Diabetes rates have soared in recent years, particularly in developed countries where junk diets and obesity have reached epidemic proportions. Diabetes is a terrible disease in which the body fails to control blood sugar levels (referred to as 'insulin resistance'). According to a 2007 study by the University of Cardiff in the UK, drinking a pint of milk a day may protect men against diabetes and heart disease. But upon closer examination of the research, the study has turned out to be flawed and without merit. Jon Barron (of The Baseline of Health Foundation) analyzed the data from the study and his comments are summarized in the five points below: 1. The 20-year study, published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, analyzed how insulin resistance was affected by dairy milk consumption. According to the study, which tracked 2,375 men between the ages of 45 and 59 over a 20 year period, eating dairy products reduces the risk of insulin resistance. The more they consumed, the lower the risk. 2. Although the study looked at a decreased risk of insulin resistance with increased dairy consumption, it found little correlation between dairy consumption and the incidence of diabetes itself. In comparing the lowest milk consumers with the highest, it found only 7 more cases of diabetes among the lowest consumers, a statistically insignificant amount. The incidence of heart disease was not looked at in the study. 3. An important omission in the research was the exclusion of people who had diabetes at the start of the study. As a consequence, we don't know if their condition improved or got worse as a result of consuming milk. Such data would have helped determine the effect milk consumption on insulin resistance in the human body. 4. Furthermore, the study only references the amount of milk and dairy products people were consuming, nothing else. If they're drinking more milk, they're drinking less of something else. Conversely, if they're drinking less milk, they're drinking more of something else. If that something else is soda pop, sugared energy drinks or coffee with sugar, that can be a major factor in the onset of insulin resistance. 5. It seems that the so-called health benefits attributed to milk in the study may have nothing to do with milk at all. They may instead be a reflection of a better diet. It is likely that the men drinking milk were consuming less sugary foods, but the study doesn't tell us either way. Clearly, without the data, the study is meaningless and misleading. When you look at the research into diabetes there are many studies (too numerous to mention here) linking milk consumption with a higher incidence of diabetes, and there are virtually no studies suggesting that milk prevents diabetes. In her book Nurturing Traditions (1999) Sally Fallon makes the following comment: 'There is some evidence that pasteurization alters milk lactase (a form of sugar), making it more readily absorbable. This and the fact that pasteurized milk puts an unnecessary strain on the pancreas to produce digestive enzymes, may explain why milk consumption has been linked to diabetes'. This is confirmed by other research. It is known that lactose undergoes condensation and molecular changes as a result of heat treatment. Lactose in milk feeds glucose into the bloodstream, and this in turn can over time create insulin resistance. With organic milk the risk of diabetes is significantly greater. Most organic milk in the world (over 80 percent) is supplied as UHT milk. In the United States just about all organic milk sold commercially is UHT. The pasteurization temperature of UHT is about double that of regular pasteurized milk. So UHT milk (whether or not organic) is more likely to flood the bloodstream with milk sugar, increasing the risk of diabetes. See below for information about a new book 'Organic Milk Myth' which covers this subject in detail.
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