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Is Milk Suitable For Jains?

By Dr. Nandita Shah, E-Mail : nandita_shah@vsnl.com

 

I have often had the feeling that as Jains we are a bit hypocritical. Times are changing but we are unwilling to change with the times. If we really want to be ahimsic we should consider giving up many items that cause undue suffering to animals especially as today excellent alternatives are available. Some such items are leather, silk and pearls which need not be written about.

One item which is rarely considered is Milk. Most of us consider milk as vegetarian or ahimsic but the truth is quite different.

The Animal Suffering Involved : In cities people are so far removed from the animals that many believe that cows naturally give milk for humans. Even many vegetarians who abhor cruelty and harming of animals think milk is a cruelty free product, and an ideal food. Indians have taken milk since the vedic times is the argument. But lets look at what goes into milk today.

Cows on today's farms live only about four to five years, as opposed to the life expectancy of 20-25 years enjoyed by cows of an earlier era. To keep the animals producing milk they are repeatedly made pregnant. Perhaps the greatest pain suffered by cows in the dairy industry is the repeated loss of their young. I have a friend who eats meat at every meal, but avoids milk because she lives near a dairy and has witnessed the cows 'crying'.

Female calves may join the ranks of the milk producers, but the males, the "byproducts" of the dairy industry, are generally taken from their mothers anywhere within a day of birth to a week, so milk is far from cruelty free or ahinsak! Quite the contrary. Some of these calves endure 14 to 17 weeks of torment in veal crates so small that they can't even turn around. Others are tied up and left to starve which usually takes a week of intense suffering, after which their bodies are collected and sold to the Kora Kendra as ahinsak leather since the animal has died a 'natural' death. Some are stuffed on top of each other in trucks and sent to the slaughter house (illegally in India) to be killed for veal. Some have their stomachs slit soon after birth while still alive to make rennet for the cheese industry. In India this is supposed to be banned as it is possible to make rennet less cheese, using microbial rennet, but the close connection between the dairy, veal, and leather industries may make it cheaper for cheese producers to use calf parts than a vegetable-derived enzyme. This may be especially true of imported cheeses.

According to Maneka Gandhi's book Heads and Tails, 80,000 calves are forcibly starved to death in the tabelas of Bombay city every year! The cattle are marched on hoof into the city where they are kept for the 8 month lactation period. Because they cannot produce milk otherwise, the buffaloes are purchased with their suckling calves. After a few weeks in Bombay, the calves are taken away and starved to death, as there is desperate scarcity of space in the city. After the lactation period, they are marched back to villages to be impregnated again, and the cycle repeats itself. Each buffalo can go through 4 - 5 lactations under these conditions after which they are slaughtered.

Within 60 days of the birth, the cow will be artificially inseminated again. For about seven months of her next nine-month pregnancy, the cow will continue to be milked for the fluid meant for her older calf. A typical factory-farmed dairy cow will give birth three or four times in her short life. When her milk production wanes, she is sent to slaughter. (I have heard many vegetarians respond that they are sure this is not true. They would rather not believe this so they can continue to consume milk, and would rather turn away from the reality. "What about the goshala's?", they say. Unfortunately only a fraction of the animals are lucky enough to be sent to the goshala as a visit to the local slaughter house will prove).

In order to start the flow of milk, the calf is brought to the cow. Once the milk flow starts the calf is pulled away. Without the calf and repeated pregnancies, milk would not be available, though with genetic manipulation and intensive production technologies, some modern dairy cows give milk even without the help of the calf. But the repeated pregnancies are still required to produce the milk. Cows -- like all mammals -- make milk to feed their own babies -- not humans.

Most of the cows kept for milk in cities and towns live in conditions that cause tremendous suffering to the animals. They do not spend hours grazing in fields but live crowded into concrete-floored milking pens or barns, where they are milked two or three times a day. This procedure causes injuries that encourage the development of mastitis, which is furthered by the fact that instead of grazing in a field they are tied to one spot so that they are close to their own excrement. More than 20 different types of bacteria cause the infection, which is easily spread from one cow to another and which, if left unchecked, can cause death.

Milking machines, when used, cause further injuries and bleeding of the udder. In some cases milking machines even give cows electric shocks due to stray voltage, causing them considerable discomfort, fear, and impaired immunity and sometimes leading to death.

Is Milk Really Vegetarian? : Most Indians that are vegetarian are so because they do not wish to harm another living being. Even Hindus who do eat meat will not eat beef, considering the cow sacred. But milk is very much accepted amongst most vegetarian families. In the old days when each family had a cow this was more acceptable. Today beef and leather, are by products of the milk industry. Because of the demand for milk, even states which have banned cow slaughter are unable to enforce it. What is a poor farmer supposed to do with his surplus male calves and cows and buffaloes which no longer produce milk? How can he afford space and food for unproductive animals? The only financially viable solution is to slaughter. Some of the animals are slaughtered under the most inhumane conditions. I have personally seen cows and goats slaughtered by village butchers with blunt knives while the animal is still conscious. Others are transported to city slaughterhouses, huddled and squeezed against each other in trucks with no place to move, sometimes one on top of another, making the long journey without food, water or rest, sustaining injuries due to their horns digging into each other. Many are dead or almost dead when they arrive at the slaughter house, but even there, in their last moments they are cruelly treated by breaking their tails or throwing chilly powder in their eyes in order to make them stand to be 'passed'. If this is what the cattle suffer after having given us the milk meant for their own young, can we consider milk vegetarian?

