I remember when I was a kid my grandmother used to drink skim milk exclusively. We used to joke that it was watery and had a blue tinge. Skim milk was exactly that – milk that had suffered the injustice of having the cream skimmed off. But it wasn’t necessarily bad for you, it just wasn’t the tastiest thing in the world.
I don’t remember when skim milk turned into nonfat milk. The thin blue milk I remember my grandmother drinking was now white and no longer thin. Sometimes I would wonder why, but for the most part I just brushed it aside. I mean, everyone said that it was healthier for you, so it couldn’t really be bad. Right?
Right?
Enter Michael Pollan’s In Defense of Food. There was just one short passage in that book about nonfat dairy that piqued my interest. I continued to do research on nonfat milk and what I found was interesting and a bit disturbing. I then continued on and found that commercial milk actually scared the shit out of me. So let’s start with the problems behind nonfat milk.
First off, nonfat milk is missing the fat. “Duh, Rachel, we could have figured that out on our own,” you say. But what isn’t as obvious is that all the fat soluble vitamins that are in milk also go the way of the dodo when the fat is removed. The milk no longer has natural vitamins A, D, E or K. Vitamins A & D are usually put back in by the manufacturer but it’s been shown that fortification isn’t as healthy as the real deal because just adding the single components doesn’t take into account all the other enzymes and minerals that work symbiotically with the vitamin. Also you can’t absorb fat soluble vitamins without….fat!
So why is nonfat milk no longer blue? That’s because companies are putting in various additives that they actually don’t always have to include them on the label. The first additive you can find in nonfat milk is dry milk. Sometimes it will be labeled as “protein-fortified.” Some manufacturer’s do include it on the label, but some don’t. Dried milk is far from benign though. The process used to dry it creates oxidized cholesterol, which accelerates plaque build up in arteries. Animal studies have found that even a small increase in oxidized cholesterol over 12 weeks doubled the plaque buildup compared to the control group. If your trying to eat heart-healthy, nonfat milk might be counter productive. Also, dry milk contains orotic acid which may have damaging effects to the liver.
Another additive sometimes used to make the blue liquid white is titanium oxide, a common ingredient in paint and sunscreens. It’s sometimes added to nonfat fluid milk but mostly used in other dairy products such as sour cream and cottage cheese.
But problems aren’t isolated to just nonfat milk. The qualities of straight-from-the-cow/goat/sheep-milk are never static. The amount of protein, carbohydrates and fat vary between breeds and even individual animals. It also varies depending on where in the lactation cycle a specific animal is at. So to standardize milk, manufacturers separate everything and then put it all back together at specific ratios. And then it’s homogenized which changes the structure of the milk and oxidizes fats. What used to be a healthful drink has now become another overly-processed food that no longer resembles the natural product.
There aren’t many alternatives right now but they are increasing. EatWild.com, RealTimeFarms.com and LocalHarvest.org are some sites that might be able to help you find local dairies. Straus Family Creamery offers pasteurized cream-top milk sold in old-timey glass bottles. The other option is to locate raw milk. Organic Pastures (not to be confused with Organic Valley) and Claravale (I’ve drank Claravale and never had an issue) are the only two legal raw dairies in California that I know of. They have very stringent procedures have third party testing of their milk several times a week to insure that it’s safe. In other states it may be easier or more difficult to find raw milk depending on the state’s raw milk laws.
Haven’t we learned from the margarine-is-better-than-butter fiasco? Trust the cow over the man.
I’m more than tired of all the faux foods touting better health, and fear-mongering around foods. If they’re so fabulous, why are heart disease, diabetes, and high blood pressure all at epidemic proportions? My grandmother lived to a ripe old age eating…well…(natural/organic/whatever you want to call it) simple (and full fat – none of it removed) food! I’m squarely now in the trust-the-cow (or goat) camp, even though for years I admit to being a slave to non-fat milk thinking somehow it would help to save my arteries.
I grew up on cream-top milk though, it was the norm. The bottles used to have foil caps, and were delivered by the milk man every morning. I used to love to be the first to open a new bottle and steal some of the cream before anyone noticed. Pure heaven. In winter though, I had competition. If I didn’t get to the bottles on the door step early enough, the birds would peck holes in the foil cap and steal it before I had a chance to.
Rachel, this is a good article, but “man” has never made ANY milk…perhaps you should modify the article to read “woman-made” and remind everyone that milk is a natural product of female mammals. and, I totally think that whole vs. processed is better for hu-mans and hu-womans, just based on basic biology…
🙂
Yes, but “man” is responsible for adulterating “natural” milk making it something other than milk. 🙂
Plus, it just tastes way better!
Your research is on the money, but have you ever wondered why humans are the only ones who consume milk from another mammal after they have been weaned?
Well, considering we’re the only species that has evolved to have the genetic capability to digest milk after weaning, it makes perfect sense. 🙂 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/10/science/10cnd-evolve.html
We actually are NOT the only mammals to consume other mammals’ milk… we’re just the only one with the thumbs to milk cows and goats with. Many animals will gladly consume a dish of cow or goat milk if a human provides it. Ever seen a barn cat beg for a squirt of milk straight from the cow or goat?
Humans are also the only mammals that consume baked potatoes, chocolate cake, and cooked meat. Does that mean those things are off the menu too?
We consume animal milk because we have developed the technology to do so. It’s nutritious and delicious… like baked potatoes, chocolate cake, and cooked meat.
Very true! We’re also the only animals to wear clothes and use computers.
Now that is a genuinely interesting and productive post, and I don’t say that often. As a woman who just turned 50, I recently switched to – you guessed it – non-fat milk in an effort to keep the weight off. It sounds like though I am basically throwing all of the vitamins out with the milk as well? I wonder if there is a difference between something like whole milk or just 2pc milk.
My 20-something year-old son has been on the skim milk kick lately despite me telling him, and showing him, how much better full fat milk AND butter is for him. I think one thing that irks me the most though is this panic over drinking raw milk. It was such a treat to go to my grandmother’s house because she always had the freshest milk, literally straight from the cow and chilling in the fridge. Last year there was a small dairy near here that began selling raw milk alongside their regular milk. It wasn’t a couple of months before they were shut down because someone complained. No one became sick from the raw milk, but the complainer argued that someone MAY get sick from the milk. One step forward, two steps back. Will folks ever learn?
But of course you can go out and drink alcohol and potentially kill yourself or someone else.