Pasteurized milk and cancer link?

[thumpinos]

Is this legit? I don't understand how studies work and if this is nonsense.

Harvard study: Pasteurized milk from industrial dairies linked to cancer

The truth has once again shaken the foundation of the 'American Tower of Babel' that is mainstream science, with a new study out of Harvard University showing that pasteurized milk product from factory farms is linked to causing hormone-dependent cancers. It turns out that the concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFO) model of raising cows on factory farms churns out milk with dangerously high levels of estrone sulfate, an estrogen compound linked to testicular, prostate, and breast cancers.

Dr. Ganmaa Davaasambuu, Ph.D., and her colleagues specifically identified "milk from modern dairy farms" as the culprit, referring to large-scale confinement operations where cows are milked 300 days of the year, including while they are pregnant. Compared to raw milk from her native Mongolia, which is extracted only during the first six months after cows have already given birth, pasteurized factory milk was found to contain up to 33 times more estrone sulfate.

Learn more: Harvard study: Pasteurized milk from industrial dairies linked to cancer

[5kgLifter]

It's probably very legit, my issue is that they link everything to cancer, so much so that we'd just die of starvation if we listened to all of it...

[BendtheBar]

Nothing really to add. I would prefer raw milk but can't afford it.

Here is an interesting read. I am not trying to push anything by posting it, but I did learn something from it.

Wisconsin Raw Milk Association - Home

An Experiment: A Tale of Three Milks



Over the last month, one of our raw dairy producers decided to do an experiment to see what would happen if he left three kinds of milk at room temperature for a month. The first half gallon jar contains certified organic raw milk. This went into the jar on October 17, 2011. The middle jar contains conventional whole milk (pasteurized) and the jar on the right contains certified organic whole milk (Ultra Heat Treated, UHT, pasteurized). These both went in on November 1st.

The first thing to notice is that the raw milk is now separated into curds (milk solids, cream) and whey (the translucent liquid at the bottom. The conventional whole milk has done the same, although the milk solids are considerably less (how "whole" can it be?). The UHT organic milk has not separated at all. But there's more...the certified organic UHT milk has a thick layer of mold growing at the top!

Notice the condensed moisture in two jars and none in the raw milk. This lets us know that bacteria are multiplying and respiring in 2 jars and all is peace and quiet in the raw milk jar.



Another view

In this photo, the UHT milk is on the left, the conventional whole milk is in the middle and the raw milk is on the right.

The raw milk smells fresh and sour like sauerkraut or pickles. Our producer intends to eat it at Christmas. The "whole" milk smells sour, but what happened to the other half of "whole"? And what's with the air pockets? The organic UHT milk has a foul smell. It shows no sign of separation and the mold on top looks like a bio-hazard. No one would consume this product anymore!

It seems pretty obvious that the most NATURAL product is the raw milk, doing what it should and souring into a wonderful pro-biotic food. All milks are not the same, after all!

[Off Road]

Originally Posted by 5kgLifter

they link everything to cancer, so much so that we'd just die of starvation if we listened to all of it...

It goes far beyond that. We would have to stop driving, breathing, drinking water, using cell phones, going outside...

[Zipz]

Does it matter much if I drink while or low fat milk?

[Tannhauser]

Originally Posted by thumpinos

Is this legit? I don't understand how studies work and if this is nonsense.

Harvard study: Pasteurized milk from industrial dairies linked to cancer

The source for this is NaturalNews. I have a real problem with how they report research. The tone of the article makes it sound as though a definite link had been discovered between pasteurised milk and cancer, or at least that's how I read it.

However, if you look at their original source, you find a different picture. The Harvard Gazette reports on a' lunchtime talk' given by the scientist in question. It's taken six years for NaturalNews to report on a lunchtime lecture/conversation.

In that talk, the scientist discusses earlier research, which might show a link between cancer and milk treatment. But from the article - and as we might expect at a lunchtime talk - we have no clue about the quality of that research. Then she goes on to discuss some pilot studies she is carrying out - in other words, small scale studies intended just to pave the way for proper research. NaturalNews does not report on what became of that research, if anything.

The good doctor herself is cautious about the link:

But she is cautious about the implications of her studies of cancer rates and dairy consumption."..."The hormonal effects of milk are very new," said Ganmaa during questions from her Radcliffe audience. Until more research is done, she said, "I'd like to keep our heads low."

I could spend all evening detailing everything that I think is wrong with the NaturalNews article, but you get the picture. They do this all the time.

Bottom line: there might prove to be a link between cancer and milk production in the future, but at the moment we are miles away from establishing that. In the mean time, I wouldn't worry, as worrying is linked to cancer.

[Tannhauser]

Modern Milk | Harvard Magazine May-Jun 2007

This tells you a little more about the research, though it uses some of the same quotes. It's interesting stuff, but at the end of the day, nothing more than some animal work, epeidemiological evidence and some preliminary work.

I thought the article's conclusion was interesting (and the doctor makes the same point in the lunchtime article:

In the meantime, it is reassuring to know that skim milk from the United States has low levels of hormones, just like the traditional stuff from Mongolia.

I wonder why they didn't report that in NN

[Trent]

I could see that it would be legit. Does make sense how they describe it. That is scary though because lots of people drink tons of milk.