What Are The Alternatives? : In Southeast Asian countries, soya milk and tofu have been used since ages. (Have you noticed that traditional Thai, Chinese, Japanese, Indonesian etc cuisines don't use milk at all?) In the western world Soya milk is gaining popularity. A host of soya based products are available from soya desserts and mock meat to soya ice cream and lattes. Researchers claim that not only is it healthier, non cholesterol forming, but soybeans contain many anti-cancer phytochemical compounds. Protease inhibitors suppress the activation of the genes that cause cancer and protect against the damaging effects of radiation and free radicals. Phytate binds iron in the intestines, preventing free radicals and enhances the immune system by increasing the activity of natural cancer killing cells. Phytosterols protect the colon from bile acids remaining from cholesterol metabolism, which inhibit the development of colon and skin cancer. Saponins stop cellular mutation that can lead to cancer.

Isoflavins, found in soybeans are able to inhibit the growth of many kinds of cancer cells without hindering healthy cell growth. They are excellent anti-oxidants in addition to their anti-estrogen characteristics. Isoflavones look and act like estrogen, but are much weaker. They dock into the estrogen stations on the cells and fill the receptor, but do not perform as a natural estrogen therefore keeping estrogen levels much lower. This is significant considering excessive estrogen levels correlate with hormone- related cancers.

Genistine is currently the star isoflavin and it is able to inhibit the growth of most cancers. It obstructs the activity of tyrosine protein kinase, an enzyme that stimulates the growth of cancer cells. Without this enzyme the cancer growth is slowed or stopped. Genistine also inhibits the growth of blood vessels needed to supply a tumor with necessary oxygen and nutrients (called angiogenesis) which keeps a tumor very small or even prevents it. Genistine not only inhibits cancer growth, it can reverse it! It can stimulate a cell to go from being cancerous to being normal through a process called differentiation.

It has been suggested that symptoms of the menopause and incidence of osteoporosis in menopausal women may be reduced through the oestrogenic properties of the phyto-oestrogens and that isoflavins are infact similar to a natural hormone replacement therapy and also useful in the treatment of hot flushes.

Many researchers believe that that the lower incidence of degenerative diseases in Southeast Asia is correlated with their significantly higher consumption of soy foods. In India soya milk has yet to find a real foothold, and is not freely available in the market. But hopefully this is just a matter of time. Big supermarkets and health food store have begun to stock it.

What are the advantages of soya milk over animal milk?

  1. Soybeans are the world's cheapest and most useful source of protein. Soybeans contain 44% protein. They are also far more ecological than animal protein.

  2. Soybeans are a good source of fiber.

  3. It contains no cholesterol. Soybeans contain more fat than other legumes, but less than meats. Soybeans are an excellent source of cooking oil; soybean oil contains no cholesterol. Soybean oil has the lowest levels of saturated fat among vegetable oils.

  4. Soybeans are an excellent source of bone-building calcium.

  5. Soybeans contain more isoflavins than any other edible source.

  6. Soybeans contain three times more antioxidants than other sources of antioxidants. Scientists believe that antioxidants can reduce the risk of cancer and premature aging and coronary heart disease.

  7. Soy milk is made from soybeans; it is used by people who are lactose intolerant; soy milk is also used in baby formula.

Some disadvantages

  1. Some people find the taste less palatable. (But many prefer the taste of soya milk over regular milk)

  2. Much soya is genetically modified and the long term effects of consuming genetically modified food are not yet known

  3. Some infants allergic to cow's milk are, in 40-50% of cases, also at risk of developing allergy to soya.

  4. In India soya milk is not readily available.

Other nutritional alternatives are almond milk, sesame milk, coconut milk, rice based dairy replacement. Some of these are easy to make freshly at home with the help of a mixer.

Milk is unhealthy : Maybe it would be much easier to give up milk if one is made aware that in truth milk is not healthy for humans. Contrary to the popular belief perpetuated by doctors and mothers alike, milk and milk products are far from the ideal food we believe them to be.

Difference between cow's milk and human milk : Cow's milk is suited to the nutritional needs of calves, who, unlike human babies, will double their weight in 47 days (as opposed to 180 days for humans), grow four stomachs, and weigh 1,100-1,200 pounds within two years. It contains about three times as much protein as human milk and almost 50 percent more fat. Human milk is ideal for human infants because it contains the ratio of elements required during the crucial growth phase. After this stage milk is not only not required but may be the cause of a multitude of ailments. It is unnatural. No other species besides humans drinks milk beyond infancy, and no other species drinks the milk of another species (except domestic cats and dogs, who are taught the habit by humans).

After four years of age, most people develop lactose intolerance, which is the inability to digest the carbohydrate lactose (found in milk), because they lack the digestive enzyme lactase. Lactose-intolerant people who drink milk can experience stomach cramps, gas, and diarrhea.

Milk contains pus, hormones and antibiotics, pesticides, urea : You may not be aware of this but every glass of milk contains 1 - 7 drops of pus. Bovine growth hormone, or oxytocin are used to increase the amount of milk that the already overburdened cows give. This unnatural production of milk, often results in mastitis, a painful udder infection. When these animals are milked, pus and bacteria flow right along with the milk. This isn't only disgusting-it can be dangerous. Pus can contain paratuberculosis bacteria, which is believed to cause Crohn's disease, a painful illness that causes uncontrollable diarrhea, nausea, and vomiting.

The US has the highest rate of Crohn's ever recorded. The US also has the worst epidemic of a similar disease among cattle, called Johne's disease, known to be caused by a bacteria called Mycobacterium paratuberculosis (MAP). There is now growing clinical, epidemiological, immunological, experimental, and DNA evidence that this bacteria is the cause of Crohn's in people who drink milk from infected cows as this bacterium survives even pasteurisation.

