The three problematic ingredients in dairy products are lactose (milk sugar), butterfat, casein and other proteins. While lactose is a problem in all animal milk, including goat's milk, difficulties with casein and butterfat are specific to cow's milk.
Bottle-feeding with cow's milk has far-reaching effects. The earlier it is substituted for breast milk, the more damage is caused. The baby's digestive system is still immature and relies on enzymes provided in mother's milk. It cannot properly digest cow's milk, especially if it has been pasteurized and is without enzymes.
In addition, in the first few weeks or months the wall of the small intestine is not yet fully developed and allows only partly digested proteins to pass through and this causes allergies. In a recent investigation all infants and most older children had antibodies against cow's milk in their blood. This means they were allergic to it, even in the absence of obvious symptoms. However, usually unspecific symptoms are present, such as restlessness and crying at night, dermatitis, tender abdomen, tantrums, weak eyes, low energy, hyper-activity, indigestion and a high incidence of colds, ear and respiratory infections. A contributing factor that makes these babies prone to infections is the absence of immuno-protective agents in bottle milk that are present in breast milk, especially in the colostrum.
In one Scandinavian study it was shown that no purely breastfed baby developed early middle ear infection, and also was protected against it in later life. In contrast, early introduction of cow’s milk predisposed children to this and was exclusively found in children who received cow’s milk before the age of 6 months.
Furthermore, bottle-fed babies suffer from zinc deficiency. Zinc is essential for activating the immune system. The zinc content in cow's milk is actually higher than that in mother's milk. However, in cow's milk zinc is bound to a protein from which the baby's immature digestive system cannot release it.
Other trace minerals are also difficult for the baby to absorb from cow's milk; iron is especially problematic. A resulting iron deficiency in babies contributes to the development of anemia, a weakening of the immune system and retarded mental and cognitive development.
An allergy to cow's milk and subsequent mucus congestion of the lungs, combined with zinc and iron deficiencies of the immune system, cause frequent colds and respiratory infections in babies. This, in turn, depletes the baby more and more of vitamin C. The effect of all this is a high incidence of crib deaths in bottle-fed babies. Crib deaths sometimes occur shortly after immunizations, which further drain the already dangerously low levels of vitamin C. Toxic gases from synthetic mattresses cause further distress.
Archie Kalokerinos, in his book Every Second Child (Keats), relates that in some Aboriginal communities every second child given a vaccination died of crib death, but when fed high doses of vitamin C before and after vaccinations, not a single child died.
Is it a coincidence that New Zealand has the highest rates of asthma and crib deaths in the world but also the highest consumption of cow's milk? Until some years ago all New Zealand school children received free milk at school. This would leave many mothers with a milk allergy that can easily be passed on to the fetus and later, with breast milk, to the baby.
Crib deaths are uncommon in breast-fed babies. However, even breast-fed babies can develop allergies if the mother has a high intake of cow's milk products or is allergic to it herself. Full-term babies in the first two weeks and premature babies in the first one or two months may become allergic to almost any substitute for mother's milk. If breast-feeding by the mother is not possible during this time and a wet nurse is not available, then fresh raw goats' or sheep's milk is the least harmful alternative.
LACTOSE
Approximately 90 per cent of the world's adult population - that is, all but the majority of the Caucasian race - cannot split lactose into its two components - glucose and galactose. After the age of 3 a deficiency of the lactose-splitting enzyme lactase develops, and this can cause more or less severe indigestion and diarrhea if the diet contains appreciable amounts of lactose. This condition is known as lactose intolerance.
Lactose intolerant people can tolerate lactose better if fermented milk is used, as in the form of yogurt or kefir, where the lactose is partially split by lactic-acid bacteria. Alternatively, lactose-splitting enzymes are now commercially available and may be added to milk. However, lactose intolerance is only a minor problem compared to the much more serious health problems caused by galactose. Lactose intolerance actually appears to be a wise precaution of nature rather than a regrettable accident, because it protects us from the great danger of galactose overload.
Most European adults and older children who can digest lactose are unable to use galactose efficiently. Babies need galactose as an important building component of the brain, the central nervous system and of many proteins. Thus mother's milk is even higher in lactose than animal milk to ensure the baby does obtain sufficient galactose.
In later life, very little galactose is needed and this can easily be synthesized from other sugars. Therefore, most of the ingested galactose is converted in the liver to glucose and used as body fuel, but the amount that can be converted is rather limited, even in a healthy liver.
