I’ve heard various theories on milk at a young age and T1. What are those theories and are there any proof they are correct? My daughter just turned 1 and we started giving her organic whole milk. Is that bad?
The last thing I heard was some study studying a potential link between infant baby formula and Type 1… Which had some kind of thing in it that triggered potential autoimmune attacks… But I can’t say I paid much attention to it, or even read thoroughly… There’s a LOT of theories out there… none of them fully conclusive.
Kenx-
I was reading about this…
http://www.healthcanal.com/metabolic-problems/12866-Early-results-f…
I read some info on this a couple weeks ago. I could be completely wrong (I’m no scientist) but this idea seems a little far fetched. Also I think it said somewhere the study wont be done for 7 years. That’s a long time if they are right or wrong.
Dan Hurley in “Diabetes Rising” looks at a number of associations between diabetes and potential causes and cow’s milk is one of them. Association is hard enough to find with any certainty, proof of a causal relationship is even more difficult.
Got Milk?
You’ve Got Problems
By Karen Dawn
Los Angeles Times
8-15-5
Note - Karen Dawn runs the animal advocacy media watch DawnWatch.com and is a contributor to “In Defense of Animals: The Second Wave” (Blackwell Publishing, 2005).
Dairy cows have overtaken automobiles as the No. 1 air polluter in parts of California, according to a Los Angeles Times article. A New York Times editorial discussed “the eye-stinging, nose-burning smell of cattle congestion in rural California,” acknowledging that something had to be done. What nobody wants to say, in this land of milk and cookies, is that we shouldn’t be drinking cow’s milk.
In the last edition of his “Baby and Child Care” bible, Dr. Benjamin Spock made it clear that cow’s milk is for baby cows, not for human children. He wrote that it was “too rich in the saturated fats that cause artery blockages” and that it “slows down iron absorption.” He suggested that it may cause ear and/or respiratory problems, and may be linked to childhood onset diabetes. He stressed that infants should drink only human breast milk and older children should try soy and rice milk products.
But the dairy industry would rather you didn’t know that. As it spends millions of dollars telling us that milk consumption will help us lose weight, it would rather we didn’t see a study published in the June issue of the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine. The study found that children who drink more than three servings of milk daily are prone to becoming overweight, even if it is low-fat milk. Neither does the industry advertise the Harvard School of Public Health finding that 15% of whites, 70% of African Americans and 90% of Asians are lactose intolerant.
The dairy industry prefers to scare us with tales of brittle bones, hoping we don’t notice studies showing that people in Asia, who consume almost no dairy products, have a significantly lower rate of hip fractures than people in “got milk?” America. Consistent with those results is Harvard University’s 1997 Nurses Health Study, which followed 78,000 women over a 12-year period and found that those who consumed the most dairy foods broke the most bones.
And a study published just this month in the International Journal of Cancer found a 13% increase in ovarian cancer risk in women who increased their lactose intake in amounts equivalent to one glass of milk per day.
Men don’t need milk either. A Harvard study published in 1998 linked high calcium consumption to prostate cancer, and in this week’s news, we learned that Dean Ornish’s low-fat, vegan diet (no dairy) may block the progression of that disease. While touting its products as a fundamental part of a healthy diet, the dairy industry won’t rush to tell us that Scott Jurek, who just won the Western States 100-mile run – for the seventh time in a row – is vegan.
Now, we learn that the dairy industry may also be harming our children by polluting the air. The Times article quoted an attorney for the Center on Race, Poverty & the Environment, who said that in Fresno, in the center of the nation’s dairy industry, one in six children carries an inhaler to school.
Instead of protecting us, the government aligns itself with the dairy lobby. The California Milk Advisory Board, a government agency, playfully took advantage of society’s increasing concern for animal welfare with its phenomenally successful “happy cows” campaign, which shows extended bovine families grazing in meadows.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals sued the board for false advertising, arguing that most California dairy cows live miserable lives on overcrowded dirt lots. They are artificially inseminated annually, because they don’t produce milk without pregnancies, and are pumped full of hormones so that they will give 10 times as much milk as they would naturally. Their calves are carted off to veal crates. Then at about age 5, the “happy” cows are turned into hamburgers. PETA’s suit failed – on the grounds that government bodies are exempt from fair advertising laws. Government is free to say whatever it wants about the conditions in which cows live, or about the “health benefits” of milk.
Unfortunately, the government is unlikely to start running ads suggesting we follow Asia’s lead and switch to tofu, or even kale, though both have more calcium per cup than cow’s milk. But for your health, the environment, the animals, and for those kids in Fresno carrying inhalers, why not change your next Starbucks low-fat latte order to soy?
