I'm a huge milk fan. I've always loved it. My whole family loves it too, going through 3 gallons a week.
Then I read about how good soy is for you, so I switched over to soy milk. Not quite the same, but I could handle it. I did well on it too. No G.I. problems, my infrequent hot flashes disappeared, and my skin behaved.
Then I read about a possible link between soy and breast cancer. Having just had a breast biopsy on a couple of microcalcifications, I was not too happy. Out went the soy milk.
Now I'm back to skim milk but wondering if my concern over soy is unnecessary. In addition, I'm wondering how safe my skim milk is. A link between milk and ovarian cancer?! Skim could be worse than whole?! Argh!
As you can probably tell, I'm seriously confused. And reading about it is just as irritating as reading about dog training ~ there are all kinds of thoughts, opinions, and results, and some opinions directly conflict each other.
I'm considering adopting a diet of vegetables, fruits, and chocolate.
Sounds like a good diet if your chocolate is dark chocolate
As to soy, I guess the modern gospel of food production is "Soy is good for you". Soy has become the main cash cow for Monsato, a lot of research that has been done has been sponsored through Monsanto. Virtually any research that has been done independently indicates that soy is not healthy - on the contrary.
The concern with soy is that soy contains isoflavones (estrogen-like substances) which may stimulate the estrogen receptors of breast cancer cells and promote cancer growth.
Regardless of this theory is correct or not, I would stay away from processed soy like soy milk, soy protein, break fast links, etc. If you look at how soy milk is processed it doesn't strike me as anything healthy. The beans are ground at high temperatures and then the remaining oils will be extracted with solvents. The meal is then mixed with an alkaline solution and sugars, in a separation process to remove fibre. Then it is precipitated and separated, using an acid wash. During every step some of the solvents and chemicals stay in the product. Of course the manufacturers and regulators will say it is only a tiny amount that doesn't really have any effect on humans. Personally, I will leave it to them to test it on themselves, I am not playing guinea pig for them.
Soy contains phytic acid which impairs the absorption of all minerals, particularly calcium as well as trypsin inhibitors which makes it even more difficult for the body's immune system to detect cancer cells.
Another problem is that at least 30 % (if not more) of the American grown soy is genetically modified and American law permits these crops to be mixed with a small amount of organic soybeans and the whole thing can be labeled organic. This is for those of you who ask if organic soy is safe.
There are theories that the link between breast / ovarian / prostate cancer and dairy consumption is similar to the link between smoking and lung cancer.
Dr. Campbell in his book The China Study goes into great detail how this mechnism works and they were in fact able in experiments able to turn cancer growth on and off by feeding or eliminating casein.
In his study of 6,500 rural Chinese, Campbell found that most consume no dairy products, obtaining their calcium from vegetables. Osteoporosis is uncommon in China, even though the people there consume only half the amount of calcium most Westerners consume. Incidence of prostate cancer in rural parts of China and Japan, where low-fat diets are the norm, is up to 90 per cent lower than in the West. Yet when Eastern men migrate to the West their chances of being diagnosed with prostate cancer increase. The chances of women in China dying from breast cancer are one in 10,000. American statistics, 1 in 7 woman will be diagnosed with breast cancer.
One of the problems appears to be that dairy contains IGF-1, a growth hormone which appears to stimulate cancer growth.
Cow's milk has IGF-1, and IGF-1 levels increase in cows treated with bovine growth hormone, rBGH. (Estimates range from twice as high to ten times higher.) Pasteurization does not destroy IGF-1, but increases its concentration instead.
There is IGF-1 in cow's milk that is identical to the IGF-1 found in humans already, which could lead to the ease with which we absorb it from milk. IGF-1 is found in higher concentrations in the bodies of people who consume dairy products.
There is also research about the problems that pasteurization and homogenisation of milk being a contributing factor to many diseases including autoimmune diseases, asthma, cancer, etc.
I hear you on being addicted to milk, we used to consume about the same amount of milk your family does. I was a cheese whore, I am from Europe for crying out loud. It still is hard for me to walk by the cheese section at Trader Joe's. I never thought I'd be able to do it but it was the best thing I ever did. There is a tremendous difference in how I feel, no bloating, no gas, no sinus infections, more energy and much improved bloodwork.
