I had a conversation recently with someone about milk and realized that many people don’t know that our milk is high in hormones. While we have stopped the use of recombinant bovine growth hormone (rbGH), diary cows in the US are typically always pregnant so the milk from those cows will be much higher in estrogen and progesterone than nonpregnant cows.
Milk from pregnant cows contains five times the estrogen during the first two months of pregnancy, according to one study, and a whopping 33 times as much estrogen as the cow gets closer to term. Could this increase in hormones in milk partially explain the rise in hormone sensitive cancers such as breast and prostate? Or early menstruation in young girls?
Ganmaa Davaasambuu, PhD, MD says: “The milk we drink today is quite unlike the milk our ancestors were drinking, without apparent harm, for 2,000 years. The milk we drink today may not be nature’s perfect food.”
Unfortunately, these hormones make it through processing so they will still be in yogurt and cheese. The amount of hormones is lower in lower fat milk. Goat and sheep milk are likely high in hormones as well. Check out the article below for more info on the unanticipated consequences of trying to produce cheap food.
Copyright 2016 Carole Bartolotto, MA, RD. All rights reserved.
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