Yeah I’ve read other articles like that… here is another… I’m scared to give my 1-year old milk but that is what they drink at that age and what the doctor recommends.
http://children.webmd.com/news/20080501/new-clue-to-milk-and-diabetes-link
yes, know one truly knows anything… that is what it is… that being said, moderation in all things perhaps, even moderation itself. organic juice and herbal teas both watered down are also liquids good with nutrition without all the negative cow stuff. i am not sure either how good soy/rice milk is for other than a treat every so often(they contain the CANE sugar).? it sounds as though your child is in wonderful hands with parents who will question and investigate the best things for their child. intention and consciousness raises great little people. Thank you for you! May you find your answer soon. Be WELL.
Soy? I’ve read some REALLY scary stuff about soy also! Just to balance out your info on dairy milk…look here in link,…
http://www.westonaprice.org/soy-alert.html
I’m not here to say drink soy or milk or avoid one of them. I don’t really care. I like milk and soy. Life is too short to not enjoy things that may OR may not be bad for you. I say, if it tastes good and you feel good about it, then enjoy!
Soy is not the wonder food it’s marketed as. Soy in the form of tamari & fermented products is a far cry from the overly processed soy that’s in tons of foods now. Soy has become so prevalent that it’s now allergenic for many.
I’ve read articles about alleged connections between Type 1 & milk.
Just my personal feeling, but cow’s milk is intended for calves not young humans. As for doctors pushing milk for kids, well, they also push the food pyramid. Doctors get no training on nutrition. Their advice is merely convention,
I use unsweetened almond milk. Healthy, low carb & tastes good.
wow that looks good, i just googled it. Can you get that at the supermarket? Is it with the other milks or separate since its not a dairy item
I get almond milk at the supermarket. Mine has it in the health food section (quart size unrefigerated) & gallon size refigerated with dairy products. Blue Diamond brand comes in sweetened, unsweetened, vanilla flavor & chocolate. Unsweetened variety is 2 carbs per 8 oz.
Mine is with the dry/powdered milks... and the uht milk. This one is much, much lower in carbs... Almond Breeze. They have some other brand that's sold cold, but it has a lot of sugar in it.
Here are some articles I read a while back. My kids get whole organic milk (since age 1 and they are almost 18 months old (twins). I can't afford raw milk right now where I live...but I'm working on it. I think there is enough reason to at least try to give organic and if not organic, raw milk.
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2000/10/22/milk-diabetes-part-two.aspx
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2008/01/02/cows-milk.aspx
When milk is pasteurized, some say it's nutrition is damaged and it's no longer healthy for us to drink. It's been linked to allergies as well as diabetes.
The link between type 1 and vaccines worries me more however: (from the mercola site) "Dr. Classen of Classen Immunotherapies has compiled some very convincing evidence that suggests 80 percent of all type 1 diabetes is associated with immunizations."
I mean, we do vaccinate more than ever before and some of the adjuvants in vaccines are very toxic, especially to young children.
I find this discussion SO interesting. Probably in part because, as I'm sure many of us do, I have come up with my own theory as to the environmental factor that caused my T1.
I was only breast-fed for a matter of days as a child. Following which I was switched to a cows milk based formula (the norm at the time)... A few years later, I was diagnosed with T1.
I had the opportunity to attend a lecture on the possible connections between T1 and cows milk and had one of the possible connections explained to me so clearly and concisely.
According to studies, the molecular structure of cows milk protein is nearly identical to that of islet cell antigens. It has been suggested that during infancy, a child who is fed cows milk may not have an immune system mature enough to differentiate between the cows milk protein and an islet cell. Because an infant's gastro system is so young and not fully developed, cows milk protein can sometimes permeate, or break through the gut lining and enter the blood system. This can happen with many proteins, not just cows milk. As a natural defense, the body's immune system destroys these proteins that do not belong in the blood. Because of the similarities between the cows milk protein and islet cells, the immune system occasionally gets confused and, after being stimulated to fight against the cows milk protein, begins to break down the islets cells in place of the protein--eventually leading to type 1 diabetes.
Of course, none of this has been proven and we are all well aware that there a multitude of environmental factors that may cause Type 1 diabetes. This one just really hits home with me!
I hope other people find this information as useful!
(For a well-rounded look at the evidence for/against Cows Milk and T1, consider checking out Milk and Diabetes by Schreznmeir and Jagla, 2000)
When I was pregnant with my second child, my oldest was diagnosed T1 and they offered me a chance to participate in the TRIGR study, but they didn’t call me back. I found the website, it’s an ongoing study until 2016 (they don’t accept new kids since 2006). It this study they check siblings of T1 kids, some will have milk products and some won’t and will see which siblings have the greater chance to develop T1… The site is http://trigr.epi.usf.edu
Here they have some news : http://trigr.epi.usf.edu/news.html
I haven’t participated but tried not to give any (cow) milk products to my youngest for the first year. Doesn’t prove anything, but just in case…
Almond Breeze is the Blue Diamond brand.
It's another one of those big question marks. The strongest evidence is in milk-based formulas during infancy (<1 year). The data during later childhood is a lot more inconsistent. Here's a pretty thorough review on it and other nutritional interventions: