Avoid this Popular Beverage Until You Learn the Shocking Details

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Avoid this Popular

Beverage Until You Learn the Shocking Details

Depending

on

where you live, finding a healthy source of this beverage could be

challenging. But if you happen to drink the wrong type, your risk of

serious health issues could spike. What to do before you take another

sip...

 

 

Does Drinking Milk Cause Upper-Respiratory Congestion?

Posted by Dr. Mercola | April 27

2010 | 6,110 views

 

 

 

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Conventional wisdom states

that drinking milk causes an increase in phlegm. Scientists have

generally dismissed the notion, though, since experiments do not seem

to bear it out. In one study, researchers noted that even people who

were inoculated with the common cold virus did not show any increase in

symptoms when they drank milk.

But a new report suggests that those earlier studies suffered from a

critical flaw: not all milk is the same.

Certain breeds of cows produce milk containing a protein called

beta-CM-7. This protein can stimulate mucus glands in both your

digestive- and respiratory tracts.

Milk containing the beta-CM-7 protein could therefore very well

stimulate phlegm -- particularly in people who suffer from chronic lung

conditions.

 

Sources:

New

York Times April 12, 2010

 

Medical Hypotheses

April 2010; 74(4):732-4

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dr.

Mercola's Comments:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First of all, please understand that I do

not recommend drinking pasteurized milk of any kind –

ever. Because once milk has been pasteurized it’s more or less “dead,”

and offers little in terms of real nutritional value to anyone, whether

you show signs of intolerance to the milk or not.

Valuable enzymes are destroyed, vitamins (such as A, C, B6 and

B12) are diminished, fragile milk proteins are radically transformed

from health nurturing to unnatural amino acid configurations that can

actually worsen your health. Finally the eradication of beneficial

bacteria through the pasteurization process actually ends up promoting

pathogens.

The healthy alternative to pasteurized milk is raw milk, which is

an outstanding source of nutrients including beneficial bacteria such

as lactobacillus acidophilus, vitamins and enzymes, and it is, in my

estimation, one of the finest sources of calcium available.

Raw milk is generally not associated with the health

problems linked to pasteurized milk, and even people who have been

allergic to pasteurized milk for many years can typically tolerate and

even thrive on raw milk.

However, some people may still experience problems, such as upper

respiratory congestion, when drinking raw milk, and the difference

between the breeds of cows the milk comes from appears to hold the

answer.

 

Different Cows = Different Milk

 

This is an issue you may never have heard of unless you’re

familiar with the bovine industry, or have done a fair amount of

research on milk. But there are actually distinct differences in the

milk produced by various breeds of dairy cows.

So-called A1 cows are “newer” breeds that experienced a mutation

of a particular amino acid some 5,000 years ago, whereas A2 cows are

the older breeds that do not have this mutation.

As Thomas Cowan, MD, a founding board member of the Weston A.

Price Foundation explains

in his article Devil in the Milk, milk consists of three parts:

 

Butterfat,

Whey and

Milk solids

 

The milk solids consist of a variety of proteins, lactose and

other sugars. One of these proteins is called beta-casein, and this is

the protein of interest when comparing A1 and A2 milk.

All proteins are long chains of amino acids. Beta casein is a

chain of 229 amino acids. A2 cows produce this protein with a proline

at number 67, whereas A1 cows have a mutated proline amino acid, which

converts it to histidine.

The proline in A2 milk has a strong bond to another small protein

called BCM 7, which helps keep it from being released.

Histidine (the mutated protein), on the other hand, only weakly

holds on to BCM 7, so it is liberated in the GI tract of animals and

humans who drink A1 cow milk. Now, BCM7 is a powerful opiate that can

have a very detrimental impact on your body.

As discussed in the article above, it is likely the cause of

increased phlegm production in your digestive- and respiratory tract,

which can worsen upper respiratory problems.

