Got Milk? We all know that one, don’t we? It makes us believe in the powers of milk. The dairy industry has been telling us that drinking milk will make us lose weight. However, obesity is on the rise and many believe that dairy actually has a lot to do with it. The FDA has now told U.S. dairy producers to stop pitching the idea that drinking more milk spurs weight loss.
“Milk and cheese are more likely to pack on pounds than help people slim down,” said Dan Kinburn, general counsel for the Physician’s Committee for Responsible Medicine. “This case calls into question other advertising claims made by the industry, especially the notion that milk builds strong bones. Evidence shows it does nothing of the kind.”
But isn’t dairy good for us?
Many do believe dairy is good for us; it is from “mother” after all. The problem is that most of us (okay, all of us) don’t have a cow as a mother. A cow’s milk doesn’t have the same composition as breast milk. Its content of fat, protein, and carbohydrates varies from human milk, which is what nature designed for us. The protein in human milk is lower and the carbohydrates are higher than in cow’s milk. The quality of the fat in cow’s milk is a problem for us as well. Today’s commercial cows are fed on a grain diet instead of grass, and the quality of our milk is based on what cows eat.
Recent articles have praised the CLA (conjugated linoleic acid) content—a fatty acid of the good fat of Omega-6—in the milk from grass-fed cows. In general, we get too much of the Omega-6 fatty acids, making us gain weight and develop other fat-related health issues. However, the CLA in cow’s milk is only found in whole milk (mostly from grass fed cows). But you can get the oh-so good for you CLA from other sources, in case milk isn’t your favorite choice. Besides, it has been linked to diabetes, heart disease, and cancers, such as breast and prostate.
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