Is Soy Milk as beneficial as regular milk?

Question

I am lactose intolerant and can't drink skimmed, low fat or full cream milk. But because soy milk is lactose free, i can drink it. But is it giving me the nutrients that regular milk would?

Answer 1

I'm also lactose intolerant, so I feel your pain.

Soy milk is better for you in most categories -- it has less fat, less saturated fat, no cholesterol, more fiber, less sugar, more protein, more vitamin A, and more iron. The main negative difference is that it has less vitamin D and calcium. This is the key -- because you're lactose intolerant, it's probably a good idea to take calcium supplements to make sure you're getting the right amount.

You can also take lactase pills whenever you eat dairy products (it's what I do), especially if you don't eat dairy twice a day. The pills replace the enzyme that your body doesn't produce, and are available over the counter at pretty much every drug store or grocery store (the name brand Lactaid is good).

Answer 2

Adult humans do not require milk or anything in it. Why would you ask if soy milk is as beneficial as something which is useless?

Humans are the only animal that drinks milk past infancy, and then it's not even from the correct species! Too many people are still trying to defend milk's supposed health benefits. Unfortunately, they are either using old information or information obtained from research funded by the dairy association. How many people would enjoy a glass of dog's milk or rat's milk? What makes cows special?

There are only two reasons which I've found to support humans drinking cow's milk. We have grown up hearing that it's good for us and we've grown accustomed to the taste and texture. There is absolutely no nutrition that can not be obtained elsewhere, minus the negatives. Calcium seems to be the major claim for milk. It can be found elsewhere in green vegetables, almonds, and many other sources. Where do you think the cows obtain the calcium to put into the milk? Where do other larger animals (elephants, horses, deer, whales, etc) get calcium? Why we continue to drink cow's milk laced with growth hormones, antibiotics, and who knows what else is beyond me.

Since I've given up drinking milk about 5 years ago my health has greatly improved. I suffer fewer allergy problems, asthma and breathing problems are greatly reduced, I'm sleeping better, and I have more energy.

In the '50s smoking was considered harmless but now we realize its dangers. One person at a time and eventually the truth will become widely known that cow's milk is only for baby cows. Milk is indeed the perfect food, but only for infants of the proper species.

Do some research online and decide for yourself.
http://www.strongbones.org/
http://www.notmilk.com/
http://www.nomilk.com/

Answer 3

Wikipedia happens to have a good mix of general info on this. But it's funny to me that if Soy Milk is SO good for us, better than cows milk, why aren't most baby formulas made with soy?

Don't we care the very most about our babies? Why is soy not the first choice for infants? I just don't understand. Something smells funny.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soy_milk

Answer 4

Lactaid!

Check your area for lactose free milks.

I can't drink regular milk. Never have been able to.

Answer 5

Yes... milk is Mother Nature's "perfect food" ...for a calf... until it is weaned.

Everything you know about cow's milk and dairy is probably part of a Dairy industry MYTH.

Cow's milk is an unhealthy fluid from diseased animals that contains a wide range of dangerous and disease-causing substances that have a cumulative negative effect on all who consume it.

MILK'S BASIC CONTENTS

*ALL* cow's milk (regular and 'organic') has 59 active hormones, scores of allergens, fat and cholesterol.

Most cow's milk has measurable quantities of herbicides, pesticides, dioxins (up to 200 times the safe levels), up to 52 powerful antibiotics (perhaps 53, with LS-50), blood, pus, feces, bacteria and viruses. (Cow's milk can have traces of anything the cow ate... including such things as radioactive fallout from nuke testing ... (the 50's strontium-90 problem).

LEADING CAUSES OF DEATH IN AMERICA
http://webapp.cdc.gov/sasweb/ncipc/leadcaus.html (1998)

Rank Total Description

1 724,859 Heart Disease (think fats/cholesterol: meat/dairy)
2 541,532 Malignant Neoplasms (cancer: think toxins/milk/dairy)
2a 250,000 Medical system (drugs/etc. think ignorance/incompetence)
3 158,448 Cerebro-vascular (think meat milk and dairy)
4 112,584 Bronchitis Emphysema Asthma (think toxins/milk/dairy)
5 97,835 Unintentional Injuries and Adverse Effects
6 91,871 Pneumonia & Influenza (think weak immune systems and
mucus)
7 64,751 Diabetes (think milk/dairy)
7a 40,000+ Highway slaughter (men, women and children)
8 30,575 Suicide (think behavioral problems)
9 26,182 Nephritis (Bright's disease: inflammation of the
kidneys)
10 25,192 Liver Disease (think alcohol and other toxins)

(2a and 7a were added for completeness)

(note: Number 13 on the CDC list is -18,272 Homicide & Legal Intervention-. It is curious that the CDC would readily list law enforcement and homicides... and not the 250,000 deaths caused by the medical system!)

CANCER FUEL

Of those 59 hormones one is a powerful GROWTH hormone called Insulin- like Growth Factor ONE (IGF-1). By a freak of nature it is identical in cows and humans. Consider this hormone to be a "fuel cell" for any cancer... (the medical world says IGF-1 is a key factor in the rapid growth and proliferation of breast, prostate and colon cancers, and we suspect that most likely it will be found to promote ALL cancers).

IGF-1 is a normal part of ALL milk... the newborn is SUPPOSED to grow quickly! What makes the 50% of obese American consumers think they need MORE growth? Consumers don't think anything about it because they do not have a clue to the problem... nor do most of our doctors.

