Would you be willing to drink milk from a cow's udder? Most definitely not. That is gross, right? Of course! What I don't understand is why so many people are still willing to drink cow's milk if they don't want to get it straight from the source. In my mind, drinking cow's milk is disgusting on so many levels.
1. It is incredibly strange for an adult mammal to drink milk past infancy.
Milk is produced by mothers to nourish their babies as they grow and are dependent on their mother for survival. It is a food supply for vulnerable infants that are not able to hunt or gather their own food yet. Past infancy, however, mammals have developed enough to be able to obtain their own food supply, and milk is no longer necessary. It seems strange that humans find the need to continue to drink milk even as adults, on top of food consumption.
2. We are all sensitive to milk, but we keep drinking it anyway.
After infancy, the mechanism for creating the enzyme lactase in humans turns off. This means that there is no enzyme to break the lactose from milk into its sugar components, glucose and galactose, so that it can then be used for energy. Instead, it has to pass through our system undigested where it can ferment and create discomfort known as "lactose intolerance." Since the lactase producing mechanism turns off, everyone becomes intolerant to milk as they grow older. Despite the fact that we cannot digest a major component of milk, we continue to drink it and deal with the discomfort.
3. It is even more weird to drink milk produced by another mammal.
Milk produced by a human female is specifically designed by her body to support her babies needs. The fat content, vitamin and mineral concentration, and even immune support is unique to one mother's milk to allow her child to grow and flourish. Likewise, cow's milk is produced by mother cows to support her calf's needs. Last I checked, humans and cows are very different and have different nutritional needs. If humans so strongly feel the urge to drink milk past childhood, it would make more sense to continue to drink breast milk instead of cow's milk.
4. Cows are treated poorly in order to produce enough milk for human demand.
In order to produce enough milk to meet the demand of consumers, dairy farmers are forced to treat their cows with less than humane standards. Of their 20 year life span, female cows are fertile for about eight to nine years. During this time female cows are continuously inseminated so that they will continue to produce milk. After their calves are born, the babies are taken away from their mother and bottle fed so that humans can drink the milk product instead.
5. This state of constant pregnancy can result in mastitis... aka painful inflammation of the mammary glands.
Roughly 150 strands of bacteria cause this infection. When this occurs the bacteria that infects the milk that is being pumped out and consumed. It is important to note that one of the strains of bacteria found to cause mastitis in cows is E. coli. In mammals, when an infection is contracted, the immune system mounts a response to regain health. White blood cells come to the rescue and when they die, they are known as pus. The dairy industry allows for a count of 750,000 somatic cells (aka pus) per 1 mL of milk sold. Keep in mind that when you drink cow's milk, you are probably also drinking a lot of pus.
6. Cows are pumped full of antibiotics and hormones to keep milk production high and bacteria count low.
You probably know that whatever a mom drinks/eats, the baby also gets in her breast milk. The same goes for cows. So when they are consuming high dosages of antibiotics and hormones to remain "healthy," we are also drinking that in their milk product. These chemicals can have dreadful effects on our bodies when taking them incorrectly.
7. Overuse of antibiotics create "super bugs" aka antibiotic resistant strands of disease.
When a bacterial strand becomes resistant to antibiotics, that means that it can grow and manifest without bound. The way dairy farmers must use antibiotics to prevent infection in cow's has been called an access by many. The bacteria begin treated could mutate and become resistant to the drugs. If this happens and a potent super bug were to find it's way into the milk, supply tens of thousands of people could become infected without a good way to get better quickly other than hoping their own immune system is strong enough to fight the infection.
For all of those reasons, I choose not to drink cow's milk. I am not worried about getting enough calcium or vitamin D. In fact, there are many other foods such as leafy greens and legumes that have high percentages of these vital components in our diets. Instead of drinking milk, I try to eat nutrient-dense food.
I completely support and encourage all mothers to feed their children naturally with breast milk through infancy. I think it incredibly beautiful, natural, and healthy for both the child and mother. Past childhood, I hope that everyone learns their facts to make informed decisions regarding what they eat and drink to determine what is most healthy and beneficial for their own lifestyle.
