By Britney Tran and Hien Bui, Staff Writers
It’s a typical afternoon when you realize it’s time to restock on groceries. Got Milk? The answer’s no, so as you stroll down the aisles with your dandy cart, the space between you and the dairy section dwindles without a thought. The words “fresh” and “healthy” shout out at you on carton labels as you ponder the best milk option. Whole milk, 1%, High Vitamin D, Grassfed, DHA Omega 3 and others line the shelves. What should you choose?
The answer is none.
The ongoing misconception that milk is good for you has spread beyond all sorts of boundaries. Kids, millennials and elders have grown up believing that milk is the go-to source for calcium, making it harder to deny what advertisers tell you. While we’ve all been sold plenty of lies by the milk industry, scientific research has yielded evidence exposing milk on its fake premises.
To start off, humans weren’t designed to drink cow milk in the first place. Our ancestors once lived fine without milk and its consumption is, by no means, a necessity. Our ability to consume dairy products (beyond childhood) actually comes from a mutation that occurred within our evolution. Those without the gene for dairy ingestion are considered lactose intolerant, leading to the suffering of diarrhea, vomiting, abdominal cramps, nausea, bloating and gas.
In regards to our contingent mutation, humans are the only mammals to have drunk the milk of other mammals. Because of this, some argue that the consumption of milk is completely unhealthy and unnatural; a claim that is now supported through the works of major corporations and environmental studies.
According to the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), “Milk and dairy products contain micronutrients and several bioactive constituents that may influence cancer risk and progression. Based on a systematic review of the epidemiologic literature, the World Cancer Research Fund and American Institute for Cancer Research report concluded there was a probable association between milk intake and lower risk of colorectal cancer, [and] a probable association between diets high in calcium and increased risk of prostate cancer.”
Milk’s close association to one of the world’s biggest epidemics has come as a shock to many. But as the contaminants in milk are slowly uncovered, the milk industries’ direct link to false advertising could bring a bigger public outrage at hand.
The injection of drugs and antibiotics have been commonly practiced amongst the dairy and meat industries. Although this has opened many active investigations and FDA monitorings, the use of unadvertised ingredients are often be dismissed or uninvestigated for. According to an article by TheDailyMeal on Why You Should Stop Drinking Milk, “a glass of milk also contains acidic animal protein that leeches calcium from the bones, pus cells, bovine growth hormone, feces, antibiotics and a whole lot of unnecessary fat, cholesterol and calories — all of which create a terrible imbalance in the body.”
Through false advertising, customers have been misled by the dairy industry for years. With its close association to outbreak inducing components, it’s now up to consumers to feel inclined to milk consumption and its potentially drastic consequences.
