Free Real Food by Nina Planck

milk.
     Now, when people ask, "Is milk is good for you?" I'm likely to answer, "That depends. Which milk?"
    The milk critics make three broad charges. They say that milking is inhumane for cows, dairies pollute the environment, and
     milk is unhealthy. About the first two, they are absolutely right, with one qualification: industrial dairies are bad for cows and for the environment, but traditional dairy farming is good for both.
    According to Jo Robinson, the author of Pasture Perfect, when farmers graze dairy cows outside on their natural diet of grass, the cows are happy and healthy. Farmers who switch from
     confinement dairies and a grain-based diet and let their cows roam outside eating grass watch their vet bills shrink. One
     reason is that eating grain gives cows the bovine version of acid indigestion, which can lead to stomach ulcers. Large confinement
     dairies also pollute the environment with stench and manure lagoons. Properly managed grazing, by contrast, enhances soil
     fertility, water quality, and biodiversity.
    The question of health is more complicated. First, the critics contend that humans are not meant to drink the milk of any
     other species. Second, they say that milk is indigestible for people who don't make enough of the enzyme lactase to digest
     the sugar lactose. Let's look at each argument.
    Is drinking milk unnatural? The critics say that cow milk was "designed" for newborn calves, not for humans. That's true.
     But this observation does not prove that the human digestive system cannot, or should not, handle milk. After all, the tomato
     was designed to make more tomato plants, not pasta sauce. In fact, milk and other dairy foods are not only digestible for
     the vast majority of people— about 85 percent by some estimates— but also highly nutritious. Later, we'll look at important
     differences between traditional and industrial milk, but for now let's consider its basic components.
    Like breast milk, the milk of cows and other mammals is nutritionally complete. All milk is made of the three macronutrients—
     protein, fat, and carbohydrate— and humans are equipped to digest all three. A good source of complete protein, milk contains
     all the essential amino acids in the right amounts. Milk contains enough carbohydrates for energy and has a good balance of
     fats, both saturated and unsaturated.
    Because it was made to be the only source of nutrients for growing babies, milk contains everything required to digest and
     use its nutrients. The fats in milk, for example, enable the body to digest its protein and assimilate its calcium. According
     to Mary Enig in Know Your Fats, the saturated fats in milk (such as butyric acid) are particularly easy to digest because they do not have to be emulsified
     first by the liver. Unlike polyunsaturated fats, which the body tends to store, the saturated fats in milk are rapidly burned
     for energy.
    Milk is rich in vitamins and minerals. It contains potassium and vitamins C and B, especially B 12 , which is found only in animal foods. Milk is the major source of the fat-soluble vitamins A and D in the American diet.
     As Weston Price observed more than seventy years ago, the calcium and phosphorus in milk are particularly important for handsome
     facial structure and strong teeth. Dairy foods also reduce oral acidity (which causes decay), stimulate saliva, and inhibit
     plaques and cavities.
    GOOD THINGS IN MILK
    • Complete protein to build and repair tissues and bones
    • Vitamin A for healthy skin, eyes, bones, and teeth
    • Vitamin D to aid calcium and phosphorus absorption and for bones and teeth
    • Thiamine to help turn carbohydrates into energy and aid appetite and growth
    • Riboflavin for healthy skin, eyes, and nerves
    • Niacin for growth and development, healthy nerves, and digestion
    • Vitamin B 6 to build body tissues, produce antibodies, and prevent heart disease
    • Vitamin B 12 for healthy red blood cells, nerves, and