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Organic Milk Worse for Diabetes Compared to Regular Milk

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Written by Russell Eaton

Monday, 14 April 2008

by RussellEaton

Diabetes rates have soared in recent years, particularly in developed countries where junk diets and obesity have reached epidemic proportions. Diabetes is a terrible disease in which the body fails to control blood sugar levels (referred to as 'insulin resistance').

A 2007 study by the University of Cardiff in the UK shows that drinking a pint of milk a day can protect men against heart disease and diabetes. But when you examine the research in detail it is revealed as flawed, and the conclusions as false and misleading.

Jon Barron (of The Baseline of Health Foundation) analyzed the data from the study and his comments are summarized in the five points below:

1. The study was published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. It looked at how insulin resistance was affected by dairy milk consumption. A total 2,375 men were tracked between the ages of 45 and 59 over a 20-year period to see whether eating dairy products reduces the risk of insulin resistance. According to the study, the more milk they consumed, the lower the risk.

2. In reality, although the study tracked a lower risk of insulin resistance with increased milk consumption, it found little actual correlation between milk consumption and the incidence of diabetes itself. The incidence of heart disease was not tracked, and the data showed only 7 more cases of diabetes among the lowest consumers of dairy versus the highest.

3. An important omission in the research was the exclusion of people who had diabetes at the start of the study. As a consequence, we don't know if their condition improved or got worse as a result of consuming milk. Such data would have helped determine the effect milk consumption on insulin resistance in the human body.

4. Another failing in the study is that it only references the amount of milk and dairy products people were consuming, nothing else. Clearly, the more milk you drink the less you drink of something else, and vice-versa. If instead of drinking more milk, you drink more soda pop, more fruit juice, or more sweetened coffee, this can have a major effect on insulin and be a major factor in the risk of diabetes.

5. The shortcomings of the study mean that the so-called health benefits attributed to milk may have nothing to do with milk at all. They may instead be a reflection of lowered consumption of more harmful highly-sugared beverages or other food. It seems that the men drinking milk were likely to be eating a better overall diet, but unfortunately we don't know this. Without such information, the study is meaningless and without merit.

A look at the research into diabetes shows many studies (too numerous to mention here) linking milk consumption with a higher incidence of diabetes. There are virtually no studies suggesting that milk is in any way beneficial in the prevention of diabetes.

In her book Nurturing Traditions (1999) Sally Fallon makes the following comment:

'There is some evidence that pasteurization alters milk lactase (a form of sugar), making it more readily absorbable. This and the fact that pasteurized milk puts an unnecessary strain on the pancreas to produce digestive enzymes, may explain why milk consumption has been linked to diabetes'.

Other research confirms this. Lactose undergoes condensation and molecular changes as a result of heat treatment. Lactose in milk converts to glucose and galactose in the bloodstream. Over time, the constant drip feed of glucose into the bloodstream (from daily milk consumption) can create insulin resistance.

With organic milk the risk of diabetes is even greater. This is so because most organic milk sold in the world (over 80 percent) is UHT milk. In North America virtually all organic milk is UHT. The pasteurization temperature of UHT is double that of regular milk. This means that such milk is more likely to flood the bloodstream with milk sugar, increasing the risk of diabetes.

See below for information about a new book 'Organic Milk Myth' which covers this subject in detail.

About the Author:

Organic Milk Myth explodes the myth that organic milk is healthier by showing that organic milk is, in fact, much worse for health compared to regular pasteurized milk. See Organic Milk Myth now and get the truth.