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Hold o on that glass of milk! The o icial drink of your childhood just got controversial
A
s a kid, milk was the drink your
parents pushed on you, and for
good reason: it’s a great source
of protein. It’s also full of calcium and
vitamin D, which help keep your bones
and teeth strong. Plus, it contains choline- a nutrient that’s excellent for the brain
- and potassium, which helps protect the
heart. So, what’s not to love?
In recent years, several scientists
have voiced concerns that milk may not
deserve its reputation, because the people
who drink milk aren’t always healthier
than people who don’t. “The evidence
for milk’s benefits are not there,” says
Walter Willett, chair of the department
of nutrition at Harvard School of Public
Health. Worse, recent research – all of
it preliminary – suggests that drinking
too much milk could pose health risks.
Cow’s milk is full of hormones that
help calves grow – one study estimates
60 to 80 per cent of the female hormones
we get from our food come from cow’s
milk. That includes the hormone IGF-1,
which encourages cells to multiply – a
potentially bad thing considering that
excessive cell multiplication is a hallmark
of cancer, says Michael Pollak, director
of the division of cancer prevention at
Canada’s McGill University.
Women who drink more than two
glasses of milk a day are twice as likely
to be diagnosed with ovarian cancer than
women who rarely drink it, according to
a Swedish study. And research recently
published in the British Medical Journal
found women who drink three or more
glasses per day are nearly twice as likely
than non-milk-drinkers to die over the
course of 20 years from any cause.
But don’t freak out. Pollak says the
IGF-1 increase you get from milk “is a
small effect” and may not make a huge
difference to your cancer risk. There are
studies that tie milk to a lower risk of
cancer, too – one found that women who
drink milk have a reduced risk of breast
cancer. As milk drinkers may do other
things that put them at an increased
risk, it’s impossible to blame milk.No one knows exactly how many
of the hormones from milk get into your
body, because digestion breaks some of
them down. Until we know more about
the potential health risks, Willett advises
drinking no more than one to two glasses
of milk a day (don’t forget to count your
latte) and sticking to skim, as it contains
fewer hormones than whole. Kids can
have a bit more than that, because they
have different nutritional requirements.
Don’t feel like you have to pay for
organic, which doesn’t have lower levels
of sex hormones than the conventional
kind. Instead, check the label for growth
hormones or swap cow’s milk for some
of the options below. “Milk is nutritious,
yes,” says Pollak, “but that doesn’t mean
the more we drink, the better. You can
have too much of a good thing.”ALTERNA-MILKS
ALMOND MILK
(314 kilojoules*, 3.5g
fat) It’s low in kilojoules
and fat, and high in
calcium, vitamin E...
and sugar. Go for an
unsweetened version.
TRY IT Creamy and
rich, use it in your
smoothies and coffee.SOY MILK
(431 kilojoules, 2.3g
fat) Soy is thought to
help halt heart
disease, but some
studies say too much
may affect fertility.
TRY IT Thicken soup
by stirring in the
non-flavoured kind.RICE MILK
(523 kilojoules, 3g fat)
Got allergies? This has
no lactose, nuts or
soy... but it doesn’t
have much nutritional
content, either.
TRY IT Use this light,
super-thin milk in
oatmeal or cereal.OAT MILK
(640 kilojoules, 2.5g
fat) Being plant-based,
oat milk is lower in
saturated fat than
standard milk.
TRY IT Use it for
cooking, baking
or just enjoyingas a drink. (^) #
WORDS BY MELINDA WENNER MOYER. ADDITIONAL WORDS BY OLIVIA SIMONE. *ALL COUNTS ARE PER CUP. TRUNK ARCHIVE
Less milk? But
it’s what crazy
straws were
made for!
SHOULD YOU
BE DRINKING
MILK?MILK?