Many have been brought up to believe that we need to drink cow’s milk in order to have strong bones and

healthy teeth, skin, and hair. Yet consider: cow milk has been proven to be the cause of IDDM, or insulin-
dependent diabetes mellitus in children. The Physician's Committee for Responsible Medicine published an
article summarizing a report that appeared in The New England Journal of Medicine. Regarding IDDM, the
article states: "the culprit appears to be a cow milk protein, called bovine serum albumin, which differs just
enough from human proteins to cause the human body to react by producing antibodies."

The antibodies created in response to this cow milk protein (BSA) attack the insulin-producing beta cells of the
pancreas, and destroy them. Diabetes first becomes apparent when 80-90% of the beta cells have been
destroyed.

The connection between the BSA and childhood diabetes is so strong that the Physician's Committee for
Responsible Medicine says: "...U.S. government advice that all children should drink cow's milk should now be
reversed. There is no reason to recommend cow milk."

Researchers noted that "the prevalence of childhood diabetes parallels the consumption of cow's milk." This
brings up an interesting question: Is it possible researchers have been looking in all the wrong places for a cause
for Multiple Sclerosis?

This "antibody" reaction to BSA could be the same reaction that sets off the immune system in Multiple
Sclerosis. In MS, myelin in the brain and spinal cord is attacked by the body's own immune system. Multiple
Sclerosis follows the same "milk track" that childhood diabetes does. But MS researchers have never been able
to find out just what sets the body on its self-destructive path. Here is some food for thought about a possible
connection between cow milk and multiple sclerosis.

-- MS is most prevalent in Northern Europe and in the northern part of North America (i.e. northern U.S. and
Canada). Since 1950 researchers have been saying that if a child spends the first 15 years of his life in a
particular latitude [above 50 degrees N or below 50 degrees S], he has a greater chance of developing MS than if
he does not grow up in this area. But they do not know why this is. They have looked at factors like "December
solar radiation" as a possible factor (1). But they have not looked at diet (2). What is the common denominator
among people living in this particular latitude whether they live in Wisconsin or in Edinburgh?

The common denominator is CONSUMPTION OF DAIRY FOODSTUFFS. This explains, for example, why
people from the West Indies do not develop MS, but if they move to London, their CHILDREN have the same
risk of developing MS as "the white UK-born population." (3) Naturally, if you move, your diet changes.

Or, conversely: If you move, you bring your diet with you. Countries which do not fit this model include
Australia and New Zealand - both of which have a relatively high incidence of Multiple Sclerosis. These
countries are populated by people of European heritage, who drink cow's milk, eat cheese, etc. In Scandinavia,
MS is frequent but more prevalent in the interior regions - where dairy consumption is high - than in the ocean
side communities, where it is not.

--There is a genetic component to MS. A gene called HLA DR2 is known to predispose people to developing
MS. This gene is "over represented in Northern Europeans." (4)
All humans have - for the most part - identical genes. This is why you can be from the West Indies, move to
London, and your children have a high risk of developing MS. This is why, although MS is primarily a "disease"
of "White Europeans," (5) you can be Black and still develop MS. You can be White and develop Sickle Cell
Anemia, too. And "multiple sclerosis is rare in several populations where the normal frequency of DR2 is high:
examples include Japanese, black Africans, American Indians and Hungarian gypsies" (6) Do these groups drink
cow milk?

Dairy products are very bad for human beings. First, humans are the only mammals that drink the milk of
another mammal. And second, humans are the only mammals that continue to drink milk past infancy.
Also, consider how populations with low consumption of dairy foods also have low incidences of osteoporosis -
such as China, or certain African societies. Calcium deficiency caused by an inadequate amount of calcium in
the diet is not even known to occur in humans.(7) However, it is known that a diet high in protein, such as our
typical "Western" diet, high in animal protein, leads to osteoporosis. (8) Since the 1920s researchers have known
that diets high in protein (especially animal protein) cause calcium to be lost through the urine.

(9) There are other foods that not only provide calcium but that are richer sources of calcium AND do not
subject you to the unhealthy fats and bovine proteins that cow’s milk does. These are foods that do not add to
your weight, or increase your risk for developing heart disease, or cancer, or stroke, or high blood pressure, and
so on.

One cup of milk contains 288 mg of calcium, along with saturated fats and, especially if you're not buying
BGH-free milk, lots of other nasty things that were not intended by nature to be part of the human body. Some
alternative, rich sources of calcium include sesame seeds, chickpeas and broccoli. One tablespoon of sesame
seeds has 331 mg and one cup of cooked chickpeas has 75 mg of calcium. Broccoli (one large stalk) has 246
mg.

The U.S. RDA for calcium varies (i.e., a woman of childbearing age has a higher requirement) from 800 mg to
1200 mg/day. Milk is definitely not the best - and certainly not the healthiest - source of calcium.

In the light of evidence that is stacking up against cow’s milk, it would seem a wise choice to purchase non-
dairy ‘milk’, such as soy, oat or rice. Cow’s milk is for cows, not human beings.

Notes:
(1) McAlpine's Multiple Sclerosis, W.B. Matthews, Volume Editor, Churchill Livingstone, 1991, p. 19.
(2) Ibid., p. 20.
(3) Ibid., p. 21.
(4) Ibid., p. 310.
(5) Ibid., p. 16.
(6) Ibid., p. 310.
(7) McDougall, John A., M.D., and Mary A. McDougall, The McDougall Plan, New Century Publishers, Inc.,
pp. 49-51.
(8) Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 1980, 76: 148-150; Public Health Reports, 1986, 131-135.