The milk industry has recently retired its ‘Got Milk’ campaign that it used for almost 20 years, has pumped billions of dollars into and enlisted many celebrity faces to promote – Miley Cyrus, Angelina Jolie, David Beckham, Taylor Swift, Usher, the late Michael Jackson, Britney Spears, Jackie Chan, Andre Agassi, to name but a few.
The new campaign replacing it is called ‘Milk Life’ and is promoting a new angle, focusing on milk for protein and how milk can sustain you throughout the day.
The US national milk group, MilkPEP, is spending more than $50 million on the campaign, which will include TV, print, digital, retail promotions and public relations.
A new eye-catching TV advert shows liquid milk powering consumers through activities like running, playing basketball or playing in a rock band.
These ads are here to show us the benefits of milk for calcium and protein.
Watch my video about dairy and calcium here:
Sounds nice right?
Well let’s take a little look at what ELSE is in your milk, besides animal protein and calcium shall we?
Dairy cows are injected with IGF-1 (Insulin Growth Factor 1), to make the cows produce more milk.
Research has shown that it is almost certain that IGF-1 transforms normal breast cells to breast CANCER cells.
In addition, IGF-1 maintains the malignancy of breast cancer cells in humans, including their invasiveness and ability to spread to other organs.
Increased levels of IGF-1 have also been heavily linked with colon and prostate cancers – not surprising really, since milk is designed as a way to deliver hormones around a baby cow’s body at a rapid rate.
Got Milk? Got Leukaemia?
Next up, it has been shown that a LOT of dairy cows have bovine leukaemia. Yes, LEUKAEMIA – cancer of the blood.
Here’s what leading breast cancer surgeon, Robert Kradjian, says about cows infected with bovine leukemia:
You may ask, so what happens to other mammals when they are exposed to the bovine leukemia virus? The answer is not a reassuring one…
Virtually all animals exposed to the virus develop leukemia. This includes sheep, goats, and even primates such as rhesus monkeys and chimpanzees and can be transmitted through ingestion.
But surely the pasteurisation kills the infected leukaemia cells in milk?
Well, actually no, not always (and I’m not sure about you but I don’t think I want to be drinking dead cancer cells anyway).
In Norway, almost 16,000 people were followed for 11 and a half years. Those drinking 2 or more glasses of milk per day had 3.5 times the incidence of cancer of the lymphatic organs. (British Journal of Cancer, March 1990)
Milk and Osteoporosis
There was a landmark health study conducted on a group of nurses by Harvard University. The Nurses Health Study, followed 78,000 women, aged 34-59, over a 12-year period and is one of the largest investigations into risk factors for major chronic diseases in women ever conducted.
The study found that women who drank three or more glasses of milk per day had no reduction in the risk of hip or arm fractures compared to those who drank little or no milk, even after adjustment for weight, menopausal status, smoking, and alcohol use. In fact, the fracture rates were slightly, but significantly, higher for those who consumed this much milk, compared to those who drank little or no milk.
The conclusion was that milk causes a NET LOSS OF CALCIUM in the body! Who’d have thought it?!
This has been confirmed by numerous studies since.
You can Read more about why milk is bad for you here.
If you’ve been drinking milk for years, like most people, then you probably find this either slightly unbelievable or incredible…How is this not common knowledge? How is the dairy industry able to promote milk so heavily and say it’s good for us?
It’s a common mistake. For more common health mistakes that you need to be aware of and avoid, check out my 10 Health Mistakes Report.
We can go round on this topic all day and beat ourselves up for drinking milk (as I know many people have when they find this stuff out and how it’s possibly contributed to their ill health, ranging from allergies to eczema to cancer).
I certainly have my views on why we are not told this stuff and I’m sure you can come up with some too but let’s make it simple and logical:
The dairy industry spends billions to promote their message that dairy is great – it’s subsidised by governments and other food industry interested parties, like breakfast cereal producers.
The fruit and veg ‘industry’ has very little funding and spends pennies in comparison advertising.
Why?
Because the dairy industry is big business and for whatever reason, healthy foods are not.
Therefore, the one-sided message we are bombarded with is that dairy is great.
So now we know this, what can we do? Where do we get our calcium?
A fantastic source of calcium is raw leafy green vegetables – kale, spinach, rocket and a great way to consume them easily is in a green smoothie.
And what about protein? Plant sources of protein are the best sources of protein for humans anyhow, so by focusing on a fruit and veg-rich diet and reducing or eliminating dairy and animal protein, you can be sure you’ll be getting more than enough protein, without the nasties found in milk and the strain that acidic animal protein puts on your liver.
If you really want to kick start a healthy alkaline diet then check out my book and easy alkaline diet plan – The Alkaline 5 Diet. It has 5 simple meal groups that you choose from every day. This diet has helped me lose 14lbs over the past year and feel fitter, healthier, more energised and younger than ever.
Check out the Alkaline 5 Diet here
I didn’t know those things… I’m hella scared right now… are you sure about this? I Always drink milk…
‘Fraid so Dave…time to switch to almond or coconut milk?
Hi got mixed feelings about this report, simple reason is there is no mention about the hormone factor, given that oestrogen initiates the removal of old bone to make room for new bone, which is initiated by progesterone. Now we know that cancer has become more and more hormonal on the oestrogen side, in part due to ingredients in personal care products ie petro chemicals being oestrogen mimics, has been shown to create an hormone imbalances. Raising the risk of fractures, And has been shown to initiate cancer. Point is it’s only part of the story.
Hi Greg,
Thanks for your insight! A lot has to do with progesterone and oestrogen balance. Either way, dairy is very acidic and so many studies show that it should be eliminated form our diet if we want good health – China Study, Neal Barnard’s work, Dr McDougall etc
Laura