Is it any wonder that the National Dairy Council is the foremost supplier of nutritional education materials to classrooms in the United States?

Calcium Myth: When we consume dairy products or any animal's milk in any form, it makes our body highly acidic and robs us of calcium and iron. The way our body reacts to this metabolic acidity is to neutralize it by pulling calcium from our bones. The calcium from dairy cannot be absorbed into our bodies because of the acidic nature and protein content of dairy. The highest rates of osteoporosis are in countries with the highest dairy consumption. The China Study goes into this in depth.[i] Milk does not "do a body good," no matter what doctors, the media, and nutritionists tell you. Diary is a poor choice whether it is raw, organic, non-pasteurized, etc. It is still acidic, robs your body of iron, does not supply calcium, and causes disease. It does a calf’s body good when trying to double its weight quickly. Milk was made for a baby cow. But even they stop drinking it when they are old enough.

Nature's Perfect Food? A Second Opinion!

In the movie Men in Black, the character played by Tommy Lee Jones draws the distinction between a "person" and the mass of "people." He states, "A person is smart, but people are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals, and you know it." In other words, we do a whole lot of things as "people" we would never do as an individual "person." It is great that you are making the effort to educate yourself, refusing to buy the prepackaged party line dished out by the conventional medical establishment and media. Yet there are some areas that are so ingrained that we revert to our "people" manner of thinking.

Dr. Whitaker comments about bone disease as follows:

In only two generations, the rate of hip fractures in the U.S. has quadrupled, and it is currently one of the highest rates in the world. Americans are also near the top of the chart for dairy consumption. Would someone out there please tell me why we keep telling our children that dairy foods strengthen their bones? Excess protein intake-not only from milk but all animal protein sources-increases the need for calcium to neutralize acidic protein breakdown products, destroying bone in the process. A lifetime of a high-protein diet usually eats away at your bones. Lower protein vegetarian diets are associated with significantly higher bone mineral density. So the first and most important dietary step is to eat less protein. This generally means cutting down on milk...Although dairy products contain calcium, little of it is deposited in the bones-instead the calcium is used to neutralize the acidity brought on by milk protein.[ii]

Food Safety Milk is "Udder" Nonsense

Is cow's milk an appropriate food for humans? Cow's milk is species-specific food for calves. It is no more appropriate to drink the milk of cows than it is to drink the milk of other mammals. Yet, we do it because we've always done it.

Myth: Milk Helps Build Strong Bones

American parents pass this myth on to their children, and misguided nutritionists reinforce it. In actuality, milk and other dairy products weaken the bones and accelerate osteoporosis. Consumption of milk causes the very condition it's advertised to prevent.

Osteoporosis results from calcium loss, not an insufficient calcium intake. Dairy products, because of their high protein content, promote calcium loss. Studies examining the incidence of osteoporosis have found that a high consumption of dairy products is associated with high rates of osteoporosis. If you want strong bones, don't drink milk.

Myth: I Need to Take Calcium Supplements

Most Calcium supplements such as calcium carbonate, coral, oyster shells, chalk, eggshells, are highly dangerous to the human body. We cannot process them, but yet they are added to so many of our foods. Heart disease is an infection that starts with calcium deposits. Arthritis, cataracts, tumors, etc. all come from calcium deposits (calcification diseases). We need to dissolve bad calcium from our bodies and stop adding calcium carbonate or other non-absorbent calcium to our bodies. Fulvic Acid and MSM help dissolve calcium deposits. Calcium carbonate is added to cereals, milk, processed foods and are very dangerous for the body. Think of your body as an ocean and calcium carbonate basically builds barnacles in our body from non-absorbent calcium. Naturally occurring calcium can be found in dark leafy greens, sea vegetables, sprouted beans and green juice. A lifestyle of not working out also leads to calcium deficiency.