This conversion is a slow and complex process requiring four different enzymes. One of these is sometimes missing from birth, giving rise to a condition known as galactosaemia. Continued milk-feeding leads to a build-up of galactose in the baby and causes cataracts, cirrhosis of the liver and spleen and mental retardation.
If the liver is not healthy, it becomes less able to convert galactose. This fact is sometimes used as a criterion for a clinical liver-function test. If galactose is injected into someone with a defective liver, most of the galactose will later appear in the urine.
MUCIC ACID
Unfortunately, under normal conditions only part of the galactose is expelled with the urine. If there is a deficiency of protective antioxidants, then the rest is mainly oxidized to galactaric acid, commonly known as mucic acid. The great health danger of mucic acid is that it is insoluble. The body cannot let it pile up in vital areas and block organ functions or blood circulation. Therefore, it forms the mucic acid into a sticky suspension in water, called mucus. Thus mucic acid is a main component of pathogenic (disease-producing) mucus.
It is the function of the lymphatic system to remove dangerous substances, such as mucus, from areas of vital importance and transport it to the organs of elimination. Mucus is too dangerous to dispose of through the kidneys or with bile through the liver, but it has a special affinity to the mucous membranes that line the insides of our body openings. Such areas, and of prime importance, are the lungs, the respiratory tract and the hollow head spaces, the sinuses and the Eustachian tube (a passage between the mouth and the inner ear).
The mucus accumulates in these hollow spaces until external factors help to sensitize the mucous membranes sufficiently to allow the mucus to pass through. This is relatively easy in young individuals and those with a poor sugar metabolism as they have high levels of histamine and inflammatory adrenal hormones. Even minor irritations of the mucous membranes, be it from cold air, dust, air pollution, pollen or germs, will sensitize these to let some of the mucus flow out.
Such mucus cleansing may be experienced periodically as a cold, hay fever, wet cough or running nose. In others, the accumulation of mucus, which provides a favorable breeding ground for germs, causes chronic infections in specific areas such as the sinuses, the middle ear, the respiratory tract and the lungs. This may allow a permanent trickle of mucus through the affected mucous membrane. In addition, a dead front tooth may be responsible for chronic sinus problems.
With a high lactose intake, the lymph channels and lymph glands are usually congested with mucus as well. This allows influenza and other infections to spread from the sensitized mucous membranes through the mucus-filled hollow spaces into the lymphatic system, causing lymph gland swellings and inflammations. I have found that in many people the number of colds, influenza and other respiratory infections can be varied at will from none to several per year just by varying the lactose intake. Mucus congestion is also the main cause of ear infections and hearing problems, especially in children.
In most cases it is not a lactose allergy but a galactose overload that is responsible for this excessive mucus. While in the case of those suffering from cow's milk allergy somewhat more lactose may be tolerated when it comes from goat's milk, in most individuals the lactose in goat's milk or in tablets will be equally as mucus-forming as that from cow's milk.
ASTHMA
When more mucus accumulates in the lungs than can be expelled, asthma is likely to develop. Often lung congestion is combined with a strong subconscious fear element that may, for instance, result from insecurity or lack of love in early childhood. Another contributing factor is hypoglycemia coupled with weak adrenal glands.
Many cases seem to be predominantly mucus-induced. I remember a patient who was fond of yogurt and, for health reasons, prepared it from skim-milk powder. This produces yogurt with a much higher lactose content than yogurt from full-fat milk (see Table 4-1). When I persuaded her to use somewhat less yogurt and prepare it only from whole milk without additional skim-milk powder, her asthma disappeared for good. The asthma-causing skim-milk yogurt provided approximately 50 g of lactose per day, while she was asthma-free on whole-milk yogurt with about 5 g of lactose daily.
The lung irritation caused by accumulated mucus also means that the lungs are more prone to be affected by food allergies and chemicals. This could result in inflammatory swellings of the bronchial tubes. Mucus accumulating in the lungs allows bacteria to infiltrate. Some strains of these bacteria convert sugars into alginic acid, another sticky mucus. Often there is Candida or fungus infestation as well, which sensitizes the mucous membranes to airborne molds. Mucus-releasing colds in this setting can be a blessing in disguise, provided they are not treated with antibiotics. Also dead teeth may induce copious mucus.
