Dr.Kirk herself has labeled us mutants and rightfully so. There is a notion that there are people who are lactose intolerant, but it is truly the other way around. There are a group of people that are lactose tolerant, people who have mutated in order to process lactase. Everybody else is normal & unable to process it properly.
Given that we had to mutate to adjust to this dietary habit, it sparked a question of what all is in milk and how might it affect us?
Bovine mastitis, the clinical terminology, is an udder infection of a cow. Why should this concern you? Because in the milk industry it is commonplace and an infection doesn't stop the milking of that cow.
Just how common are such infections? Well, one study performed by Morreti et al tested the milk of 19 herds in Italy and found 29.7% positive for pathogen microorganisms related to these infections. (Moretti, 2010) Although, in America where living conditions are much worse and the process is much more industrialized, the numbers are slated to be much higher.
The industry shows again that it is more concerned with loss of profits than it is about consumer health nor the welfare of the animals. In a document created by Schroeder there are outlines of a comparison of revenue to be gained/lost as to whether treating the infection is more profitable than it is to let it continue. He found that it costs roughly $200 per cow for infection versus $112 per cow for better control so that the infection doesn't occur. (Schroeder, 2012) Consumer health and animal well being (beyond the means of production) doesn't enter into the equation.
Pus is, of course, one component that follows infection. "Dairy cows are medicated with recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH) to stimulate a much higher than normal milk production. This causes severe stress that results in mastitis, an infection of the udders of sick and stressed cows. This infection is, of course, treated with antibiotics, helping to breed more antibiotic resistant organisms. It is literally unbelievable that one liter (a little over a quart) of Californian milk contained 298 million pus cells in 2003, 11 million more pus cells than it contained in 2002." (How Many Pus Cells Are In Your Milk)
Also, of the 29.7% positive results, "4.9 % were positive for yeasts and bacteria, 4.4 % for yeasts and 20.4 % for bacteria. The species of yeasts and bacteria most frequently encountered were Trichosporon capitatum (31.2%), T. beigelii (18.72%) and Candida albicans (12.48%), C. guillermondii (12.48%), C. tropicalis (12.48%); with regard to bacteria were Staphylococcus aureus (34.3%) and S. albo (19.8%)." (Moretti, 2010) Staphylococcus aureus rears its ugly head again, we seemingly can't get away from it in animal bi-products. Again, forms of this known as MRSA (methicillin resistant staphylococcus aerus) and ORSA (methicillin resistant staphylococcus aerus) are increasingly resilient against antibiotics and can often be troublesome in hospitals. Cows given antibiotics to help cure infections are only strengthening these strains of staph.
Given that there are much healthier sources of calcium (pus-free as well, mind you), such as kale, broccoli, and tofu, without the risk of promoting this already resistant staphylococcus aerus, why do people persist? Is casomorphin an active factor in people's affinity for milk? Perhaps a question we'll attempt to address in a future post.
Works Cited
How Many Pus Cells Are In Your Milk. (n.d.). Retrieved 11 27, 2012, from Food Matters: http://foodmatters.tv/articles-1/how-many-pus-cells-are-in-your-milk
Moretti, e. a. (2010). Relationship Between Cell Counts in Bovine Milk and the Presence of Mastitis Pathogens. Journal of Veterinary Medicine, Series B , 129 - 132.
Schroeder, J. W. (2012). Mastitis Control Programs: Bovine Mastitis and Milking Management. Fargo.
