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Unhealthy dogma means unhealthy food
Part 4: Low-fat dairy and other diseases
Low-fat milk and infertility
Low-fat milk doesn't just increase the risk of cancers. A study conducted at Harvard University Medical School, monitored 18,555 American women aged 24 to 42 between 1991 and 1999 found that the risk of anovulatory infertility, a form of infertility due to lack of egg release from the ovaries, is also increased in women who drink low-fat milks.[14] The women studied, who were pregnant or trying to become pregnant, did not have a history of infertility. Nevertheless, the study showed that women who ate two or more servings of low-fat dairy products such as skimmed milk or low-fat yoghurt a day, increased their risk of anovulatory infertility by more than 85% compared with women who ate less than one serving of lowfat dairy a week. And women who ate one or more servings per week of skimmed or low fat milk had a significantly higher risk of anovulatory infertility compared with those who ate less than one serving per week. Adding a serving of whole milk per day reduced the risk of infertility by more than 50%.
The researchers suggest that there appears to be a substance, vital for healthy ovaries, that requires the presence of fat for it to be properly absorbed. This would explain the lower risk of infertility from high-fat dairy foods. It might also explain the results of the prostate-cancer studies.
Low-fat milk and acne
As well as more serious conditions, scientists have also noted a connection between low-fat milk and acne. Data again from the Nurses' Health Study also showed that women who frequently consumed low-fat dairy such as reduced-fat milk, skimmed milk and cottage cheese as teenagers were more likely to suffer from severe acne at the time.[15]
As skimmed milk showed the strongest association, the researchers speculate that changes in milk composition during the fat-extraction process could aggravate acne. Altering the balance of the hormones in milk, for example, might be an explanation.
Low-fat milk and coronary heart disease
Ironically, coronary heart disease, the very disease against which all the work was aimed, also seems to be made worse by low-fat milk. In 1998, William Grant published a review of all the epidemiological evidence concerning diet and heart disease, and also carried out his own researches, examining heart disease and the dietary habits in 32 countries.[16] He found a correlation between low-fat milk as well as calcium and milk sugars with heart disease in both sexes.
The review points out that non-fat milk, which contains substantial amounts of dairy protein, is very low in B vitamins. The body's attempts to metabolise all this protein in the absence of B vitamins contributes to the build up of homocysteine, a known marker for heart disease.
Processed milk increases asthma and allergies
Considering the negative health effects linked to low-fat milk, should we all go back to drinking full-cream milk?
Sadly, it's not that simple. While whole milk is a healthier option than low-fat or skimmed milk, it is still subjected to processing that destroys some of its nutrients. Pasteurization typically involves heating milk for 30 seconds at 63ºC, which destroys beneficial bacteria as well as all the important enzymes that aid milk digestion. Essential vitamins and proteins are also damaged or destroyed.
Homogenization, a process that passes milk through a fine filter, causes other problems by reducing the size of fat globules by a factor of 10 or more. When protein molecules become attached to these smaller fat globules, this piggy-backing allows the proteins to bypass digestion in the stomach, which may lead to their incomplete digestion to cause allergic reactions.
Allergies, asthma, hay fever and ‘atopic sensitisation' skin problems, which have been increasing apace in the last quarter century in children drinking shop-bought, processed milk, are rare in children drinking raw, whole, unprocessed ‘farm milk'.[17] Researchers found that the timing of exposure to raw milk was critical. Those children exposed during the first year of life showed the greatest protective effect.
But we aren't allowed to buy raw milk. We're told this is because there is a risk of brucellosis. However, studies have shown that the risk of brucellosis is very low in small herds, increasing as herd size goes up.[18] The animals' nutrition almost certainly plays a role. Small herds on fertile pasture or appropriate feed, plus regular testing, clean barns, milking machines, stainless steel tanks and refrigerated trucks all make it entirely possible to get healthy, clean, certified raw milk to the public. Tests are widely available to detect brucellosis in cattle, goats and sheep, and modern science makes it possible to have brucellosis-free herds.
It is the alternative — pasteurized, processed milk from large herds crowded into barns and given hormones and antibiotics — which causes allergy problems for an increasing number of people. How many customers does the dairy industry have to lose to putative ‘milk allergies' before it sees the light and opts for quality rather than quantity; for thousands of prosperous small dairies delivering directly to the consumer as in my youth, rather than small numbers of huge herds, confined to barns and producing dirty milk that must have its vital elements destroyed by pasteurization and processing.
Rather than avoiding all dairy products altogether, a more sensible option would be to consume milk in its most natural state: raw, unprocessed and full-fat — if you can find it. I can't, so I drink only cream.
References
[14]. Chavarro JE, Rich-Edwards JW, Rosner B, Willett WC. A prospective study of dairy foods intake and anovulatory infertility. Hum Reprod 2007; 22: 1340-7.
[15]. Adebamowo CA, Spiegelman D, Danby FW, et al. High school dietary dairy intake and teenage acne. J Am Acad Dermatol 2005; 52: 207-14.
[16]. Grant WB. Milk and other dietary influences on coronary heart disease. Altern Med Rev 1998; 3: 281-94.
[17]. Riedler J, Braun-Fahrländer C, Waltraud Eder W, et al. Exposure to farming in early life and development of asthma and allergy: a cross-sectional survey. Lancet 2001; 358: 1129-33.
[18]. Mikolon AB, Gardner IA, Hernandez De Anda J, Hietala SK. Risk factors for brucellosis seropositivity of goat herds in the Mexicali Valley of Baja California, Mexico. Prev Vet Med 1998; 37:185-195.
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