According to the USDA's latest figures, between 20 and 40% of US dairy herds have already become infected with paratuberculosis, and the infection rate is expected to reach 100%. Intensive, modern farming practices-grazing bigger and bigger numbers of cattle on smaller and smaller plots of land-are blamed for the rapid spread of this disease. India where overcrowding is even more rampant and sanitary conditions even poorer faces similar problems.

Dairy farmers try to control the rampant mastitis with huge doses of antibiotics-and these antibiotics also wind up in the milk. Children are particularly vulnerable to the effects of too many antibiotics, which can inhibit the development of the immune system.

Pesticides used on the the feeds for the animals are concentrated in milk and meat, so this threat is also multiplied when we rely on animal food as opposed to vegetarian food which may also contain pesticide residues.

In India, milkmen dissolve urea (from fertiliser shops) in the milk to prevent it from curdling since the trucks for transporting the milk are not refrigerated. So every glass of milk is cocktail composed of 1 or more of the following - pus, antibiotics, pesticides, urea, and hormones! If you are yet not convinced about the fact that it is not a health drink, read on.

Calcium, Osteoporosis and Milk : "If I don't drink milk, where will I get my calcium?" is a question that is most commonly asked. The milk industry has been advertising milk as a good source of calcium, that promotes strong bones and has managed not only to convince the general public, but also many doctors. "If you consume three glasses of milk daily, your bones will be stronger." They do not point out that only 30 percent of milk's calcium is absorbed by the body or that osteoporosis or lack of bone calcium is common among milk drinkers. What they fail to tell you is that the real preventive measure is physical excersize which contributes to the even movement of calcium all over the body. One study, funded by the US National Dairy Council, involved giving a group of post menopausal women three 8-ounce glasses of skim milk per day for one year and comparing their bones to those of a control group of women not given the milk. The dairy group consumed 1,400 mg of calcium per day and lost bone at twice the rate of the control group.

After studying the diets of 78,000 women over a 12-year period, researchers at Harvard University concluded that "it is unlikely that high consumption of milk or other food sources of calcium during midlife will confer substantial protective effects against hip or forearm fractures"; participants in the study who consumed more than 450 milligrams of calcium from dairy foods per day actually doubled their risk of hip fractures. This is because protein is broken down into amino acids which increase the net acidity in the body. In order to neutralise this and keep the body pH constant, calcium is leached from the bones to combine with this acid; causing a net loss of calcium. A more efficient way to prevent osteoporosis is to reduce protein intake. Societies with little or no consumption of dairy products and animal protein show a low incidence of osteoporosis.

Dr. John McDougall, of The McDougall Program for Women (2000) states that "The myth that osteoporosis is caused by calcium deficiency was created to sell dairy products and calcium supplements. There's no truth to it. American women are among the biggest consumers of calcium in the world, and they still have one of the highest levels of osteoporosis in the world."

So what can you do for strong bones? :

  1. Get enough vitamin D, which you can easily do by spending some time in the sun.

  2. Eliminate animal protein from your diet.

  3. Limit alcohol consumption (alcohol is toxic to the cells that form bones and inhibits the absorption of calcium).

  4. Limit sugar intake (sugar leaches calcium out of the bones)

  5. Don't smoke (studies have shown that women who smoke one pack of cigarettes a day have 5 to 10 percent less bone density at menopause than nonsmokers).

  6. Get plenty of exercise. Studies have concluded that physical exercise is to more important than any other factor to building strong bones.

Iron : Milk is very poor in Iron content. 50 gallons of milk are equivalent in iron content to one bowl of spinach! Vegetables are the best source of iron. Milk not only provides no iron, it actually blocks its absorption. Patients who are taking iron tablets will be specifically told by their doctor not to take it with milk for this reason.

Other health aspects : Dr. John A. McDougall calls dairy foods "liquid meat" because their nutritional contents are so similar. Rich in fat and cholesterol, and poor in fibre, dairy products, including cheese, milk, butter, cream, yogurt, and whey (found in many margarines and baked goods), contribute to the development of heart disease, certain cancers, and stroke, allergies, constipation, obesity, gas, bloating, and other diseases.

The late Dr. Benjamin Spock, America's leading authority on child care, spoke out against feeding cow's milk to children, saying it can cause anemia, allergies, and insulin-dependent diabetes and in the long term, will set kids up for obesity and heart disease, a steadily growing cause of death in India and abroad.

Allergies, mucus, dysentery : According to the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, cow's milk is the number one-cause of food allergies in children. The former director of pediatrics at Johns Hopkins University, Dr. Frank Oski, states that up to half of U.S. children have some allergic reaction to milk. He reports in his 1992 book, that milk has been linked to iron-deficiency anemia in infants and children; it has been named as the cause of cramps and diarrhea in much of the world's population, and the cause of multiple forms of allergy as well. Ayurveds and naturopaths also recognise milk as a mucus maker which can lead to persistent problems such as chronic coughs and sinus infections, asthma, and ear infections and dysentery.

In their book Allergies to Milk, Drs. Sami L. Bahna and Douglas C. Heiner report that children who are allergic to milk "may have breathing difficulty, particularly during sleep, or an irritating cough associated with a postnasal drip. … The cough is frequently associated with noisy breathing and excessive mucus in the throat, and sometimes parents worry that their child is 'gagging.' … Such affected children are frequently diagnosed as having upper respiratory infection, viral illness, bronchitis, … or pneumonia, and may be given unnecessary medications, including cough syrups, decongestants, or antibiotics. Relief, however, is not satisfactory until cow's milk is eliminated from the diet."

