Humans are creatures with limited attentional capacity. We don’t have the time or brainpower to personally investigate every claim that comes our way. We don’t like questioning ideas to which we’ve become accustomed. Evil-minded people only need to get those lies into our heads. Once in there, those false ideas rattle around for a long time. How to best get false information into people’s heads? Employ a Trojan horse maneuver, i.e., plant credible-seeming information into our brains when we are young using credible intermediaries (such as our parents) through the use of the mass media. And it always helps if the proponents of deceit are well-financed while the proponents of the truth are not. Once false information is safely in their heads, humans are willing to carry it around for decades, disseminating it to yet others and even fighting for it. No, I’m not writing about Iraq. Today’s case study is cow milk. Yeah, the kind of milk you probably drink. Why drink milk? You’ve probably seen lots of those slick ad campaigns. You’ll hear lots of claims [1] that it is important for humans to drink cow milk. Before I go further, here are my disclaimers. For my first 4 ½ decades on this planet, I poured milk on my cereal. About five years ago, my wife and I began to suspect that our youngest daughter was lactose intolerant. People who are lactose intolerant can’t properly digest milk. We thus switched over to soy milk for her. I also switched over to soy milk. It tastes a bit different than cow milk, but I truly enjoy the flavor, with no growth hormones to worry about. Here’s the brand I use [2], but there are many other good brands. I don’t completely avoid dairy products. For instance, I can’t imagine life without ice cream. Enough disclaimers . . . But back to the ads of those milk producers. If you’ve been paying attention to the ad campaign, you know that humans need cow milk to maintain strong bones. You can check out the current Got Milk campaign here [3]. The beauty of this misinformation is that the dairy industry has thrown enough money at our government that the government willingly does much of the dirty work through the use of its own “food pyramids.” Until last year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture told us [4] that, to be healthy, each of us needs to have two to three servings of “milk, yogurt & cheese” every day. A new pyramid was released in April 2005 [5]. It was “designed to help Americans live longer, better and healthier lives.” The glitzy new pyramid [6] adjusts for age, gender and activity levels. But it still tells most adults that we need to drink three cups of cow milk every day. The USDA website buries a note [7] that people can substitute lactose-free products only if they “don’t or can’t consume milk.” How was the food pyramid built? “Intense lobbying efforts [8] from a variety of food industries” was a key contributor. I’m not going to disagree with the claim that milk is a source of calcium. That aspect of the campaign is not a lie. Here are the lies. Lie number one is that your diet needs a steady stream of cow milk so that you get enough calcium. Lie number two (a lie by omission) is that there are no adverse side-effects to drinking milk. Do you need to drink cow milk to have enough calcium? Has it been proven safe to drink lots of milk to obtain calcium? No and no. Discussing the old food pyramid (which, again, provided for comparable amounts of milk consumption as the new pyramid), Walter C. Willett and Meir J. Stampfer (professors of epidemiology and nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health) had this to say [9] about milk consumption:
Yet another concern regarding the USDA pyramid is that it promotes overconsumption of dairy products, recommending the equivalent of two or three glasses of milk a day. This advice is usually justified by dairy’s calcium content, which is believed to prevent osteoporosis and bone fractures. But the highest rates of fractures are found in countries with high dairy consumption, and large prospective studies have not shown a lower risk of fractures among those who eat plenty of dairy products. Calcium is an essential nutrient, but the requirements for bone health have probably been overstated. What is more, we cannot assume that high dairy consumption is safe: in several studies, men who consumed large amounts of dairy products experienced an increased risk of prostate cancer, and in some studies, women with high intakes had elevated rates of ovarian cancer. Although fat was initially assumed to be the responsible factor, this has not been supported in more detailed analyses. High calcium intake itself seemed most clearly related to the risk of prostate cancer. More research is needed to determine the health effects of dairy products, but at the moment it seems imprudent to recommend high consumption. Most adults who are following a good overall diet can get the necessary amount of calcium by consuming the equivalent of one glass of milk a day. Under certain circumstances, such as after menopause, people may need more calcium than usual, but it can be obtained at lower cost and without saturated fat or calories by taking a supplement.
Walter Willett wrote more about milk in Eat, Drink and Be Healthy: The Harvard Medical School Guide to Healthy Eating (2001). In that book (p. 132) Willett writes that “there are more reasons not to drink milk in large amounts than there are two drink it. He also points out the following:
- There are serious questions regarding the amount of calcium we need you stay healthy, the amount of calcium or milk that it’s safe, and whether milk is the best source of calcium.
- There’s little evidence that boosting one’s calcium intake to the high levels recommended by the milk producers (and their good friends at the USDA) will prevent bone fractures (p. 139).
- “Around the world there’s a huge variation in average daily and calcium intake … curiously, countries with the highest average calcium intake [like the U.S and New Zealand] tend to have higher, not lower, hip fracture rates [than Hong Kong and Singapore] . . . there is virtually no evidence that drinking two or three glasses of milk a day reduces the chances of breaking a bone.” (p. 141, 146).
- There is also a dark side of consuming calcium of drinking three glasses of milk per day. “Here are five good reasons: lactose intolerance, saturated fat, extra calories, a possible increased risk of prostate cancer and a possible increased risk of all very and cancer.” (p. 144).
- How can you build strong bones? Exercise, estrogen and testosterone replacement therapy, nutrients such as vitamin D, vitamin K and fluoride. Perhaps eating meat and fish.
If milk were such a necessary food, how are most of the people in the world surviving? After all, only a quarter of the world’s adult population can fully digest milk. Half of Hispanic Americans, 75% of African Americans and 90% of Asian Americans can’t tolerate much milk. Let’s see . . . most of the people of the world can’t drink milk. What better evidence would you need that milk is not a necessary food? [Side note: the explanation for why some adults can tolerate lactose is a good story combining evolution and culture [10].] Yes, milk is a great source of calcium. But the “Got Milk” fails to mention the many other excellent sources of calcium to. They include green leafy vegetables such as spinach (yes, you can get your calcium from plants, just like cows do), calcium fortified orange juice, tofu and beans. Many organizations provide detailed information pointing out serious health concerns associated with daily consumption of cow milk. Those sites can be found here [11] and here [12] and here [13] and here [14]. The bottom line? Thanks to expensive ad campaigns by milk producers (given a big assist from the USDA, which prominently placed cow milk on the food pyramid), most of us know that we need to drink several cups of cow milk each day or our bones will start breaking. Because we are afraid of breaking bones, we pump lots of expensive milk into our mouths and our children’s mouths. How effective is this mis-information? Just pick someone at random and ask him or her what we need to eat to have strong bones. Listen to their answer. The milk producers’ campaign is incredibly effective. Getting the truth out, even on clear-cut undisputed facts requires people to re-examine old established assumptions. Most people just aren’t willing to do that kind of hard work. Most people like to believe the things that are familiar to them. Though this is a lesson illustrated today by needless milk consumption, the lesson can also be applied to many many other issues of the day.
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