Your Child Got Milk? Too Bad!
(all quotes below excerpted from
Joseph Keon's Whole Health, 1997)
"Children
and Dairy Products
"Although
parents are routinely advised by their pediatrician to be sure their child
consumes plenty of dairy products, I do not recommend this. For the same
reasons that they threaten the health of adults, dairy products are harmful to
children. (151)
"There
are also some concerns specific to infants. MotherÕs milk will provide the
infant with all of the nutrients necessary for healthy development and without
the hazards of antibiotic and hormone residues. Furthermore, breast milk
contains an ideal amount of protein, unlike cowÕs milk, which contains far too
much protein, along with saturated fat and cholesterol. Human milk protein is
composed of about 60 percent whey and 40 percent curd. CowÕs milk, however,
contains about 80 percent curd. This is fine for a baby calf, but human infants
have difficulty digesting so much curd. Breast milk has a greater percentage of
unsaturated fat as well.
"A
protein in cowÕs milk, IgG, has been implicated in colic, a condition in which
infants spit up continually and produce a high-pitched scream. Even in infants
where dairy is avoided, colic remains a risk if the mother ingests dairy
products. This is because the protein will end up in her breast milk
(contaminating her milk for up to 10 days after ingestion), and ultimately be
passed on to the nursing infant, eliciting an allergic reaction.
"Dairy
products are one of the leading sources of delayed food allergies and may cause
a variety of symptoms including skin rash, diarrhea, gas, bloating, runny nose,
and headache.
"Another
major concern is the condition mentioned earlier known as lactose intolerance.
At about four years of age, the body naturally stops producing the digestive
enzyme lactase. In the absence of lactase, the sugar in milk, lactose, cannot
be digested. When a child or adult without this enzyme consumes milk and other
dairy products, he will often experience gas, abdominal cramping, and diarrhea.
. . . Children who are able to continue digesting milk sugar are the exception
rather than the norm. (152)
"Infants
younger than two who are fed cowÕs milk often experience gastrointestinal
bleeding, which ultimately can lead to iron-deficiency anemia. Frank Oski,
M.D., director of the Department of Pediatrics at Johns Hopkins University
School of Medicine, and physician in chief at Johns Hopkins ChildrenÕs Center,
explains that this sensitivity to cowÕs milk "rarely produces dramatic symptoms
but results in slow and steady bleeding. Infants with this form of milk
sensitivity may lose 1 to 5 milliliters of blood per day in their stool . . .
from this steady hemorrhage. The volumes of blood each day are too small for
detection by simple visual examination . . . the blood can only be detected by
chemical tests." The latest estimates are that 15 to 20 percent of
children under two years of age suffer from iron-deficiency anemia and that at
least half of the cases can be attributed to this gastrointestinal bleeding.
Research has demonstrated that this iron loss can be significant enough to
interfere with brain development and, ultimately, future intelligence. A study
reported in the February 1992 issue of the medical journal The Lancet supports
this theory. In the study, which involved 300 children, it was found that
infants who were fed motherÕs milk "had significantly higher I.Q." At
eight years of age, those children who received only motherÕs milk had I.Q.s 10
percent higher than those children fed cowÕs milk.
"Not
only do vegetarian children demonstrate equal or higher intelligence in some
cases, they grow up to be just as tall and as strong as children raised on the
Standard American Diet. The only real difference between vegetarian children
and non-vegetarian children is that vegetarians are not overweight. A lean
child is something every parent can feel good about, particularly since the
American Heart Association states that obesity in children ages six to eleven
has increased 54 percent since 1963.
"If
this is not enough evidence why children should not be given dairy products, it
has also been found that infants who are given cowÕs milk run twice the risk of
dying from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). An important study in Clinical
and Experimental Allergy has implicated an allergic reaction to cowÕs milk as
one of the causes of SIDS. The study indicates that when infants who are
allergic to cowÕs milk are given the substance prior to sleeping, they may
experience an allergic reaction during sleep. The reaction, anaphylaxis, may
result in the infant regurgitating and then inhaling that regurgitation into
the lungs, which then causes shock and sudden death. (154)
"Again,
the very best food for an infant is breast milk from its mother. Breast milk is
loaded with all of the vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients necessary for
proper growth. Ideally, feeding should continue for the first year of life. If
for some reason the mother is unable to provide the infant with breast milk,
she should substitute a fortified soy-based formula. There are several brands
available that are prepared without the use of animal products." (154)
* * *
Jock
Doubleday
Director
Natural Woman, Natural Man, Inc.
http://www.GentleBirth.org/nwnm.org
http://www.SpontaneousCreation.org
director@spontaneouscreation.org