The "milk harm theory" makes no sense

2006-01-18 15:48:17 Source: Global Times-Life Weekly 5 comments from netizens

Author: Fan Zhihong, associate professor at the School of Food Science and Technology, China Agricultural University

Milk has always been recognized as a healthy drink. However, a "milk hazard theory" popular on the Internet recently pointed out that drinking milk does not have much effect on health. On the contrary, it has Certain hazards. This counter-trend view has caused a stir among the public. So, is there any truth to it?

Is excess protein harmful?

We all know that milk contains large amounts of it. Therefore, the first point of the "Milk Hazard Theory" is that excessive intake of protein is harmful to the human body, and points out that the protein in milk is almost all casein, which is difficult for the body to digest and can cause indigestion and gastric acidity. Too much, stomachache and other symptoms.

The first half of this point is correct. The human body needs 75g-85g of protein every day. Excessive protein absorption is indeed harmful to health, but for Chinese people. Generally speaking, the protein intake from food does not mainly come from milk, but more than half comes from rice, flour and other staple foods with high protein content, and the rest comes from meat (containing 15-20% of protein), as well as beans and Soy products (soybeans contain about 35-40% of protein, dried tofu contains about 20% of protein, and tofu contains about 5%), eggs (about 13% of protein content), and finally milk (protein content of 3%). A cup (200 ml) of milk contains 30% protein. Protein is only 7.5 grams, which only accounts for 10% of the daily recommended amount for a man with light physical activity. Therefore, drinking less milk will not play a big role in controlling protein intake.

The protein is difficult to absorb. In fact, this is mainly for babies under one year old and cannot be applied to adults. In terms of absorption difficulty, milk is 3 times higher than breast milk, beef is 9 times higher than breast milk, and soybean is 9 times higher than breast milk. Breast milk is 30 times richer. If we can't drink milk, wouldn't we be able to eat beef, soybeans and other foods?

The more we drink milk, the more calcium we will lack

"Theories on the dangers of milk" "The second point of view is that milk is an acidic food and will produce a large amount of acidic substances during metabolism, which requires the human body to neutralize it with alkaline substances such as calcium, thus causing calcium loss. The speed of calcium supplementation in milk cannot keep up with the speed of calcium loss. Therefore, the more you drink milk, the more calcium you will lack.

The premise of this view is wrong: milk is not an acidic food, although the sulfur, phosphorus and other elements in milk will produce acidic substances after metabolism. But it also contains a lot of alkaline elements such as calcium, magnesium, and potassium. As a result of the overall balance, alkalinity still dominates. Since the premise is not established, the idea that drinking milk will cause calcium loss is even more untenable. The survey also proved that most people with osteoporosis live in rural areas and other areas where they do not drink milk, rather than in areas where they often drink milk.

Does milk cause diabetes and skin allergies?

The third point of view of "Milk Harm Theory" is that milk can cause diabetes and skin allergies. It cites an article from the authoritative foreign magazine "Diabetes" to prove that children who drink more than half a kilogram of milk a day are more likely to develop diabetes than those who drink milk. Children who received less were five times more likely to do so. There is indeed some research on this internationally, but it is only for children and cannot prove that it will also induce diabetes in adults. In the same way, medical research has found that feeding 4-6 month old children with milk may increase the incidence of skin allergies, and it cannot be concluded that they cannot drink milk when they grow up.

The "Milk Harm Theory" also says that drinking milk can cause lactose intolerance, which is an even more inaccurate statement. Lactose intolerance is an intestinal digestive reaction caused by sudden consumption of milk after many years of not being exposed to milk. The solution is to give the baby a small amount of milk or yogurt regularly from 1 to 3 years old after weaning to maintain lactase activity, so that no obvious lactose intolerance will occur.

Is drinking more milk more likely to cause breast cancer?

The last alarmist view of the "milk harm theory" is that "drinking more milk is more likely to cause breast cancer." This is based on the World Breast Cancer Society Ottawa Conference. A research report pointed out that after cows are injected with growth hormone, a growth hormone called IGF1 will appear in the milk, and it is the culprit of breast cancer. But we also know that there are many factors that influence the onset of breast cancer, and milk intake is not the most dangerous one among them. Moreover, it is safe to drink ordinary milk. Only milk produced by cows treated with growth hormone may promote the occurrence of breast cancer. So why beat all the milk to death with one stick?

Chinese people don’t drink enough milk

Indeed, a high-protein and high-fat dietary lifestyle is an important reason for the high incidence of various chronic diseases. But why don’t we reduce our diet of fish and meat and limit milk? Do Chinese people really drink too much milk? According to figures released by the National Bureau of Statistics, in 2003, the world's annual per capita milk consumption was 94 kilograms, the United States was 268 kilograms, the European Union was 320 kilograms, Japan was 65 kilograms, and China was only 13.4 kilograms. Such a small amount of consumption is only equivalent to drinking two small spoons of milk every day. Even in Beijing, the city that drinks the most milk in the country, it only reaches 47 kilograms per capita per year. It is really unreasonable to say how much disaster this little milk will cause.

For Chinese people, if they want to reduce their fat intake, the most important thing is to reduce the consumption of meat and fats, not to reduce the amount of milk they drink. Moreover, for a large number of rural residents and low-income residents, their primary problem is not excess fat, let alone drinking less milk, but how to get enough protein and calcium through drinking milk.