Harvard Scientists Urge You to Stop Drinking Sweetened-Milk
dairy
Vegans may have had it right all along; while raw, organic milk offers numerous health benefits, a Harvard researcher and pediatrician argues that conventional milk and dairy products alike are a detriment to your health – thanks to added health-compromising sweeteners.
As David Ludwig mentioned in his research, which was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association Pediatrics, there have been countless pieces of research concluding the ill effects of sugar-sweetened beverages. The over-consumption of sugar has been tied to obesity, diabetes, inflammatory-related pain, and much more. And because of sugar’s negative effects on our health, even the United States Department of Agriculture, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and other organizations are recommending against consuming calories from sugary drinks.
The one calorie-containing beverage they still heavily promote, however, is reduced-fat milk, where the organization recommends drinking 3 cups daily. This is where Ludwig questions the scientific rationale for such recommendations.
“This recommendation to drink three cups a day of milk – it’s perhaps the most prevailing advice given to the American public about diet in the last half century. As a result, Americans are consuming billions of gallons of milk a year, presumably under the assumption that their bones would crumble without them,” says David Ludwig.
As far as Ludwig is concerned, if the USDA is recommending to drink reduced-fat milk, it is also inadvertently encouraging the consumption of added sugars – a piece of advice that goes against all the research saying not to consume sugar and sugar-sweetened beverages. The idea of consuming low-fat milk or chocolate milk cancels out the whole reasoning for the recommendation in the first place since the fats are simply being replaced with dangerous sugars.
“The worst possible situation is reduced-fat chocolate milk: you take out the fat, it’s less tasty. So to get kids to drink 3 cups a day, you get this sugar-sweetened beverage,” Ludwig says. “…we can get plenty of calcium from a whole range of foods. On a gram for gram basis, cooked kale has more calcium than milk. Sardines, nuts seeds beans, green leafy vegetables are all sources of calcium.”
The Case Against Low-Fat Dairy, and Other Dangers of Milk
Harvard researcher David Ludwig certainly has a point in analyzing and ultimately criticizing the USDA’s recommendations, but there is much more to the full-fat vs reduced-fat argument for milk and dairy products.
There are plenty of reasons to avoid certain fats such as trans-fats and refined polyunsaturated fats in vegetable oils (like corn, soy, sunflower, and canola), but the evidence for moderate consumption of saturated fat, which is found in milk, coconut oil, and grass-fed land animals, is coming to the surface. While saturated fat was villainized for decades, a 2010 analysis published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition concluded that “there is no significant evidence for concluding that dietary saturated fat is associated with an increased risk of [coronary heart disease or cardiovascular disease].”
Further, there are numerous benefits to drinking full-fat dairy products. In it’s most pure state (raw, organic, and coming from grass-fed cows), full-fat dairy has been found in research to potentially promote heart health, control diabetes, aid in vitamin absorption, lower bowel cancer risk, and even aid in weight loss. But while pure dairy could promote your health, conventional dairy may prove damaging.
Before you consume more conventional dairy, please educate yourself as to what’s in your dairy. You’d be surprised that there could be 20+ painkillers, antibiotics, and much more lurking in your milk.
Additional Sources:
 | Mike is the co-founder, editor, and researcher behind Natural Society. Studying the work of top natural health activists, and writing special reports for top 10 alternative health websites, Mike has written hundreds of articles and pages on how to obtain optimum wellness through natural health. |
Hmm Walter did you actually read the article? If you did, you kind of missed the point.
They are saying full-fat dairy = GOOD,
low-fat dairy with added sweeteners = BAD
dont give up, stay ignorant
Are we really taking this crap in consideration? today`s food is all crap unless you grow it your self…even then I doubt that would be the same of 50 years ago…
today is about making money, fuck all the healthy stuff, the world become a poison jail, and if we starting to discard all the unnatural thinks we would die of hunger,,
so just close your eyes and enjoy a nice glass of cold milk till you here..
