Drinking Milk Is Not as Healthy as You Think... Forget What You Know
Lactose, the milk sugar, is found in all milk and dairy products. Milk is at the forefront of healthy beverages worldwide. It is the primary beverage recommended especially for children, patients, and those at risk of osteoporosis. Milk before bed, milk on waking, milk when sick, milk when appetite is low... However, contrary to what we have been taught until now, milk is not as beneficial a food as it is believed to be.
We should think of it this way: if milk were such an essential beverage for us to grow and be healthy, the creator, in creating us and this universe, would have created natural milk sources beyond mothers. Cows, sheep, goats, and women—that is, all females who are milk sources—continue producing milk for as long as their offspring need it. Milk production begins, under healthy and unintervened conditions (non-cesarean births, medication-free approaches...), as a result of the female body's contact with its offspring. When the need ends, the woman's milk production also ends. This holds true for all living creatures. If we look at nature, no animal drinks the milk of another species. Once past infancy, an adult animal no longer drinks milk at all, except when facing starvation, in which case it drinks milk to survive. So what are we doing today? Short-term breast milk and a lifetime of cow's milk!
The reasons for the short duration of breastfeeding are quite tragic; the main ones are cesarean birth, poor nutrition, stress, working mothers, and, to a lesser extent, aesthetic concerns... The cow's milk given in place of breast milk is not a natural source. To ensure a continuous milk supply, cows are frequently made pregnant, or stimulation methods are used in large production facilities. How beneficial can the milk of another species—obtained through forced and stimulated methods—really be for the human body?
Everyone should really question whether the milk that reaches the table is healthy, given the stimulation applied to keep dairy animals frequently pregnant or to prolong their lactation period, the way these animals are fed (without movement, with artificial feed, even feed containing medication), the collection of milk by machines, and the long periods it waits on store shelves in cartons full of preservatives after a series of processes.
Despite everything, today, with the influence of the health and food industry, milk continues to be one of the most frequently consumed products. However, another important development to consider in recent years is the increasing incidence of lactose intolerance.
WHAT IS LACTOSE INTOLERANCE
Intolerance means being unable to tolerate something. Since our topic is nutrition, intolerance refers to being unable to carry out the digestive process. Lactose intolerance means being unable to digest milk and foods containing milk.
There are three types of lactose intolerance, the number of cases of which is increasing every day. While the cause of the first two types is related to the lactase enzyme, the cause of the third group is different. Let us briefly examine the types of lactose intolerance:
1- Congenital lactose intolerance (Primary lactose intolerance): To understand primary lactose intolerance, one must know what lactase is. Lactase is the name of the substance that breaks down lactose. It is an enzyme. Lactose must be broken down in order to be absorbed and enter the blood. Lactose, made up of two subunits (galactose and glucose), is broken down by the lactase enzyme produced by the small intestinal mucosa, and can only be absorbed in this way. In primary lactose intolerance, there is no active lactase enzyme from birth, and lactose can never be used. This group is quite rare. It is diagnosed at the time the infant is first introduced to milk.
2. Acquired lactose intolerance (Secondary-onset lactose intolerance developing later in life): This is the most common form. In this group, lactase activity is high at birth and decreases with advancing age. For this reason, elderly individuals cannot consume large amounts of milk and dairy products.
3. Lactose intolerance developing following an illness (Secondary lactose intolerance): This is the group that develops following diseases of the mucosal layer lining the inner surface of the intestines. In intestinal diseases, the balance of the flora (the community of microorganisms) found on the mucosa is disrupted. This condition, which refers to an intestinal flora disorder, is called dysbiosis.
Secondary means occurring after and in relation to a condition. Secondary lactose intolerance occurs as a result of an intestinal flora disorder, whatever its cause. It is common. This group has nothing to do with lactase. The problem is the disrupted permeability of the intestinal mucosa. A mucosa with disrupted permeability cannot carry out the absorption of the lactose found in milk and dairy products. Today, its incidence is increasing due to unhealthy nutrition, frequent medication use, and many other similar causes. However, following successful treatment, lactose intolerance disappears, and the person can once again consume milk and dairy products containing lactose. They should be consumed in a balanced way and in small amounts.
70% of adults have some degree of lactose intolerance. The amount of milk and dairy products causing intolerance leads to a variety of symptoms that differ from person to person. Many people with low intestinal lactase activity can easily consume hard cheese and yogurt, since their lactose content is low, along with a glass of milk. However, some intolerance cases can result in rapid and numerous complaints even with foods containing just a spoonful of milk.
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Hüseyin Nazlıkul