The Famous Milk Letter

I question this guy's motivation. If you do a search on his name you'll find that he is a vegatarian and participates in confrences by some radical vegan groups (not PETA though). He also seems to be selling a lot of books on the subject as well. He has compiled a large list of refernces but none of them are URL links. I for one don't have time to go and try to find and read his references to see if he is selectively siting only portions of those references that agree with his veganism or not. He complete ignores the benefits of milk. If you were to look at the process in which most foods from animals are produced, you'd probably be a little surprised.

I bet the guy still has cheese on his pizza.


Here's an article from US News:

Don't sour on milk; the health benefit beats any risks
By Linda Kulman
It was all much simpler back in 1959 when Bob Berube first climbed into his cream-colored, breadloaf-shaped truck before dawn to deliver whole milk or skim–the only two varieties available–to doorsteps outside Boston. Those were the days when a family of four faithfully downed 144 gallons of milk each year. But 42 years and 13 dog bites later, Berube's favorite beverage is under fire. "People have gotten a little excited about additives," says Berube, 62, who now makes his rounds in Marblehead, Mass.

That's not the only thing dogging America's drink. Once considered emblematic of everything wholesome, milk has become a battleground for the dairy industry and its critics. In the $180 million-a-year "Got Milk?" ad campaign, which has enlisted hotties like Britney Spears, farmers and producers are promoting the message that milk is a health food that helps build strong bones. Most doctors and dietitians agree, lamenting the switch from milk to soft drinks and other beverages, which has cut consumption for a family of four to 96 gallons a year. But some researchers say milk may play a role in maladies including cancer. It has also become a political target. Milk production is said to be cruel to cows and tough on the environment, and the government has even been accused of bias for recommending dairy products to African-Americans and others of color, who have a higher incidence of intolerance to lactose, milk's natural sugar.

Milk myths. In the end, milk is not quite the miracle food the dairy industry makes it out to be nor the toxic substance the antidairy groups claim. For most people, though, its pluses still outweigh its more speculative minuses. What's clear is that people of all ages–especially kids and young women–need calcium to build bone mass and make them less susceptible to osteoporosis later in life. Dairy, of course, isn't the only source of calcium– broccoli and some leafy vegetables, canned salmon, calcium-fortified soy milk, juices, and cereals, and supplement pills can also supply it. "But it's the standard way our culture has gotten calcium and nutrients over the years," says Michael Jacobson, executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a nutrition watchdog group in Washington, D.C. Adds Bess Dawson-Hughes, chief of the calcium and bone laboratory at the U.S. Department of Agriculture nutrition center at Tufts University: "There is no evil source of calcium in the American diet. The problem is people are not consuming enough calcium-rich foods."

Milk seems less wholesome now in part because of how it's produced. Seldom do Flossie and her bovine friends graze lazily against a bucolic backdrop. Increasingly, small family dairy farms are being consolidated into virtual factories, each pumping out millions of gallons of milk a year–and also millions of pounds of manure, which can foul lakes, streams, and groundwater. Then, as Berube says, there are "additives." Recombinant bovine somatotropin, a manufactured hormone, is given to about a third of cows to boost production and gets into most of the milk supply. Worries about possible health effects on both man and beast have helped to fuel the market for organic dairy products.

Not everyone should drink all forms of milk. Lactose-intolerant people can have trouble digesting it, especially in large amounts, unless the lactose has been removed. It's also accepted wisdom that infants in their first year should be given breast milk or formula rather than unmodified cow's milk. That reduces the risk of digestive problems and milk allergies. And although studies are far from conclusive, there's some concern that the proteins in cow's milk may play a role in Type 1 diabetes. An autoimmune disease, this form of diabetes may be triggered when susceptible people are exposed to foreign proteins before the immune system has learned to ignore them. Full-fat dairy products are an obvious no-no for people trying to limit their saturated-fat intake–usually anyone over age 2. But for most consumers, health experts tend to stress the need for plenty of calcium–and that means a milk mustache.

Four years ago, the National Academy of Sciences upped its calcium recommendations for people ages 9 to 18 from between 800 and 1,200 milligrams a day to 1,300 (an 8-ounce glass of milk contains about 300 milligrams). Recommendations for adults went from 800 milligrams to 1,000 milligrams a day and to 1,200 milligrams for those ages 51 and up. Nine of 10 women and teenage girls, who are at a crucial stage in their development, fail to meet the guidelines.

Other benefits. Besides being an inexpensive and appetizing source of calcium, milk is dosed with vitamin D, which is necessary for calcium absorption and protects against rickets–a vitamin D deficiency that causes bone deformities in children. It also contains a whole ensemble of other nutrients including potassium, magnesium, and riboflavin, a B-complex vitamin. Researchers think that this nutritional punch may explain some of the benefits seen in the so-called DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) study. It showed that a reduced-salt diet that also includes plenty of fruits and vegetables and two to three servings of low- or nonfat dairy products each day can lower blood pressure at least as effectively as medication in the short term.

Still, there is a murmur of dissent from some experts. Lots of calcium may not be as critical for healthy bones as conventional wisdom holds, says Harvard University epidemiologist Walter Willett. A 1997 study of 78,000 nurses, for example, found no evidence that women with a higher calcium intake had fewer hip or forearm fractures. "People should appreciate that we don't know the final answers," he says.

Then there's the unproven possibility that dairy products may slightly boost the risk of certain cancers. Although some research hints that dairy products may help protect against colon cancer, other work has shown a tentative link to prostate cancer. "We would like men to be aware of a possible association," says June Chan, an epidemiologist at the University of California-San Francisco, who has studied the possibility that high calcium levels may deplete a substance in the body that protects against prostate cancer. Chan says the risk, if there is one, appears limited to "very high consumption levels usually only achieved by consuming specific calcium supplements." These fears, says John Potter, head of cancer prevention at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, are "not cause for wholesale revision of what people do."

So keep drinking milk–the low-fat kind–and eating your broccoli. Keep exercising, too, which can do as much for your bones as diet. Says Keith Ayoob, a spokesman for the American Dietetic Association, "We need to look at the calcium picture, but we also need to look at the lifestyle picture." And for Bob Berube's sake, please don't let the dogs out.