The idea of milk as a healthy food is so ingrained in our culture that most of us accept it without question. From an early age, we are taught that drinking milk is essential for getting enough calcium and building strong bones. Milk is the “healthy” beverage of choice in school lunch programs, and a key ingredient in the Institute of Medicine’s recommendations for improving school meals.

Though the United States has long accepted milk and dairy products as one of the main food groups and even an essential component of a healthy diet, most of the world’s population does not drink milk or cannot tolerate dairy. Many health experts state that, not only is it possible to maintain a healthy diet without milk, but that milk and dairy products may actually do more harm than good. According to the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, clinical research has shown that dairy products have “little or no benefit for bones,” and that the “milk proteins, milk sugar, fat, and saturated fat in dairy products pose health risks for children and encourage the development of obesity, diabetes, and heart disease.”

Dairy has also been linked to numerous health conditions including asthma, allergies, autism, heart disease, intestinal irritation or bleeding, childhood diabetes, arthritis, sinusitis, sleep disorders, migraines, leukemia, lymphoma, and cancer.

Cow milk vs. human milk

Milk is intended to be a short-term nutrient to help an infant develop and grow to a certain size, but our bodies were not designed to continue ingesting it in large quantities into adulthood, according to Dr. Alejandro Junger, author of Clean: The Revolutionary Program to Restore the Body’s Natural Ability to Heal Itself. For every species of mammal, the babies are eventually weaned and the mother stops lactating. (Contrary to popular belief, cows do not constantly produce milk unless they have recently given birth. Dairy cows are artificially inseminated approximately once a year to continue their milk production.) Humans are the only species that consumes milk after infancy, and the only one that drinks the milk of another animal.

Dr. Robert Kradjian, Breast Surgery Chief at Seton Medical Center in Daly City, CA, has written a famous anti-milk letter in which he draws sobering comparisons between cows’ milk and human milk. “The milk of every species of mammal is unique and specifically tailored to the requirements of that animal,” he writes. For example, cow milk contains three to four times as much protein as human milk, but is lacking in essential fatty acids required for humans. Cow milk is designed for calves, which have a greater need for massive skeletal growth and large-scale muscle development than humans.

“Food is not just food, and milk is not just milk,” writes Dr. Kradjian. “It is not only the proper amount of food but the proper qualitative composition that is critical for the very best in health and growth.”

Health effects of milk

Dr. Kradjian personally reviewed 1500 articles dealing with the health effects of drinking milk and described them as “slightly less than horrifying.” Scientific studies reveal that milk is full of fat, cholesterol, growth hormones, and allergenic proteins. Dr. Nathaniel Mead reports in Natural Health that approximately 50% of children in the United States suffer from a milk allergy, but many of these cases are not diagnosed. “Dairy products are the leading cause of food allergy, often revealed by diarrhea, constipation, and fatigue,” he writes. “Many cases of asthma and sinus infections are reported to be relieved and even eliminated by cutting out dairy."

Before his death in 1998, the well-known pediatrician Dr. Benjamin Spock stated, "Dairy products contribute to a surprising number of health problems. They can impair a child's ability to absorb iron and in very small children can even cause subtle blood loss from the digestive tract. Combined with the fact that milk has virtually no iron of its own, the result is an increased risk of iron deficiency."

Milk also contains a naturally occurring growth hormone (IGF-I) that is a “key factor in the growth and proliferation of every breast cancer,” according to Robert Cohen, executive director of the Dairy Education Board and author of Milk A-Z. Every twelve-ounce glass of milk doubles the amount of this hormone in the human body, which can accelerate the growth of existing breast cancer cells.

Hidden dangers of dairy

In addition, most of the milk on the market today is produced with the use of hormones, antibiotics, and other drugs. In Clean, Dr. Junger relates the shocking story of how growth hormones, mimicking sex hormones, led one girl to develop breasts and begin menstruating at the age of seven. When animal products containing growth hormones were removed from her diet, her condition reversed.

In Mad Cows and Milk Gate, Dr. Virgil Hulse reported that most of the dairy cows in the United States had bovine leukemia, bovine immunodeficiency virus, or bovine tuberculosis. “We drink body fluids from diseased animals in the name of good health,” writes Dr. Cohen.

“Don’t drink milk for health,” cautions Dr. Kradjian. “I am convinced on the weight of the scientific evidence that it does not 'do a body good.' Inclusion of milk will only reduce your diet’s nutritional value and safety. Most of the people on this planet live very healthfully without cows’ milk. You can too."

Additional Resources
Not Milk
Is Drinking Milk Healthy for Humans?

Disclaimer: This article contains affiliate links.