subject: Link between milk, constipation and other issues [print this page] Milk is a white fluid secreted by the mammary glands of female mammals for the nourishment of their young, consisting of minute globules of fat suspended in a solution of casein, albumin, milk sugar, and inorganic salts.
Of all mammals, human milk has the lowest protein content and the lowest ratio of casein to whey. (1)
However, if any dairy product, even a small amount of skim milk, is retained in your diet, bowel movements may not pass easily or regularly.
Milk is one of the foods that cause constipation. -Journal of the American Medical Association 230(4) Oct. 28, 1974.
Researchers at the University of Palermo in Italy worked with 65 children with chronic constipation. All of these children had been treated with laxatives when dietary measures had failed. Even with the medical treatment, these children were still constipated, having hard, painful stools only every 3 to 15 days.
Each child received either cow's milk or soymilk for 2 weeks, with no one knowing which was which. Next, they had a week during which they could eat and drink anything they wanted to wash out the effects of the first 2 weeks. Then they switched sides for 2 weeks and got the milk that they didn't get the first time. Careful recordings of the bowel habits were made. Results Forty-four of the 65 children (68 percent) had a response while receiving soy milk and were no longer constipated! Anal fissures and pain with defecation resolved. None of the children who received cow's milk had a response.The redness, swelling, and fissures on their bottoms healed (New England Journal of Medicine, 1998; 339:1100-1104)
Colic: One out of every five babies suffers from colic. Pediatricians learned long ago that cows' milk was often the reason. We now know that breast- feeding mothers can have colicky babies if the mothers are consuming cow's milk. (2)
Cow's milk sugar, lactose, causes mucus in the intestines (but also in the excretory system of the organism) and the subsequent failure of its function.
Not only that there is relation between the milk and constipation, but milk is also responsible in some way for: Osteoporosis, Cataracts, Lactose Intolerance, Food Allergies, Toxins, Iron Deficiency, Diabetes, Ovarian Cancer, Fat and Cholesterol
Drinking cow's milk may weaken immune function in children and lead to problems with recurring infections.(3)
A young age at introduction of dairy products and high milk consumption during childhood may increase the child's risk of developing juvenile diabetes. (4)
Infants under four months old who drink breast milk rarely become constipated.Presumably, swelling of the intestinal lining causes the constipation. Whatever the exact mechanism, the problem is likely with the protein in cow's milk, not with the fat or lactose. More about infants and constipation you can read in this article here
Many diseases such as tuberculosis, brucellosis, diphtheria, scarlet fever, Q-fever, and gastro-enteritis are transmissible by milk products. (5)
Milk is an excellent vehicle of infection because its fat content protects pathogens from gastric acid, and, being fluid, it has a relatively short gastric transit time. (6)
Greens such as kale, broccoli, and bok choy are as good as milk in terms of their calcium absorbability. (7)
Dietary protein increases production of acid (in the blood) which can be neutralized by calcium mobilized from skeleton. (8)
So, milk to drink or not to drink? The choice is yours!
References:
(1). Proceedings of the Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine 1990: 193; 143
(2). PEDIATRICS 1991;87(4):439-444
(3). Nature 1978; 272 (5654): 632
(4). Diabetologia 1994; 37 (4): 381-387
(5). Journal of Dairy Science 1988; 71: 2809-2816
(6). Journal of the American Medical Association 1984; 252: 2048-2052
(7). Environmental Nutrition, January 1994, p. 3. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 1990; 656-657
(8). American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 1995; 61 (4):909
