Milk - Allergies in Children

Cow’s milk could very well be considered one of   mankind’s biggest dietary errors. The more we discover how it affects us humans the less we have to be pleased about. For a great number of years, cow’s milk has continued to be sold as the “perfect food” for humans and especially for our kids. Does this make sense?

The milk from every species of mammal is incomparable and particularly linked to the requirements of that animal. Cow’s milk is planned by nature to stimulate the growth of a rumen in the young cow’s digestive system. The rumen is similar too a fermenting vessel with a large population of bacteria that is imperative to breakdown large quantities of fiber in the cow’s diet. Cow’s milk has various factors designed too encourage bacterial growth in the gut.  People, on the other hand, have a nearly sterile small intestine. Human milk, explicitly designed for humans, holds materials that prohibit intestinal bacterial growth.

We are subjected to milk in early childhood and the long-term harm from drinking cow’s milk starts then. Consuming milk, during infancy, contributes to lack of tolerance, excessive sensitivities and interference with assimilation. The human infant is not able to convert cow’s milk into an absorbable form and this causes damage to the bowel mucosa. Young children that take in cow’s milk have small but major effects of bleeding from their digestive tracts.  This bleeding brings about an iron deficiency and anemia.  Health issues such as childhood diabetes, obesity, bowel disease, colic and ear infections are all linked too the consumption of milk in infancy.

One out of every five infants is inflicted with colic. Pediatricians have known for years that the consumption of cow’s milk was often the problem. We now know that nursing mothers can also have a colicky baby if she drinks cow’s milk.

Cow’s milk is not only detrimental to young children but it is also harmful to fully grown people.  The proteins in the cow’s milk contributes too matters of digestion, lack of tolerance, impaired assimilation of other nutrients and autoimmune responses. Many people are lactose intolerant.  This is because once we are taken off breast milk our body ceases producing lactase, the enzyme that enables us to digest lactose.

Dairy products contribute great amounts of cholesterol and fat to an individual’s diet. A high cholesterol and high fat diet is linked with heart disease and other health problems. Ovarian cancer is also associated to drinking milk. The sugar in milk referred to as lactose is broken down to another sugar referred to as galactose. This sugar influences a woman’s ovaries and multiplies her risk of acquiring ovarian cancer.

People are the only animals that consume another animal’s milk and to make issues worse we consume it into adulthood.  Female mammals present milk to feed and nourish their young. Once the infant can digest solid foods and the baby is taken off the mother’s milk the baby no longer drinks milk.

Much healthier options for human consumption are the fluids obtained from various plants and manufactured into milk.  These may be from nuts, grains, seeds or fruits. Several of these milks have been around for thousands of years in different parts of the world.  Best recognized are soy, rice, almond and coconut milk.

Milk Article by Fernanda B.Sc.Pharm, M.H., courtesy of HealthTopics.ca