Scientist Warning: Stop Drinking Low Fat Milk!

The recommendation to drink three cups of milk a day is one of the most common and acted upon pieces of dietary advice given to the American public; but it may not be as solid advice as it appears. A Harvard researcher recently has argued that conventional milk and dairy products are actually detrimental to your health, thanks to added health-compromising sweeteners that are added to them.

Artificially Sweetened Milk

David Ludwig is a Harvard researcher and pediatrician, and recently published the results of his research in the Journal of the American Medical Association Pediatrics. There have been countless pieces of research previous to this documenting the negative effects of sugar-sweetened drinks. It comes as no surprise to anyone that the overconsumption of sugary drinks is tied to obesity, diabetes, and inflammatory pain, among other unpleasant conditions. Because of all this, the United States Department of Agriculture and the American Academy of Pediatrics have recommended a limited consumption of these beverages.

However, there is one drink high in calories and sugar that they still promote; reduced-fat milk. As far as Ludwig is concerned, the USDA recommendation to drink three cups of milk a day is akin to encouraging the added consumption of sugar. The problem with reduced fat milk is that fat is simply replaced by more sugars. The sugar is put into the milk to make it tastier for kids to drink, because without the fat, most of the flavour is lost.

“This recommendation to drink three cups a day of milk – it’s perhaps the most prevailing advice given to the American public about diet in the last half century. As a result, Americans are consuming billions of gallons of milk a year, presumably under the assumption that their bones would crumble without them,” says David Ludwig.

Just how bad is 2% milk anyways?

Ludwig argues although milk is a good source in calcium, the amount of sweetener that’s put in milk just isn’t worth it. After all, he argues, it isn’t as though milk is the only food that contains calcium.

According to Ludwig, there are actually several health benefits to drinking full fat milk. In its most pure state (that is; raw, organic, from grass-fed cows), full-fat dairy has been found to promote heart health, control diabetes, lower bowel cancer risk, aid in vitamin absorption and air in weight loss. Note that this applies purely to organic, pure dairy, and not conventional store-bought milk.

Vegan milk is the way to go

In order to avoid calories and dangerous levels of sugars, the best solution may be something that vegans have been drinking for years. Vegan milks like almond milk, soy milk or coconut milks contain less fat, less cholesterol, and less calories then conventional dairy milk. If you’re searching for a non-dairy alternative to milk, you’re far better off to go with vegan milks then sweetened low-fat varieties. Compared to the 12 grams of fat found in low-fat milk, an unsweetened soy milk has just 2 grams of fat! Now that’s a no brainer!

Article Source

http://www.realfarmacy.com/why-harvard-scientists-say-you-need-to-stop-drinking-low-fat-milk-immediately/

http://ohsheglows.com/2013/01/07/vegan-how-to-replacing-dairy-milk/

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