Many of the comments, from what I have seen, are from people who are clueless about real nutrition and people who are spreading disinformation. Yes, they are (or already have been) putting aspartame into conventional milk. Also is the not so talked about neotame, which is said to be much more sweet and dangerous than aspartame.
Aspartame and neotame are found in so many conventional foods. Artificial sweeteners (truvia, for example) DO damage the body and mind. In organically raised dairy, meat, vegetables and fruit, you do NOT have these artificial additives in these foods. This fact alone speaks for itself. Anyone who can not see this simple connection must either be heavily blinded by the US media or simply not trying to understand common sense nutrition.
truvia is not an artificial sweetener, stevia is a plant. It used to have some other garbage in it but has since been changed. I do prefer my sweet leaf brand of stevia, or leaves from my own plant added to my teas when steeping.
You need the fat in the milk to absorb the nutrition from the not fat fraction of the milk. In other words, with fat -free you are wasting your money.
I don't drink cow's milk ever since I discovered (much to my surprise) that I am NOT a baby cow.
I drink organic skim milk without the added hormones. Is this ok?
it's the neotame laced GMO feeds given to battery raised cows and the aspartame added to the fat free milks that are causing type 2 diabetes…
People tend to consume more meat because the nutrients normaly found in them go missing …
Raw, unpasteurized milk straight from the cow has no sweeteners except what may be found inherently in the milk itself. It is nourishing beyond belief. The farmer I buy my raw milk from frequently goes on a diet of raw milk and loses weight easily and healthfully. This is what the wonderful organization, Weston A Price Foundation, discusses so well.
Now they want to add aspartame to conventional dairy. I will not be buying it. Aspartame is cancer-causing and should be outlawed or at least have a black box put on the label.
Excellent point .Thank You for making it.
Harvard Scientists should review they lifestyle.. they probably feed themselves with some shit genetic modified food from they laboratory,,,,i would never give up my nice Italian cheeses,, not even for extra years of life…
what kind of life we have to live if we listening every crap this morons come up with. . Hey….
Thanks for a great article. Despite the many negative comments I just read, I know that this information proves true and any research into the benefits of milk in it’s pure, raw state will tell you the same. Once again, it’s best to leave well enough alone, and not alter natural goodness for the sake of commercial gain.
Very misleading article. It cites NO EVIDENCE that supports the tag-line suggesting added sweeteners in conventional milk (except for Chocolate milk, and that's a no-brainer anyway). All it is really saying is that there are plenty of good sources of calcium other than just milk. The problem is, many people don't bother to read the whole article to see if it holds merit, and will just blindly believe the tag line.
i read this article because i was afraid of companies putting things in milk that they shouldn't have. Instead i l soon learned that its not milk that if the problem but the lifestyle if the citizens of your country. This article should be 'flagged up' to the trades description act that its so misleading.
What the fuck happened? First Harvards studies against sugary drinks…. and then all of a sudden it's all about how full-fat raw milk is good for you?
"Full-fat dairy has been found in research to potentially promote heart health, control diabetes, aid in vitamin absorption, lower bowel cancer risk, and even aid in weight loss"
Really? Saturated fat and more cholesterol is good for your heart and aid in weight loss?? wow…..hmmm.
I would really like to know the source of this…. Because I highly doubt it.
If anyone cares about what Harvard has to say about fats, then here it is: (Not that is has to do with the study mentioned in this article, but since the article also glorifies saturated fats….) http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/fats-…
Yo, my man Mike, raw and full fat milk got the same sugars as that low fat stuff and they got more calories. Dr Ludwig's article is about shitting on the USDA for recommending a caloric drink for kids. Why you gotta make raw and full fat milk look so good when Dr. L's trying to get kids to drink more water and shit?
Totally misleading title : Harvard Scientists Urge You to Stop Drinking Milk
To reflect the contents of the article, the title should be: Harvard Scientists Urge You to Stop Drinking sugary drinks.
hogwash
Any research to back up your opinion? just curious