Why Is Milk Important To The Human Diet?

Milk, a common household staple. Praised for its ability to build strong bones and muscles, as well as its perfect match with cookies. However, it is possible that milk is not what it is made out to be. People create information, the information then becomes fact because it is widely believed. Most likely because the source, or the person who created the information, is credible. However, just because something is widely believed does not make it true. For example, people used to think the world was flat, now we know that it is round (Smale 2003). People thought humans only use 10% of their brains, now we know each part of the brain has a different job (Boyd 2008). People used to think blood is blue until it is oxygenated by leaving the body, …show more content…
The University of London published in the PLoS Computational Biology journal that humans did not start drinking milk until about 7,500 years ago when dairy farming communities began appearing in central Europe (2009). These people developed the ability to digest lactase and have passed the genes down through their family chain. Before this point, milk was not a necessity to the human diet. Therefore, milk is not necessity for the human body now. Additionally, it is against nature to drink milk past the weaning point, or past 2 years old (2007-2016). If milk was a necessity to keep bones healthy, then women would be able to produce their own milk from the point of pregnancy onward. Most importantly, if milk was essential to the human diet, then humans would be able to digest it. However, The Dairy Council states that 70% of humans are lactose intolerant after the weaning stage. To be lactose intolerant means to not have the enzyme lactase which breaks down the lactose in dairy products. This can lead to flatulence, bloating, diarrhea, cramps, nausea, and vomiting. Some ethnicities are more lactose intolerant than others, which leads the array of symptoms and displays why some people have mild symptoms they do not realize. Human’s ancestors did not drink milk, other species do not drink milk, and most humans do not have the enzyme to digest milk, thus displaying that milk is not a …show more content…
This was due to a study financed by the National Dairy Council, and conducted by Dr. Michael Zemel at the University of Tennessee (Brody 2005). Dr. Zemel found that the higher intake of calcium lead to an increase in percent of body fat lost (Brody 2005). However, there was only 3 small trials, of only about 30 participants each, which is not an accurate representation of the population. It was also biased towards dairy considering the National Dairy Council spent $1.68 million to finance it (Elkaim 2005). Since then numerous studies have taken interest in this subject and have concluded that milk does not lead to weight loss. Years ago, the milk industry advertised that the to obtain results and have a healthy body one needed to drink 3 cups of milk a day or “24oz/24hrs”. However, Catherine S. Berkey of Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women 's Hospital in Boston led a study, consisting of 12,829 children ages 9 to 14 nationwide, that concluded milk increases weight gain (Stein 2005). Those who drank the recommended 3 cups were 35% more likely to become overweight compared to those who only drank 1 or 2 (Stein 2005). These results still held true even after the consideration of physical activity, other dietary factors, and growth (Stein 2005). Most of them even drank low fat milk (Stein 2005). Another large study was done by the Harvard School of Public Health, which