The mucous membranes of asthmatics, which are highly sensitized by mucic acid, react strongly to air pollutants such as smoke, pollen and sulfur dioxide. The adrenal glands are weak and histamine levels are high because of a sweet diet and allergies. To overcome asthma, we need to reverse these negative conditions by using a low-allergy diet with a minimum of sweet or mucus-forming food, while the respiratory tract should periodically be cleared of mucus. Also breathing exercises help.
CHRONIC DEGENERATIVE DISEASES
A serious consequence of a lymphatic system badly congested with mucus is the development of leukemia. This happens when the immune system has been sufficiently damaged by frequent mucus-related infections combined with other factors such as toxic chemicals, a sweet diet, allergies and vitamin-mineral deficiencies.
It may not be a coincidence that Nathan Pritikin, famous for his much-publicized diet to cure cardiovascular diseases, developed leukemia. The original Pritikin diet is high in skim-milk products and, therefore, imposes a severe galactose overload on the body. Either leukemia or another galactose-related degenerative disease is more likely to develop as a long-term effect of a high intake of skim-milk products. Cardiovascular diseases can be prevented or cured nutritionally without causing other health problems.
Leukemia stands in between the acute mucus-related infections of childhood and the usual chronic degenerative diseases that develop with advancing age. When our metabolism slows down as we become older or are on an unsuitably heavy meat diet, the body gradually becomes too alkaline and the mucous membranes become more insensitive. In this condition mucus released through colds and other respiratory infections becomes rare and most of the mucic acid is stored in the body.
Lactose intolerance, and thus enforced avoidance of foods containing lactose, can also reduce the incidence of another disease - cataracts of the eyes. Even infants may develop cataracts when they cannot convert galactose to glucose. Therefore, galactose overload is also an important cause of cataracts in adults. In addition, high blood glucose and fructose levels may contribute. These simple sugars are reduced to sugar alcohols that cause cloudiness in the lens. Another form of cataract is mainly caused by a chronic deficiency of the vitamins A, B2, C and E, and the minerals chromium and selenium. Radiation exposure or drugs can also cause cataracts.
Besides cataracts, there are other diseases that are usually considered to be typical for the aging body but that occur already in infants with galactosaemia. These include liver degeneration, edema and reduced memory or senility (the latter being equivalent to mental retardation in infants with galactosaemia).
Cancer (carcinoma) reportedly can result from galactosaemia. A recent report shows that women who consumed yogurt had a higher rate of ovarian cancer than controls that consumed the same amount of lactose from other milk products. Because of the activity of the lactic-acid bacteria, yogurt contains more readily available galactose than other milk products. Another cancer-related problem is the high estrogen content of milk. This is likely to stimulate the growth of breast and ovarian tumors. However, as estrogen is fat-soluble it can be expected to remain with milk fat and skim milk products should be alright in this regard.
A frequent complaint is increasing deafness because of mucus congestion of the Eustachian tube and the middle ear with subsequent infection and inflammation. In children this condition has been called 'glue ear'. This is especially a problem with children of non-European background because they can still absorb lactose but cannot very well convert galactose into energy, especially from cow's milk.
With lactose-induced mucus congestion, degenerative lung diseases may also develop, such as emphysema. While smoking is generally considered to be the greatest hazard for lung cancer, it may actually rank equal with galactose overload, and most at risk are heavy smokers with mucus-congested lungs. Sometimes the lungs simply fill up with mucus. Actually, a patient died in my presence because his lungs and breathing passage were filled with sticky mucus. He literally drowned in it. With each breath I could hear the air bubbling up through the mucus.
A combination of mucus accumulation in the lungs and the digestive system is seen in cystic fibrosis, which is mainly due to an overproduction of an abnormal mucopolysaccharide - a long-chain carbohydrate that normally supplies the physiological mucus required by the body. Cystic fibrosis sufferers also may be unable to convert galactose and, as they are usually deficient in protective antioxidants, they may also produce large amounts of mucic acid. Like galactose overload, cystic fibrosis is a disease of the Caucasian race.
In part, excessive mucus formation stems from an infestation of the lungs with bacteria that produce an abnormal amount of sticky alginic acid. The important point is that alginic acid is synthesized from a simple sugar - mannose - which these bacteria can convert from an excess of any other sugar, such as galactose, fructose or glucose. Therefore, mucus-forming as well as sweet foods must be avoided.
LACTOSE IN FOOD
Preventing excessive mucus accumulation in the body is much easier than trying to remove it afterwards. If you are concerned about your future wellbeing, it is a wise precaution to reduce your intake of lactose to a minimum. See the following table for the lactose content of some common dairy products.