Dr. William Ellis, who has studied the effects of dairy foods for more than four decades, believes that the excess mucus caused by milk can harden to form a coating on the inner wall of the intestines, hindering the absorption of nutrients and possibly leading to chronic fatigue.

Heart disease : Since the early 1970s, study after study after study has implicated milk and other dairy products as a cause of heart disease and clogged arteries. One researcher, Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn from the Cleveland Clinic (the top-rated heart clinic in the U.S.), makes people "heart attack-proof" by putting them on a vegan diet (American Journal of Cardiology, August 99). It's not just the fat and cholesterol in dairy products, but also the animal protein and milk carbohydrates that are linked to heart disease.

Dr. Dean Ornish of the University of California at San Francisco, has demonstrated that artery blockages can be reversed with a low-fat vegan diet instead of expensive and invasive surgeries. "[One] might consider switching from nonfat milk to nonfat soy milk, as I have done. This will give you a double benefit: Soy milk has no cholesterol, and soy products may actually lower your blood cholesterol levels."

Obesity
Dairy products, which contain no fiber or complex carbohydrates at all, are all high fat foods. A glass of milk is 49 percent fat; Swiss and cheddar cheeses are more than 65 percent fat; ice cream and yogurt are almost 50 percent fat; even "low-fat" milk and "nonfat" cottage cheese, which many consumers mistakenly believe to be fat-free, are more than 20 percent fat.

Breast cancer : Breast cancer is the most common cancer-related death among women in most of the Western world and the leading cause of death for women under 50. Consuming dairy products is linked to an increased risk for breast cancer because dairy products are high in fat, animal protein, and hormones, each of which increases cancer risk. Since the 1980's, study after study has linked dairy consumption to a high incidence of breast and other cancers.

The American Dietetic Association reports that breast cancer is most prevalent in countries where women consume high-fat, animal-based diets. In Asia, where milk consumption is extremely rare, (traditional Chinese, Japanese and other South-East Asian cultures are dairy free) breast cancer is almost unheard of. International renowned nutrition expert Dr. T. Colin Campbell points to China, a basically non milk-drinking country, where cancer deaths among women aged 35 to 64 averaged less than 9 per 100,000, as opposed to 44 per 100,000 in the U.S. Japanese women who follow a more meat and dairy-based diet are eight times more likely to develop breast cancer than their counterparts who eat a plant-based diet not containing dairy products.

Researchers at Stanford University and the National Institutes of Health found that high concentrations of the IGF-1 hormone stimulate cancer cell growth. IGF-1, a hormone that occurs naturally in humans and cows and in all milk, is increasingly abundant in milk from cows treated with synthetic bovine growth hormone (rBGH).

Prostate cancer : When it comes to preventing prostate cancer, science is clear: Men who steer clear of milk have significantly lower rates of the disease. According to the World Cancer Research Fund and the American Institute for Cancer Research, 11 separate human population studies have tied dairy consumption to prostate cancer.

Results of the landmark Physicians' Health Study of 20,885 doctors showed that men who consumed at least 2-1/2 servings of dairy foods daily were about 30 percent more likely to develop prostate cancer than men who averaged less than half a serving per day. A study, published in the British Journal of Cancer, found that levels of IGF-1, believed to play a key role in causing prostate cancer - were 9 percent lower in vegans than in non vegans.

Acne : Dr. Jerome K. Fisher conducted a clinical study of 1,088 teen-age patients over 10 years and reported to the American Dermatological Association that milk was a principal contributor to some patients' acne. He also suspected that the high volume of hormones produced naturally in the milk of pregnant cows may break down into androgen when consumed, which in turn stimulates the production of sebum, the waxy substance secreted by the sebaceous glands that clogs pores and creates acne when the pores become infected.

Dietary tips to avoid acne :
o Eat a diet high in fiber-salads, bran, complex carbohydrates and drink lots of water. Fiber helps the digestive tract eliminate wastes, so the skin doesn't have to.

  1. Keep your diet low in fat and sugar. Eating healthier foods ensures that your skin gets all the nutrients it needs.

  2. Food allergies may also aggravate acne. Common allergenic food substances include dairy products, wheat, and preservatives.

The dairy lobby however remains cozy with most medical practitioners willing to perpetrate its "drink milk" propaganda. However, not one of the 1,500 papers listed in "Medicine" that deal with milk points to its goodness - only to the pus, blood, antibiotics, and carcinogens in milk, and the chronic fatigue, anemia, asthma, and auto immune disorders milk consumption causes.

Environmental Issues : Cow's milk is an inefficient food source. Cows, like humans, expend the majority of their food intake simply leading their lives. In order to give a higher yield, the cows are fed concentrated pellets of soybean and cereal which would have instead fed many more people. It takes a great deal of grain and other foodstuffs cycled through cows to produce a small amount of milk. The land for grains and water which livestock require is far more than that which is needed to produce crops for human consumption. Acres of land in India have been rendered infertile due to overgrazing and water sources have been depleted. Can we afford this? Wouldn't it be far more economic to grow soya beans and make soya milk for example? Not only would it be more ecological but also more healthy.

Conclusion : Even if we are not able to drop milk from our diets immediately, let us be aware that drinking of milk is as ahimsak as the taking of meat, if not more. For every drop of milk we take a male calf dies of starvation. Hopefully this knowledge will assist us in the quest for true ahimsa.

About the Author : Dr Nandita Shah is a medical doctor and homeopath. She has stopped milk and dairy products consumption by 90% since 1985 and recently has given up totally and finds it beneficial to her health. She has been able to advise the same to some patients suffering from the ill effects of milk and has found that the diet change has been useful in restoring health.

 

-----------------------------------------------------

Mail to : Ahimsa Foundation
www.jainsamaj.org
R050303

Is Milk Suitable For Jains?