This confirms previous findings, discussed in Keith Woodford’s

book Devil

in the Milk: Illness, Health and the Politics of A1 and A2 Milk.

 

In it he writes that BCM 7 selectively binds to the epithelial

cells in mucus membranes and stimulates mucus secretion.

But that’s not all. BCM7 has also been implicated in other far

more serious health problems, such as:

 

Type 1 diabetes

Neurological impairment, including autism

and schizophrenia

Impaired immune function

Autoimmune disease

Heart disease

 

For those of you who want to investigate this at greater depth, betacasein.net offers

a comprehensive list of published scientific studies of the differences

between A1 and A2 milk and their health ramifications.

You can also pick up a copy of Keith Woodford’s informative book, Devil

in the Milk: Illness, Health and the Politics of A1 and A2 Milk.

 

 

The US Raises Mainly the “Wrong” Cows…

 

A1 cows include the black and white breeds like Holsteins and

Friesians. Unfortunately, Holsteins are one of the most popular breeds

in North America.

The older breeds, such as Jersey’s, Guernsey, Asian and African

are primarily A2’s. Goats and sheep also produce the healthier A2 type

milk.

 

“Our issue in America is that we have the wrong cows,” Dr.

Cowan writes.

“When you take A1 cow milk away, and stimulate our own

endorphins instead of the toxic opiate of BCM 7, some amazing health

benefits ensue.

One saving grace, as expressed in The Devil in the Milk, is

that the absorption of BCM 7 is much less in people with a healthy GI

tract... BCM 7 is also not found in goat’s or sheep’s milk, so these

types of milk might be better tolerated.

… We now have one more thing to put on our activism to-do

list. Dr.

Woodford explains that it is fairly straightforward to switch a

herd to become an all A2 herd. No genetic engineering is needed, no

fancy tests, just one simple test of the beta-casein and it can be

done.

Hopefully, when this becomes widespread we will end up with

a truly safe and healthy milk supply.”

 

Naturally, getting America’s dairy farmers to start switching

breeds would require a massive campaign, but in the meantime, just

being aware of this inherent difference between A1 and A2 milk can

prove to be invaluable for many, especially if you have tried switching

to raw milk and still experience problems with it.

You may simply be drinking milk from an A1 breed… Switching to

milk from an A2 breed could make a significant difference.

This is also an important point for dairy farmers everywhere to at

least consider, as A1 cattle may still not be producing the healthiest

milk for human consumption, even when grass-fed.

 

How to Find Truly Healthy Milk

 

Depending on where you live, A2 milk may not be that hard to find.

In fact, herds in much of Asia, Africa, and parts of Southern Europe

still produce primarily A2 milk.

If you live in the United States, New Zealand, Australia or other

areas of Europe, however, you’ll need to look a bit harder since the

majority of cattle in these areas are A1 breeds.

As you know, I advocate getting your raw milk from a local dairy

farmer that raises cattle organically, letting his livestock graze on

fresh grasses. So to ensure the milk you’re getting is A2 milk -- the

type that has not been associated with illness and instead appears to

have numerous health benefits – you’d just have to ask what kind of

breed he raises. (Remember, A2 breeds include Jersey, Guernsey, Asian

and African cows.)

Buying retail (in those states where raw milk sale is legal) would

require just a little more work, since you’d have to get the contact

information of the milk supplier and then call or write them to find

out what breeds are used.

Fortunately, grass-fed, raw milk almost always comes from small

dairy farms that do not co-mingle their milk with milk from other

farms, so this makes ensuring you’re buying A2 milk quite a bit easier.

 

You can start you search for raw milk retailers in the US by going

to the RealMilk web site.

 

www.OrganicPastures.com

also has a store locator for California.

(You can use the following hyperlinks to find out the legal status of raw milk in

the U.S. state or country where you

live.)

Yet another option is raw goat- and sheep’s milk, as neither of

them contains the harmful BCM-7.