Lac vaccinum Anhängsel
‡ Folgendes hat anthroposofische Einschlüße ‡
[Thomas Cowan, M.D.]
There are very few subjects as emotionally charged as the choice of one's
diet. Sexual relations, marriage and finances come to mind as similarly intense
subjects and, like diet, each of us is sure
we know all we need to know about each of these areas. The subject of
milk, as I have discovered in the past 4 years when properly viewed, will
challenge every notion you currently have about
what is good food and what isn't.
The story of milk is complex and its history goes something like this:
Back in the pre-processed food era (before about 1930 in the U.S.) milk was
considered a highly prized food (children).
Not only was there an entire segment of our economy built up around
milk, but as I remember, each house had its own direct milk chute for the
delivery of fresh milk (England).
It was unquestioned that milk was good for us and that a safe, plentiful
milk supply was actually vital to our national health and well-being. It was
also a time (now I'm referring to the early part
of the century) when many of the illnesses which we currently suffer
from were rare. As an example, family doctors would often go their whole
careers without ever seeing a patient with significant coronary artery disease,
breast or prostate cancer. This is something current doctors can hardly go one
month before they encounter such a patient. Furthermore, as scientists had
discovered, there were pockets of extremely healthy, long-lived people
scattered about the earth who used dairy products in various forms as the
staple of their diets - further evidence that milk and its products were
amongst the most healthful foods human beings have ever encountered.
If we go forward to the 1980's we now find an entirely different
picture. For one, there have been numerous books written in the past decade
about the dangers of dairy products (most influential
a book called “Don't Drink Your Milk” by Frank Oski, M.D). He is the
current chairman of Pediatrics at Johns Hopkins University and perhaps the most
influential pediatrician
in this country. In his book, he pins just about each health problem in
children to the consumption of milk (from acute and chronic ear infections to
constipation, asthma, eczema).
2nd just about all patients, on their initial visit, proudly
announce that they have a good diet and that, specifically, they don't eat
dairy (which they pronounce with such disdain). One might well ask here where
is the truth in this picture?
Perhaps the experiments of Dr. Frances Pottenger in the 1940's can help
to solve this mystery. In these experiments Dr. Pottenger fed similar groups of
animals (usually cats) a diet of exclusively milk. Half ate cooked milk
(pasteurized), the other ate uncooked ("raw") milk. The results were
conclusive and astounding. Those that ate raw milk did well, lived long, happy,
active lives free of any signs of degenerative disease. Those that ate
pasteurized milk suffered from acute illnesses (vomiting, diarrhea) and
succumbed to every degenerative disease now flourishing in our population. By
the third generation, a vast majority of the cats were infertile and exhibited
"anti-social" behavior. In short, medically speaking, they were like
many modern Americans.
Since the 40's, the "qualities" of milk have been extensively
studied to try to find an explanation for these dramatic changes. We have heard
discussed that before heating, milk is a living food rich in colloidal
minerals, rich in enzymes which are necessary for the absorption and
utilization of the sugars and fats in the milk. We have also heard that milk
has a cortisone-like factor which is heat sensitive (is destroyed by heat) in the
cream; that milk has an enzyme phosphatase which allows the body to absorb the
calcium from the milk; that milk has lactase - an enzyme which allows for the
digestion of lactose; and that milk has beneficial bacteria and lactic acids
which allow these beneficial bacteria to implant in the intestines.
All of these qualities are lost in the heating of milk. It then becomes
rotten, with precipitated minerals which can't be absorbed (hence
osteoporosis), with sugars that can't be digested and with fats which are
toxic. With this in mind, we can quickly see what has happened in the past
sixty years.
Raw milk has been used in therapy, in folk medicine and even in the Mayo
Clinic for centuries. It has been used in the pre-insulin days to treat
diabetes (I've tried it - it works), eczema, intestinal worms, allergies,
arthritis, and other afflictions, all for reasons which can be understood when
we examine just what is in milk (the cortisone-like factor for allergies and
eczema). Rarely is anyone truly allergic to grass-fed cows' milk (feeding high
protein feeds to the cows changes the milk, making it more allergenic).
Yet apart from all these explanations is perhaps the real key: fresh raw
milk is a living, unprocessed, whole food. Compare this to the supposedly
"healthy" soy milk which has been washed in acids, alkali,
ultra-pasteurized, then allowed to sit in a box for some months.
The lessons of studying milk and Pottenger's cats are profound for the
American health scene. One of them is also simple: processed, dead foods don't
support life or a happy, well-functioning society. This can only happen if
people return to eating pure, wholesome, unprocessed foods.
In my practice I always start there. I encourage, insist and even beg
people to eat real foods, no matter what the problem. Often with just this
intervention the results are gratifying. So, find a cow, find a farmer, make
sure the cow (goat, llama, or whichever other milk source) is healthy and start
your return to good health.
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