By Dr. Nandita Shah, E-Mail : nandita_shah@vsnl.com

 

I have often had the feeling that as Jains we are a bit hypocritical. Times are changing but we are unwilling to change with the times. If we really want to be ahimsic we should consider giving up many items that cause undue suffering to animals especially as today excellent alternatives are available. Some such items are leather, silk and pearls which need not be written about.

One item which is rarely considered is Milk. Most of us consider milk as vegetarian or ahimsic but the truth is quite different.

The Animal Suffering Involved : In cities people are so far removed from the animals that many believe that cows naturally give milk for humans. Even many vegetarians who abhor cruelty and harming of animals think milk is a cruelty free product, and an ideal food. Indians have taken milk since the vedic times is the argument. But lets look at what goes into milk today.

Cows on today's farms live only about four to five years, as opposed to the life expectancy of 20-25 years enjoyed by cows of an earlier era. To keep the animals producing milk they are repeatedly made pregnant. Perhaps the greatest pain suffered by cows in the dairy industry is the repeated loss of their young. I have a friend who eats meat at every meal, but avoids milk because she lives near a dairy and has witnessed the cows 'crying'.

Female calves may join the ranks of the milk producers, but the males, the "byproducts" of the dairy industry, are generally taken from their mothers anywhere within a day of birth to a week, so milk is far from cruelty free or ahinsak! Quite the contrary. Some of these calves endure 14 to 17 weeks of torment in veal crates so small that they can't even turn around. Others are tied up and left to starve which usually takes a week of intense suffering, after which their bodies are collected and sold to the Kora Kendra as ahinsak leather since the animal has died a 'natural' death. Some are stuffed on top of each other in trucks and sent to the slaughter house (illegally in India) to be killed for veal. Some have their stomachs slit soon after birth while still alive to make rennet for the cheese industry. In India this is supposed to be banned as it is possible to make rennet less cheese, using microbial rennet, but the close connection between the dairy, veal, and leather industries may make it cheaper for cheese producers to use calf parts than a vegetable-derived enzyme. This may be especially true of imported cheeses.

According to Maneka Gandhi's book Heads and Tails, 80,000 calves are forcibly starved to death in the tabelas of Bombay city every year! The cattle are marched on hoof into the city where they are kept for the 8 month lactation period. Because they cannot produce milk otherwise, the buffaloes are purchased with their suckling calves. After a few weeks in Bombay, the calves are taken away and starved to death, as there is desperate scarcity of space in the city. After the lactation period, they are marched back to villages to be impregnated again, and the cycle repeats itself. Each buffalo can go through 4 - 5 lactations under these conditions after which they are slaughtered.

Within 60 days of the birth, the cow will be artificially inseminated again. For about seven months of her next nine-month pregnancy, the cow will continue to be milked for the fluid meant for her older calf. A typical factory-farmed dairy cow will give birth three or four times in her short life. When her milk production wanes, she is sent to slaughter. (I have heard many vegetarians respond that they are sure this is not true. They would rather not believe this so they can continue to consume milk, and would rather turn away from the reality. "What about the goshala's?", they say. Unfortunately only a fraction of the animals are lucky enough to be sent to the goshala as a visit to the local slaughter house will prove).

In order to start the flow of milk, the calf is brought to the cow. Once the milk flow starts the calf is pulled away. Without the calf and repeated pregnancies, milk would not be available, though with genetic manipulation and intensive production technologies, some modern dairy cows give milk even without the help of the calf. But the repeated pregnancies are still required to produce the milk. Cows -- like all mammals -- make milk to feed their own babies -- not humans.

Most of the cows kept for milk in cities and towns live in conditions that cause tremendous suffering to the animals. They do not spend hours grazing in fields but live crowded into concrete-floored milking pens or barns, where they are milked two or three times a day. This procedure causes injuries that encourage the development of mastitis, which is furthered by the fact that instead of grazing in a field they are tied to one spot so that they are close to their own excrement. More than 20 different types of bacteria cause the infection, which is easily spread from one cow to another and which, if left unchecked, can cause death.

Milking machines, when used, cause further injuries and bleeding of the udder. In some cases milking machines even give cows electric shocks due to stray voltage, causing them considerable discomfort, fear, and impaired immunity and sometimes leading to death.

Is Milk Really Vegetarian? : Most Indians that are vegetarian are so because they do not wish to harm another living being. Even Hindus who do eat meat will not eat beef, considering the cow sacred. But milk is very much accepted amongst most vegetarian families. In the old days when each family had a cow this was more acceptable. Today beef and leather, are by products of the milk industry. Because of the demand for milk, even states which have banned cow slaughter are unable to enforce it. What is a poor farmer supposed to do with his surplus male calves and cows and buffaloes which no longer produce milk? How can he afford space and food for unproductive animals? The only financially viable solution is to slaughter. Some of the animals are slaughtered under the most inhumane conditions. I have personally seen cows and goats slaughtered by village butchers with blunt knives while the animal is still conscious. Others are transported to city slaughterhouses, huddled and squeezed against each other in trucks with no place to move, sometimes one on top of another, making the long journey without food, water or rest, sustaining injuries due to their horns digging into each other. Many are dead or almost dead when they arrive at the slaughter house, but even there, in their last moments they are cruelly treated by breaking their tails or throwing chilly powder in their eyes in order to make them stand to be 'passed'. If this is what the cattle suffer after having given us the milk meant for their own young, can we consider milk vegetarian?

