Milk

Since young, I have always been educated that Milk and other Dairy products are good sources of protein, calcium; good for this, good for that; can prevent this, can stop that; blah ...........

Unfortunately, my body can't take Milk. My mother told me at the age of around 3, my body started to work against Milk. I would just vomit whenever I consumed Milk. I guess that I'm just one of the billions of Asians that lacking the necessary gene to produce enzymes that allow humans to digest milk from the bovine species. (aka Milk intolerance)

However, surprisingly, I drink flavoured Milk. I eat Cheese, Yogurt and other Dairy products. Just not fresh (white-coloured) Milk. I tried drinking "White-Milk" when I was in UK, since everyone do that; but it just didn't work on me.

Recently, I came across a documentary talking about the 'Bads of Milk', from the cable TV. It seems that all the 'Goods of Milk' I've known for long is not really that true after all. I then went to Google about such topics. To my surprise, there's so much anti-Milk sites on the Internet. Such as Milk Sucks!.

These are a few points I got from one of the many reports. It's definitely something new to me, and maybe you too.

Moo not necessarily good for you
By NEAL D. BARNARD
PHYSICIAN

• every single child had antibodies against a particular cow's milk protein.
• milk proteins could trigger an autoimmune reaction that can destroy a susceptible child's insulin-producing cells, leading to diabetes.
• cow's milk was designed by nature for growing calves.
• it contains not only an enormous amount of fat (half its calories) and sugar (one-third its calories) but also dozens of hormones and growth factors that are natural for a rapidly growing calf, but not part of a normal human diet.
• milk-drinking men have substantially higher risk of prostate cancer, compared with men who avoid it.
• milk apparently alters a man's hormone balance in such a way that cancer cells are more likely to grow and spread.
• for the millions of people who are lactose intolerant, a glass of milk can cause painful cramps and diarrhea.
• milk does not even promote healthy bones.
• those who got the most dairy calcium had no protection at all against osteoporosis.
• they suffered more fractures than women who avoided milk.

So, is Milk good or bad???