Myth: Milk is the Ultimate Health Drink

The notion that milk is healthy for you is, again, "udder" nonsense. While eating fruits, vegetables, and whole grains has been documented to lower the risk of heart attack, high blood pressure, and cancer, the widely touted health benefits of dairy products are questionable at best. In fact, dairy products will cause osteoporosis, heart disease, obesity, cancer, allergies, and diabetes. Dairy products are anything but "health" foods.

The association between milk and heart disease is particularly strong. While we've always known that high-fat dairy products, such as whole milk and cheese, are significant contributors to high cholesterol levels and heart disease, William B. Grant, Ph.D., summarizes the mounting evidence that nonfat milk is also a major player in bringing on heart disease. Writing in Alternative Medicine Review, Dr. Grant points out that nonfat milk, which contains substantial amounts of dairy protein, is very low in B vitamins. The metabolism of all this protein in the absence of B vitamins contributes to the buildup of homocysteine, a marker for heart disease.

Myth: Milk is Necessary for Growing Children

There are three reasons kids and milk should not mix. First, milk is the leading cause of iron-deficiency anemia in infants, and, in fact, the American Academy of Pediatrics now discourages giving children milk before their first birthday. Second, it has been shown that milk consumption in childhood contributes to the development of Type-I diabetes. Certain proteins in milk resemble molecules on the beta cells of the pancreas that secrete insulin. In some cases, the immune system makes antibodies to the milk protein that mistakenly attack and destroy the beta cells.

Third, milk allergies are very common in children and cause sinus problems, diarrhea, constipation, and fatigue. They are a leading cause of the chronic ear infections that plague up to 40 percent of all children under the age of six. Milk allergies are also linked to behavioral problems in children and to the disturbing rise of childhood asthma. (Milk allergies are equally common in adults and produce similar symptoms.)

Myth: Milk is Wholesome

As if milk weren't bad enough already, the chemical giant, Monsanto Company, and the FDA have made it far worse. In 1994, the FDA approved the use of recombinant bovine somatotropin (rbST), a genetically engineered hormone from Monsanto, that increases milk production in cows by 10-25 percent. Milk from cows treated with rbST contains elevated levels of insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I), one of the most powerful growth factors ever identified.

IGF-I occurs naturally in both cows and humans and, in a fluke of nature, is identical between these two species. While IGF-I doesn't cause cancer, it definitely stimulates its growth. Recent studies have found a seven-fold increase in the risk of breast cancer in women with the highest IGF-I levels, and a four-fold increase in prostate cancer in men with the highest levels. Not only does rbST elevate your exposure to these growth factors, it also increases infections of the cow's udders. Therefore, cows treated with rbST are given more antibiotics, so higher traces of these drugs, as well as pus and bacteria from infected udders, are found in their milk.  

Understanding Casein

Casein protein is one of the most dangerous proteins to consume when attempting to prevent cancer. And casein can be found in high amounts in dairy products. Dairy causes mucus, allergies, worsens asthma, increases cancer growth, and causes osteoporosis—the exact thing the Dairy Counsel says it helps.

Is Casein the 'Opium' in Fast Food?

The major uses of casein until the 1960s were in technical, non-food applications such as adhesives for wood, in paper coating, leather finishing and in synthetic fibers, as well as plastics for buttons, buckles etc. During the past 30 years, however, the principal use of casein products has been as an ingredient in foods to enhance their physical (so-called 'functional') properties, such as whipping and foaming, water binding and thickening, emulsification and texture, and to falsely improve their nutrition.[iii]

Casein is the curd that forms when milk is left to sour. It is the most commonly used milk protein in the food industry.[iv]

Casein [US: “kay-seen”]- Date: 1841: a phosphoprotein of milk. Casein is precipitated from milk by heating with an acid or by the action of lactic acid in souring and is used in making paints and adhesives b : one that is produced when milk is curdled by rennet, is the chief constituent of cheese, and is used in making plastics probably from French caséine, from Latin caseus.[v]

Products containing casein or caseinates include imitation sausages, soups, stews, high-protein beverage powders, fortified cereals, infant formula, nutrition bars, bakery glazes, coffee whiteners, formulated meats, salad dressing, sauces, and whipped toppings. Casein and caseinates are used as extenders, tenderizers, nutritional fortifiers, and texturizers, and therefore, they  can be found in products other than foods. For instance, Trident for Kids and Trident Advantage contain recaldent, which contains a milk-casein derivative. Other examples of products containing casein include cosmetics, adhesives, pharmaceuticals, nutritional and personal care products.