What Are The Alternatives? : In Southeast Asian countries, soya milk and tofu have been used since ages. (Have you noticed that traditional Thai, Chinese, Japanese, Indonesian etc cuisines don't use milk at all?) In the western world Soya milk is gaining popularity. A host of soya based products are available from soya desserts and mock meat to soya ice cream and lattes. Researchers claim that not only is it healthier, non cholesterol forming, but soybeans contain many anti-cancer phytochemical compounds. Protease inhibitors suppress the activation of the genes that cause cancer and protect against the damaging effects of radiation and free radicals. Phytate binds iron in the intestines, preventing free radicals and enhances the immune system by increasing the activity of natural cancer killing cells. Phytosterols protect the colon from bile acids remaining from cholesterol metabolism, which inhibit the development of colon and skin cancer. Saponins stop cellular mutation that can lead to cancer.

Isoflavins, found in soybeans are able to inhibit the growth of many kinds of cancer cells without hindering healthy cell growth. They are excellent anti-oxidants in addition to their anti-estrogen characteristics. Isoflavones look and act like estrogen, but are much weaker. They dock into the estrogen stations on the cells and fill the receptor, but do not perform as a natural estrogen therefore keeping estrogen levels much lower. This is significant considering excessive estrogen levels correlate with hormone- related cancers.

Genistine is currently the star isoflavin and it is able to inhibit the growth of most cancers. It obstructs the activity of tyrosine protein kinase, an enzyme that stimulates the growth of cancer cells. Without this enzyme the cancer growth is slowed or stopped. Genistine also inhibits the growth of blood vessels needed to supply a tumor with necessary oxygen and nutrients (called angiogenesis) which keeps a tumor very small or even prevents it. Genistine not only inhibits cancer growth, it can reverse it! It can stimulate a cell to go from being cancerous to being normal through a process called differentiation.

It has been suggested that symptoms of the menopause and incidence of osteoporosis in menopausal women may be reduced through the oestrogenic properties of the phyto-oestrogens and that isoflavins are infact similar to a natural hormone replacement therapy and also useful in the treatment of hot flushes.

Many researchers believe that that the lower incidence of degenerative diseases in Southeast Asia is correlated with their significantly higher consumption of soy foods. In India soya milk has yet to find a real foothold, and is not freely available in the market. But hopefully this is just a matter of time. Big supermarkets and health food store have begun to stock it.

What are the advantages of soya milk over animal milk?

  1. Soybeans are the world's cheapest and most useful source of protein. Soybeans contain 44% protein. They are also far more ecological than animal protein.

  2. Soybeans are a good source of fiber.

  3. It contains no cholesterol. Soybeans contain more fat than other legumes, but less than meats. Soybeans are an excellent source of cooking oil; soybean oil contains no cholesterol. Soybean oil has the lowest levels of saturated fat among vegetable oils.

  4. Soybeans are an excellent source of bone-building calcium.

  5. Soybeans contain more isoflavins than any other edible source.

  6. Soybeans contain three times more antioxidants than other sources of antioxidants. Scientists believe that antioxidants can reduce the risk of cancer and premature aging and coronary heart disease.

  7. Soy milk is made from soybeans; it is used by people who are lactose intolerant; soy milk is also used in baby formula.

Some disadvantages

  1. Some people find the taste less palatable. (But many prefer the taste of soya milk over regular milk)

  2. Much soya is genetically modified and the long term effects of consuming genetically modified food are not yet known

  3. Some infants allergic to cow's milk are, in 40-50% of cases, also at risk of developing allergy to soya.

  4. In India soya milk is not readily available.

Other nutritional alternatives are almond milk, sesame milk, coconut milk, rice based dairy replacement. Some of these are easy to make freshly at home with the help of a mixer.

Milk is unhealthy : Maybe it would be much easier to give up milk if one is made aware that in truth milk is not healthy for humans. Contrary to the popular belief perpetuated by doctors and mothers alike, milk and milk products are far from the ideal food we believe them to be.

Difference between cow's milk and human milk : Cow's milk is suited to the nutritional needs of calves, who, unlike human babies, will double their weight in 47 days (as opposed to 180 days for humans), grow four stomachs, and weigh 1,100-1,200 pounds within two years. It contains about three times as much protein as human milk and almost 50 percent more fat. Human milk is ideal for human infants because it contains the ratio of elements required during the crucial growth phase. After this stage milk is not only not required but may be the cause of a multitude of ailments. It is unnatural. No other species besides humans drinks milk beyond infancy, and no other species drinks the milk of another species (except domestic cats and dogs, who are taught the habit by humans).

After four years of age, most people develop lactose intolerance, which is the inability to digest the carbohydrate lactose (found in milk), because they lack the digestive enzyme lactase. Lactose-intolerant people who drink milk can experience stomach cramps, gas, and diarrhea.

Milk contains pus, hormones and antibiotics, pesticides, urea : You may not be aware of this but every glass of milk contains 1 - 7 drops of pus. Bovine growth hormone, or oxytocin are used to increase the amount of milk that the already overburdened cows give. This unnatural production of milk, often results in mastitis, a painful udder infection. When these animals are milked, pus and bacteria flow right along with the milk. This isn't only disgusting-it can be dangerous. Pus can contain paratuberculosis bacteria, which is believed to cause Crohn's disease, a painful illness that causes uncontrollable diarrhea, nausea, and vomiting.

The US has the highest rate of Crohn's ever recorded. The US also has the worst epidemic of a similar disease among cattle, called Johne's disease, known to be caused by a bacteria called Mycobacterium paratuberculosis (MAP). There is now growing clinical, epidemiological, immunological, experimental, and DNA evidence that this bacteria is the cause of Crohn's in people who drink milk from infected cows as this bacterium survives even pasteurisation.

