one part of the solution. But by
rethinking our nutritional habits and focusing our research on ethical studies
of human patients, not only can we help quite a few cows on farms and mice in
laboratories breathe a sigh of relief, we can also tackle the epidemics that
are otherwise interminable.
In
America’s schools, every lunch tray has a carton of milk on it. That will
change if PCRM’s petition to the U.S. Department of Agriculture succeeds. PCRM
filed the petition because studies clearly show that milk does not build strong
bones. Nor does it cause weight loss, reduce PMS, or deliver the other supposed
benefits the dairy industry has used in media promotions. The science
supporting milk for bone health was always shaky, and with a new Harvard study
showing zero benefit for children’s bones (see “Got Truth?” in this issue), the
argument has crumbled.
This
matters because dairy products do a surprising amount of harm. First, they are
the leading source of saturated (“bad”) fat in the North American diet, and
that spells obesity, heart disease, and diabetes. Meanwhile, nonfat milk gets
most of its calories from sugar—that is, lactose. Ounce for ounce, nonfat milk
is about as fattening as a typical soda. Dairy products are under investigation
for their roles in type 1 diabetes, prostate cancer, arthritis, digestive
problems, and childhood anemia, among other conditions.
And
the animals are not having a nice time either. Dairy cows are impregnated
annually to force continuous milk production. Pregnant cows give birth, and
male calves are taken away from their mothers and crated up to prevent them
from walking, so their muscles are artificially flabby—the way restaurateurs
like their veal. Female calves are dehorned without anesthesia and recruited
into the impregnation-lactation cycle until their milk production flags. At
that point, they become cheap beef.
In
turn, the health problems caused by fat, sugar, and calories have become the
subjects of massive research efforts. Take diabetes, for example. In 2011, the
U.S. government spent $559 million on diabetes experiments using an estimated
72,200 animals, mainly in the quest for yet another diabetes drug.
Enough
already. It is time to bring humanity back into health and research policy. The
Diabetes Prevention Program proved that lifestyle changes are more powerful
than drugs for preventing diabetes. And in 2006, PCRM’s research team showed
that a plant-based diet was a powerful treatment for people with diabetes.
Avoiding animal products helped participants slim down, cut their blood sugars,
and reduce their need for medicines.
Changing
the contents of children’s lunch trays is just one part of the solution. But by
rethinking our nutritional habits and focusing our research on ethical studies
of human patients, not only can we help quite a few cows on farms and mice in
laboratories breathe a sigh of relief, we can also tackle the epidemics that
are otherwise interminable.
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