Casein Dangers

Also, there is some evidence from studies indicating that animal protein—particularly casein, which is found in dairy (including nonfat dairy)—promote some forms of cancer. At Cornell University, for example, Dr. T. Colin Campbell and his colleagues have found that casein is a strong promoter of tumor growth. Other studies have shown that casein helps promote the growth of coronary artery blockages.[vi]

The remarkable agreement between mortality and the consumption of casein suggests that this factor is worthy of serious consideration as a potential source of cardiovascular disease when taken in conjunction with regional variations in the traditional risk factors. beta-casein A1 consumption also correlates strongly with type 1 diabetes incidence in 0-14-year-olds, suggesting that IHD and diabetes may share at least one causative risk factor.[vii]

Dr. Kalle Reichelt of the Institute of Pediatric Research at the University of Oslo in Norway cited over 200 international scholarly sources in a 1996 paper advancing the theory that schizophrenia and related affective disorders are caused by "food constituents (gluten and casein) (that) may have disease-promoting effects and cause behavioral changes." The theory originated in the 1960s with an American, Dr. Curtis Dohan. He put schizophrenics on gluten-free, casein free diets under double blind conditions and got dramatic results. Many of his patients were able to return home from locked mental hospital wards. Reichelt, in Norway, has recently used new methodology to validate Dohan's theory. Reichelt achieved dramatic learning and behavior improvements in autistic children with a gluten-casein free diet.

            Casein can affect the personality as well via depression, overeating, drinking, mood, and evening compulsive behaviors.[viii]

Certain foods appear to stimulate the release of opiate chemicals within the brain. These are chemical cousins of morphine and heroin. While casein is not as strong as illegal drugs, it appears to be strong enough to keep us coming back, especially when we are stressed, tired, angry, or alone. Not every food does this. The groups that do are sugar (and sugar-fat mixtures, such as butter cookies, as well as foods that produce sugar rapidly), chocolate, cheese, and meat.[ix]

For example, in cow's milk the major proteins are a-casein and b-lactoglobulin; the ratio of casein to whey protein is 80:20; the casein volume is double that of human milk, and the curd formed is hard; the principal milk immunoglobulin is IgG; and lactoferrin and Iysozyme are present only in small amounts [30]. Cow's milk triglycerides contain a higher proportion of short chain fatty acids and a lower proportion of long chain and polyunsaturated fatty acids; furthermore, the positional distribution of fatty acids on the glycerol molecule is different [30]. In addition, many of the non-nutritional factors found in human milk are absent from cow's milk, or are present only in trace amounts. For the human baby, these differences affect the digestibility and absorption of nutrients, the bioavailability of micronutrients, and the potential benefits from non-nutritional factors.

Casein Corporations and What They're Doing

Ammonium caseinate is used mainly in bakery products, therefore, it does not have to be listed on the ingredients label. Calcium caseinate is used as a nutrient supplement. It is used in creamed cottage cheese, powdered diet supplements, nutritional beverages, processed cheese, and frozen desserts because it has a milky appearance and smooth feel in the mouth. Potassium caseinate is used in frozen custard, ice cream, ice milk, and fruit sherbets. Sodium caseinate is highly soluble and is used as an emulsifier in coffee whiteners, cottage cheese, cream liqueurs, yogurt, processed cheeses, and some meat products. It is also used to improve the whipping properties of dessert whips. 

