What's the Bottom Line on Milk?

Overview

If you're not allergic to cow's milk proteins, and you don't have lactose intolerance (or are willing to stick with lactose-free products and/or use lactase enzyme supplements), balanced intake of dairy products can play a very helpful role in your meal plan. They aren't necessary for optimal nourishment, but they do not contradict it, either.

To avoid rBGH-produced milk products - which we believe are worth avoiding - certified organic dairy products are your best bet. Non-homogenized milks seem more natural to us, but we don't think they look superior in their health-supportive properties based on published research studies. Unpasteurized milks also seem more natural to us, but we only recommend their consumption when you are absolutely sure about the production quality behind them. Otherwise, we support the consumption of pasteurized milk to avoid the risk of bacterial pathogens - however small this risk may be. Cheeses made from unpasteurized milk fall into a different category because of their longer shelf life, and they should be considered as a dairy option, once again, provided that there is very high-quality production behind them.

We include milk as one of the World's Healthiest Foods because we believe it holds up in spite of all of its controversies. But we cannot overemphasize the importance of high-quality here, and persistence in determining exactly what you are and aren't getting in the dairy foods you enjoy.

While most beverages have their own unique controversies (coffee and its caffeine content, wines and their sulfite content), cow's milk probably stands alone as the beverage of most debate. There's no doubt that cow's milk is the beverage of choice for nursing calves. But as a human beverage, the controversies surrounding milk have piled up in the public mind and in the research arena as well. The articles below will provide you with more in-depth information about the controversies surrounding cow's milk:

• Milk and Food Allergy/Intolerance
• Pasteurization
• Homogenization
• Production and Processing of Non-Natural, Non-Organic Milk and rBGH

For more information on this topic, see:

• Milk, 2%, cow's
• Milk, goat
• Do I need to eat dairy products in order to prevent osteoporosis?

Send this page to a friend...