hugerobb
VIP Strength Advisor
- Sep 15, 2010
- 2,027
- 56
I've seen a few debates about milk around here but this has nothing to do with them, I read this article on MD and thought it was interesting. I personally don't drink milk and I avoid plastics anywhere I can, this might sound crazy to some but reading some things a while back opened my mind and if I'm looking to be the best that I can be milk just doesn't cut it..
On a serious note BPA is some nasty shit that I don't want to fuck with.
Sorry it might seem like a ton of words but this was the MILK side of the article. Enjoy !
*Not saying don't drink it, not saying anything bad but just passing down an article I found informative.
Estrogen In Your Milk
You have probably heard all the buzz around about the possible dangers of environmental estrogens. The discussion usually revolves around stuff like phthalates and bisphenol A found in plastics and the dangers they pose when they get inadvertantly absorbed or ingested. But while estrogens from plastics may very well represent a concern (to infants especially), I think there is a much larger endocrinological threat out there that unfortunately is not discussed nearly as often.
Man has been drinking cow’s milk for thousands of years, and history has taught us that this consumption has pretty much been a healthy practice. However, this situation may recently have changed. The milk we are drinking today is quite a bit different than the milk we drank 100 or 500 years ago. In times past, cows were pasture-fed and the milk they generated was usually gathered after the cows gave birth. Today, however, cows live on feedlots where they are fed fattening corn and given hormones to increase milk yield. But more important to the issue at hand is the fact that they are kept pregnant most of the time, since that increases farmers’ productivity and cost-efficiency. As a result, much of the milk today originates from pregnant cows.
Cows continue to lactate throughout their pregnancy and during the second half of their pregnancy, in particular the levels of female hormones (estrogens and progesterone) in their milk rises considerably. The levels of these hormones and their biological potencies far exceed that of the weak xenobiotic estrogens in plastics and so pose a far greater risk to our health. In fact, many studies have been done, showing a strong correlation between milk intake and hormone-related diseases such as ovarian cancer, uterine cancer, breast cancer, testicular cancer, and prostate cancer.
Now you may be asking yourself, “Just how much female hormone is present in milk? Is it enough to provoke any significant adverse physiological effects in regular people?”
A study in the journal Pediatrics International actually looked into this— and what they found should raise some concern. The study had men and children drink a moderate amount of milk (600 mL). They then examined the change in hormone levels over the course of the next two hours. What they found in the men was a significant increase in estradiol and progesterone, coupled by a simultaneous drop in LH, FSH, and testosterone. The children showed increases in female hormones as well, as indicated by the observed urinary excretion of substantial quantities of estrogen and progesterone metabolites.
The study then went on to examine the effects of longer-term ingestion of milk in women. The women ingested 500 ml of milk every night for 21 days, starting on the first day of menstruation. What they found was that the timing of their ovulation was altered by the milk intake.
So apparently, drinking moderate amounts of milk may suppress testosterone in men, alter women’s menstrual cycles and fertility, and possibly even affect the sexual maturation of children. But what does this mean to us? Well, some factors have to be considered. Number one is that these female steroid hormones are primarily present in the fat portion of milk. That means whole milk, cream products, and cheese (many cheeses are high in fat) comprise the worst potential culprits. However, skim milk and low-fat cheese products might not be nearly so bad. So I guess the bottom line is that you may want to limit the amount of dairy you consume in your diet and/or opt for low-fat or fat-free varieties of dairy products.
On a serious note BPA is some nasty shit that I don't want to fuck with.
Sorry it might seem like a ton of words but this was the MILK side of the article. Enjoy !
*Not saying don't drink it, not saying anything bad but just passing down an article I found informative.
Estrogen In Your Milk
You have probably heard all the buzz around about the possible dangers of environmental estrogens. The discussion usually revolves around stuff like phthalates and bisphenol A found in plastics and the dangers they pose when they get inadvertantly absorbed or ingested. But while estrogens from plastics may very well represent a concern (to infants especially), I think there is a much larger endocrinological threat out there that unfortunately is not discussed nearly as often.
Man has been drinking cow’s milk for thousands of years, and history has taught us that this consumption has pretty much been a healthy practice. However, this situation may recently have changed. The milk we are drinking today is quite a bit different than the milk we drank 100 or 500 years ago. In times past, cows were pasture-fed and the milk they generated was usually gathered after the cows gave birth. Today, however, cows live on feedlots where they are fed fattening corn and given hormones to increase milk yield. But more important to the issue at hand is the fact that they are kept pregnant most of the time, since that increases farmers’ productivity and cost-efficiency. As a result, much of the milk today originates from pregnant cows.
Cows continue to lactate throughout their pregnancy and during the second half of their pregnancy, in particular the levels of female hormones (estrogens and progesterone) in their milk rises considerably. The levels of these hormones and their biological potencies far exceed that of the weak xenobiotic estrogens in plastics and so pose a far greater risk to our health. In fact, many studies have been done, showing a strong correlation between milk intake and hormone-related diseases such as ovarian cancer, uterine cancer, breast cancer, testicular cancer, and prostate cancer.
Now you may be asking yourself, “Just how much female hormone is present in milk? Is it enough to provoke any significant adverse physiological effects in regular people?”
A study in the journal Pediatrics International actually looked into this— and what they found should raise some concern. The study had men and children drink a moderate amount of milk (600 mL). They then examined the change in hormone levels over the course of the next two hours. What they found in the men was a significant increase in estradiol and progesterone, coupled by a simultaneous drop in LH, FSH, and testosterone. The children showed increases in female hormones as well, as indicated by the observed urinary excretion of substantial quantities of estrogen and progesterone metabolites.
The study then went on to examine the effects of longer-term ingestion of milk in women. The women ingested 500 ml of milk every night for 21 days, starting on the first day of menstruation. What they found was that the timing of their ovulation was altered by the milk intake.
So apparently, drinking moderate amounts of milk may suppress testosterone in men, alter women’s menstrual cycles and fertility, and possibly even affect the sexual maturation of children. But what does this mean to us? Well, some factors have to be considered. Number one is that these female steroid hormones are primarily present in the fat portion of milk. That means whole milk, cream products, and cheese (many cheeses are high in fat) comprise the worst potential culprits. However, skim milk and low-fat cheese products might not be nearly so bad. So I guess the bottom line is that you may want to limit the amount of dairy you consume in your diet and/or opt for low-fat or fat-free varieties of dairy products.