Imitation sausages, soups, stews, high-protein beverage powders, fortified cereals, infant formula, nutrition bars, bakery glazes, coffee whiteners, formulated meats, salad dressing, sauces, and whipped toppings all may contain casein or caseinates.

Casein proteins make up about 80 percent of the protein in cow’s milk.

One out of every four dogs and cats in the western world is now obese. Tons of Casein can be found in their pet food.[x]

Whey protein is "way" bad! Make sure to stay away from whey protein as well because it is another cancer causing, dangerous protein derived from processed milk.

Cheese!

How Much Cheese Do Americans Eat?

In 1970, the dairy industry produced 2.2 billion pounds of cheese. The population of the United States was 203 million, which translates to 10.8 pounds of cheese per person. By 1990, America's population had grown to 248 million, but Americans were eating more cheese—6 billion pounds worth! That's an average of 24 pounds per person. In 1994, according to the USDA, the average American consumed 27.7 pounds of cheese. America's rate of cheese consumption is skyrocketing. As we approach the new millennium, America's per-capita cheese consumption will break the 30-pound per person level.

PUS: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) allows 750 million pus cells in every liter of milk (about two pounds). In Europe, regulators allow 400 million pus cells per liter. France and Italy are known for their magnificent cheeses. Perhaps that's their secret: less pus! Because it takes 10 pounds of milk to make one pound of cheese, a pound of cheese can contain up to 7.5 billion pus cells. If your American cheese is sliced so that there are 16 slices to a pound, that single slice of American or Swiss can contain over 468 million pus cells.

GLUE: Eighty percent of milk protein consists of casein. Casein as you learned in the last chapter is the glue used to hold a label to a bottle of beer. Trying to scrape one of those labels from inside your body would be tough. Casein is the glue that holds together wood in furniture, so you can imagine the havoc it would have on bowel movements.

Casein is a foreign protein and your body reacts to its presence by creating an antibody. That antibody-antigen reaction creates histamines. Antihistamines (like Benadryl™) are used to counter the effects of histamines. Mucus and phlegm are produced as a result of cheese consumption. Mucus congests internal body organs and creates phlegm. The average American lives his or her life with a gallon of mucus clogging the kidney, spleen, pancreas, tracheal-bronchial tree, lungs, thymus, and other organs. Imagine not eating cheese or any other dairy product for just six days. An internal fog will lift from your body as the mucus leaves. Eat just one slice of pizza on day seven, and 12-15 hours later, the mucus will return.

HORMONES: Every sip of milk has 59 different powerful hormones. Which ones do you want your children to consume? Estrogen, progesterone, or prolactin? Men, are you ready to grow breasts? As a little girl becomes a big girl, then a mature woman, she will produce the total equivalent of one tablespoon of estrogen. The average American now consumes nearly thirty pounds of cheese each year, which contains concentrated hormones. One pound of cheese can contain 10 times the amount of hormones as one pound of milk. Nursing cows were never supposed to pass on cheese to their calves. They were, however, designed to pass on hormones, lactoferrins, and immunoglobulins in liquid milk to their infants.[xi]

ANTIBIOTICS: Consumers Union and the Wall Street Journal tested milk samples in the New York metropolitan area and found the presence of 52 different antibiotics. By eating ice cream, yogurt, and cheese, you're also consuming antibiotics. Cows are fed chicken feces as supplemental protein. The droppings are baked and sanitized, but the heat process does not destroy the hormones in chicken feed.

BACTERIA: In February 1999, the Land of Lakes Company recalled nearly 400,000 cases of cheese products from supermarkets in every one of America's 50 states. Cheese makes a remarkable culture medium for bacteria, which can stay alive for up to six months. The 1999 recall was for listeria. Eating listeria can take up to 45 days for you to become sick. Would you make the connection? Cheeses can also contain bacteria that cause diarrhea and irritable bowel syndrome. Forty million Americans are so affected.[xii]