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Milk does a body, something something.
But even if you GOT it, do you WANT it?
Television has run commercials asking if we have milk and if we are drinking milk for
our strong bones, but science is starting to look at this and say, "hold up."
A study from Uppsala University in Sweden looked at how the amount of milk consumed
can affect health in the long term, and according to their results, mo milk, mo problems.
Their study, which followed over 100,000 men and women aged 39 to 79 years.
The women were followed for 20 years, and then men for 11, on average.
Overall, their results found that people who drank three or more glasses of milk per day
died at almost TWICE the rate of those who drank less than one.
So… that's huge.
The study, published in BMJ, says the reason for the increase in death MAY be because galactose
// which SOUNDS like an awesome bad guy from a 90s comic book, but it's not, it's a simple
sugar found in milk.
They picked that sugar because of a separate study, where galactose was given to animals
and they died faster thanks to oxidative stress and inflammation.
Basically, according to their findings, the risk of death rose 15 percent for every glass
of milk consumed per day, and for women it actually INCREASED bone fractures, not decreased.
BEFORE YOU FREAK OUT AND DUMP YOUR DAIRY.
Cheese and yogurt and stuff might be okay.
They have little or no galactose.
Their study also found women who ate fermented cheese products were LESS likely to die.
All this aside, the researchers ended their study by saying one of my favorite phrases:
MORE RESEARCH IS NEEDED.
I quote, "People should not change their dietary habits because of this study."
It's correlation, not causation.
This got me thinking, why do we even drink moo juice in the first place?
We're not the ONLY species on the planet to drink another species milk.
There are nursing baby animals that drink milk from adopted lactating parents, but the
thing is… they're all babies.
Most animals stop drinking milk and lose the ability to digest it as they age.
However, another study, also from Uppsala University // the Swedes drink a lot of milk,
I guess // reports ancient Iberian DNA might indicate why we drink milk at all!
The enzyme that allows us to drink milk, lactase, only evolved in the last 10,000 years, a blink
of an eye in biological time.
The reason it evolved is because of disaster -- a famine.
It was either, adapt or die, and somehow the human body was able to form lactase persistence
-- or the ability to digest lactose as an adult.
The drinking of milk would have allowed humans to gather vitamin D and absorb calcium, keeping
them alive and healthy -- similar to the newer study, they also say cheese and yogurt are
better, mostly because they're easier to consume due to lower levels of lactose due to fermentation.
Bottom line, maybe think about cutting down on milk servings and substitute it for some
yogurt or cheese instead.
too much dairy can cause health risks like weight gain, diabetes, cancer and osteoporosis.
It can also cause acne, digestive distress, allergies, asthma and more!
Dairy is controversial, simply because so many of us love it, but also because it's
popular consumption in the US is driven by lobbyists.
You have to make your own decisions, so read the science and let us know what you think!
If you're interested in learning more about the food you'er shoving in your mouth, Audible.com
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If you like food and haven't read Michael Pollan, check out In Defense of Food, you'll
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Super interesting stuff.
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