According to the USDA's latest figures, between 20 and 40% of US dairy herds have already become infected with paratuberculosis, and the infection rate is expected to reach 100%. Intensive, modern farming practices-grazing bigger and bigger numbers of cattle on smaller and smaller plots of land-are blamed for the rapid spread of this disease. India where overcrowding is even more rampant and sanitary conditions even poorer faces similar problems.

Dairy farmers try to control the rampant mastitis with huge doses of antibiotics-and these antibiotics also wind up in the milk. Children are particularly vulnerable to the effects of too many antibiotics, which can inhibit the development of the immune system.

Pesticides used on the the feeds for the animals are concentrated in milk and meat, so this threat is also multiplied when we rely on animal food as opposed to vegetarian food which may also contain pesticide residues.

In India, milkmen dissolve urea (from fertiliser shops) in the milk to prevent it from curdling since the trucks for transporting the milk are not refrigerated. So every glass of milk is cocktail composed of 1 or more of the following - pus, antibiotics, pesticides, urea, and hormones! If you are yet not convinced about the fact that it is not a health drink, read on.

Calcium, Osteoporosis and Milk : "If I don't drink milk, where will I get my calcium?" is a question that is most commonly asked. The milk industry has been advertising milk as a good source of calcium, that promotes strong bones and has managed not only to convince the general public, but also many doctors. "If you consume three glasses of milk daily, your bones will be stronger." They do not point out that only 30 percent of milk's calcium is absorbed by the body or that osteoporosis or lack of bone calcium is common among milk drinkers. What they fail to tell you is that the real preventive measure is physical excersize which contributes to the even movement of calcium all over the body. One study, funded by the US National Dairy Council, involved giving a group of post menopausal women three 8-ounce glasses of skim milk per day for one year and comparing their bones to those of a control group of women not given the milk. The dairy group consumed 1,400 mg of calcium per day and lost bone at twice the rate of the control group.

After studying the diets of 78,000 women over a 12-year period, researchers at Harvard University concluded that "it is unlikely that high consumption of milk or other food sources of calcium during midlife will confer substantial protective effects against hip or forearm fractures"; participants in the study who consumed more than 450 milligrams of calcium from dairy foods per day actually doubled their risk of hip fractures. This is because protein is broken down into amino acids which increase the net acidity in the body. In order to neutralise this and keep the body pH constant, calcium is leached from the bones to combine with this acid; causing a net loss of calcium. A more efficient way to prevent osteoporosis is to reduce protein intake. Societies with little or no consumption of dairy products and animal protein show a low incidence of osteoporosis.

Dr. John McDougall, of The McDougall Program for Women (2000) states that "The myth that osteoporosis is caused by calcium deficiency was created to sell dairy products and calcium supplements. There's no truth to it. American women are among the biggest consumers of calcium in the world, and they still have one of the highest levels of osteoporosis in the world."

So what can you do for strong bones? :

  1. Get enough vitamin D, which you can easily do by spending some time in the sun.

  2. Eliminate animal protein from your diet.

  3. Limit alcohol consumption (alcohol is toxic to the cells that form bones and inhibits the absorption of calcium).

  4. Limit sugar intake (sugar leaches calcium out of the bones)

  5. Don't smoke (studies have shown that women who smoke one pack of cigarettes a day have 5 to 10 percent less bone density at menopause than nonsmokers).

  6. Get plenty of exercise. Studies have concluded that physical exercise is to more important than any other factor to building strong bones.

Iron : Milk is very poor in Iron content. 50 gallons of milk are equivalent in iron content to one bowl of spinach! Vegetables are the best source of iron. Milk not only provides no iron, it actually blocks its absorption. Patients who are taking iron tablets will be specifically told by their doctor not to take it with milk for this reason.

Other health aspects : Dr. John A. McDougall calls dairy foods "liquid meat" because their nutritional contents are so similar. Rich in fat and cholesterol, and poor in fibre, dairy products, including cheese, milk, butter, cream, yogurt, and whey (found in many margarines and baked goods), contribute to the development of heart disease, certain cancers, and stroke, allergies, constipation, obesity, gas, bloating, and other diseases.

The late Dr. Benjamin Spock, America's leading authority on child care, spoke out against feeding cow's milk to children, saying it can cause anemia, allergies, and insulin-dependent diabetes and in the long term, will set kids up for obesity and heart disease, a steadily growing cause of death in India and abroad.

Allergies, mucus, dysentery : According to the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, cow's milk is the number one-cause of food allergies in children. The former director of pediatrics at Johns Hopkins University, Dr. Frank Oski, states that up to half of U.S. children have some allergic reaction to milk. He reports in his 1992 book, that milk has been linked to iron-deficiency anemia in infants and children; it has been named as the cause of cramps and diarrhea in much of the world's population, and the cause of multiple forms of allergy as well. Ayurveds and naturopaths also recognise milk as a mucus maker which can lead to persistent problems such as chronic coughs and sinus infections, asthma, and ear infections and dysentery.

In their book Allergies to Milk, Drs. Sami L. Bahna and Douglas C. Heiner report that children who are allergic to milk "may have breathing difficulty, particularly during sleep, or an irritating cough associated with a postnasal drip. … The cough is frequently associated with noisy breathing and excessive mucus in the throat, and sometimes parents worry that their child is 'gagging.' … Such affected children are frequently diagnosed as having upper respiratory infection, viral illness, bronchitis, … or pneumonia, and may be given unnecessary medications, including cough syrups, decongestants, or antibiotics. Relief, however, is not satisfactory until cow's milk is eliminated from the diet."

Dr. William Ellis, who has studied the effects of dairy foods for more than four decades, believes that the excess mucus caused by milk can harden to form a coating on the inner wall of the intestines, hindering the absorption of nutrients and possibly leading to chronic fatigue.

Heart disease : Since the early 1970s, study after study after study has implicated milk and other dairy products as a cause of heart disease and clogged arteries. One researcher, Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn from the Cleveland Clinic (the top-rated heart clinic in the U.S.), makes people "heart attack-proof" by putting them on a vegan diet (American Journal of Cardiology, August 99). It's not just the fat and cholesterol in dairy products, but also the animal protein and milk carbohydrates that are linked to heart disease.

Dr. Dean Ornish of the University of California at San Francisco, has demonstrated that artery blockages can be reversed with a low-fat vegan diet instead of expensive and invasive surgeries. "[One] might consider switching from nonfat milk to nonfat soy milk, as I have done. This will give you a double benefit: Soy milk has no cholesterol, and soy products may actually lower your blood cholesterol levels."

Obesity
Dairy products, which contain no fiber or complex carbohydrates at all, are all high fat foods. A glass of milk is 49 percent fat; Swiss and cheddar cheeses are more than 65 percent fat; ice cream and yogurt are almost 50 percent fat; even "low-fat" milk and "nonfat" cottage cheese, which many consumers mistakenly believe to be fat-free, are more than 20 percent fat.

Breast cancer : Breast cancer is the most common cancer-related death among women in most of the Western world and the leading cause of death for women under 50. Consuming dairy products is linked to an increased risk for breast cancer because dairy products are high in fat, animal protein, and hormones, each of which increases cancer risk. Since the 1980's, study after study has linked dairy consumption to a high incidence of breast and other cancers.

The American Dietetic Association reports that breast cancer is most prevalent in countries where women consume high-fat, animal-based diets. In Asia, where milk consumption is extremely rare, (traditional Chinese, Japanese and other South-East Asian cultures are dairy free) breast cancer is almost unheard of. International renowned nutrition expert Dr. T. Colin Campbell points to China, a basically non milk-drinking country, where cancer deaths among women aged 35 to 64 averaged less than 9 per 100,000, as opposed to 44 per 100,000 in the U.S. Japanese women who follow a more meat and dairy-based diet are eight times more likely to develop breast cancer than their counterparts who eat a plant-based diet not containing dairy products.

Researchers at Stanford University and the National Institutes of Health found that high concentrations of the IGF-1 hormone stimulate cancer cell growth. IGF-1, a hormone that occurs naturally in humans and cows and in all milk, is increasingly abundant in milk from cows treated with synthetic bovine growth hormone (rBGH).

Prostate cancer : When it comes to preventing prostate cancer, science is clear: Men who steer clear of milk have significantly lower rates of the disease. According to the World Cancer Research Fund and the American Institute for Cancer Research, 11 separate human population studies have tied dairy consumption to prostate cancer.

Results of the landmark Physicians' Health Study of 20,885 doctors showed that men who consumed at least 2-1/2 servings of dairy foods daily were about 30 percent more likely to develop prostate cancer than men who averaged less than half a serving per day. A study, published in the British Journal of Cancer, found that levels of IGF-1, believed to play a key role in causing prostate cancer - were 9 percent lower in vegans than in non vegans.

Acne : Dr. Jerome K. Fisher conducted a clinical study of 1,088 teen-age patients over 10 years and reported to the American Dermatological Association that milk was a principal contributor to some patients' acne. He also suspected that the high volume of hormones produced naturally in the milk of pregnant cows may break down into androgen when consumed, which in turn stimulates the production of sebum, the waxy substance secreted by the sebaceous glands that clogs pores and creates acne when the pores become infected.

Dietary tips to avoid acne :
o Eat a diet high in fiber-salads, bran, complex carbohydrates and drink lots of water. Fiber helps the digestive tract eliminate wastes, so the skin doesn't have to.

  1. Keep your diet low in fat and sugar. Eating healthier foods ensures that your skin gets all the nutrients it needs.

  2. Food allergies may also aggravate acne. Common allergenic food substances include dairy products, wheat, and preservatives.

The dairy lobby however remains cozy with most medical practitioners willing to perpetrate its "drink milk" propaganda. However, not one of the 1,500 papers listed in "Medicine" that deal with milk points to its goodness - only to the pus, blood, antibiotics, and carcinogens in milk, and the chronic fatigue, anemia, asthma, and auto immune disorders milk consumption causes.

Environmental Issues : Cow's milk is an inefficient food source. Cows, like humans, expend the majority of their food intake simply leading their lives. In order to give a higher yield, the cows are fed concentrated pellets of soybean and cereal which would have instead fed many more people. It takes a great deal of grain and other foodstuffs cycled through cows to produce a small amount of milk. The land for grains and water which livestock require is far more than that which is needed to produce crops for human consumption. Acres of land in India have been rendered infertile due to overgrazing and water sources have been depleted. Can we afford this? Wouldn't it be far more economic to grow soya beans and make soya milk for example? Not only would it be more ecological but also more healthy.

Conclusion : Even if we are not able to drop milk from our diets immediately, let us be aware that drinking of milk is as ahimsak as the taking of meat, if not more. For every drop of milk we take a male calf dies of starvation. Hopefully this knowledge will assist us in the quest for true ahimsa.

About the Author : Dr Nandita Shah is a medical doctor and homeopath. She has stopped milk and dairy products consumption by 90% since 1985 and recently has given up totally and finds it beneficial to her health. She has been able to advise the same to some patients suffering from the ill effects of milk and has found that the diet change has been useful in restoring health.

 

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Mail to : Ahimsa Foundation
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