(See http://www.notmilk.com/igf1time.txt for a time line)

QUANTITY

Each bite of hard cheese has TEN TIMES whatever was in that sip of milk... because it takes ten pounds of milk to make one pound of cheese. Each bite of ice cream has 12 times ... and every swipe of butter 21 times whatever is contained in the fat molecules in a sip of milk.

MONSANTO AND rbGH (Posilac)

Monsanto Chemical Co., maker of fine poisons such as DDT, agent orange, Roundup and more... spent around half a billion dollars inventing a shot to inject into cows... to force a cow to produce MORE milk (for an already glutted taxpayer subsidized market).

Unfortunately, they created *FIVE* errors in their Frankenstein Posilac (rbGH) shot that direly affected all test animals... but that important report (Richard, Odaglia & Deslex, 1989) has been hidden from everyone under Clinton's Trade Secrets act. The Canadians read enough of this report (before it was stolen) to reject rbGH for their country.

Monsanto's Posilac creates additional IGF-1 in milk: up to 80% more.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) insists that IGF-1 is destroyed in the stomach. If that were true, the FDA has proven that breast feeding cannot work. Common sense says their "finding" is ridiculous because this growth factor DOES make the baby calf grow (rapidly, as mother natured intended). Visit the Dairy Education Board at http://www.notmilk.com/deb/100399.html to review a DAIRY study that confirms what the FDA has lied about this for years.

IGF-1 INCREASES

This study involved two groups. One group consuming 12 ounces of milk a day and the other consuming the USDA recommended allowance of 24 ounces (three cups). This report notes that the participants consuming 12 ounces more milk per day... HAD A 10% RISE IN IGF-1 IN THEIR BLOOD SERUM! Now, consider that PER DAY, from ALL sources, the typical milk/dairy consumer ingests approximately 39% of daily diet from dairy... and that 10% increase becomes the "tip of the iceberg". We have NO idea of the non-dairy versus full-dairy difference but considering cancer rates... it has to be significant.

FAT

Whole milk 49% of the calories are from fat.
"2%" milk 35% of the calories are from fat.
Cheddar cheese 74% of the calories are from fat.
Butter 100% of the calories are from fat.

Most folks suspect that butter is all fat. Most folks have no concept of the just how much fat is in the rest of milk and dairy. Perhaps the 54% of Americans who are obese need to comprehend that milk, ice cream, cheeses, yogurts, and all the OTHER products that use milk derivatives (casein, whey, lactose, colostrum) are most likely a significant cause for their weight and health problem.

CALCIUM

Calcium? Where do the COWS get calcium for their big bones? Yes... from plants! The calcium they consume from plants has a large amount of magnesium... necessary for the body to absorb and USE the calcium.

The calcium in cow's milk is basically useless because it has insufficient magnesium content (those nations with the highest amount of milk/dairy consumption also have the highest rates of osteoporosis. Proof? How about a controlled study of 78,000 nurses over a period of 12 years?

Read more about it at:

http://www.notmilk.com/deb/030799.html Article on the 78,000 nurse study
http://www.notmilk.com/deb/092098.html CALCIUM AND BONE DISEASE
http://www.notmilk.com/badbones.html WHO GETS BONE DISEASE?
http://www.notmilk.com/bonehead.txt CRIPPLING BONEHEADS
http://www.notmilk.com/calcium/index.html Consolidated info

Cows milk has three times the calcium as does human breast milk. No matter, neither are very usable because in order to be absorbed and used their MUST be an equal quantity of MAGNESIUM (as exists in the greens that cows eat to get all the calcium they need for their big bones). Milk has only enough magnesium to absorb around 11% (33mg per cup) of calcium.

Per the USDA 8 ounces (one cup) of cows milk contains:

Calcium, Ca mg 291.336
Magnesium, Mg mg 32.794

The USDA recommends 1200mg of calcium per day. The USDA recommended three cups of milk a day only have 900mg of calcium. Some argue that only 1/3 of the magnesium is necessary. Mother nature seems to suggest it should be one to one. If the ratio for proper absorption were 1/3 magnesium to one calcium then no more than 300mg of that 900mg of calcium is usable. If, in fact, it is a one to one ratio... only 98.38mg of calcium is usable.

It is not a matter of how much calcium one ingests... but how much one does not lose.

PROTEIN

Milk can be thought of as "liquid meat" because of its high protein content which, in concert with other proteins, may actually LEACH calcium from the body. Countries that consume high protein diets (meat, milk and dairy) have the highest rates of osteoporosis.

THE 'WHOLESOME' PROTEIN MYTH

87% of milk is water. That makes it VERY expensive water.

Broken down into its basic groups... WHOLE MILK is:

WATER FAT CASEIN OTHER PROTEIN
87% 3.25% 4% 1% 4.75

(note: that is 3.25% "milkfat" which includes the 87% water.)

80% of the protein in milk is casein. Casein is a powerful binder... a
polymer used to make plastics... and a glue that is better used to make
sturdy furniture or hold beer bottle labels in place. It is in
thousands of processed foods as a binder... as "something" caseinate.

Casein is a powerful allergen... a histamine that creates lots of
mucus. The only medicine in Olympic athlete Flo-Jo's body was Benedryl,
a power antihistamine she took to combat her last meal... pizza.
For the whole Flo-Jo story:

http://www.notmilk.com/deb/092198.html,
http://www.notmilk.com/deb/111598.html and
http://www.notmilk.com/deb/112398.html for the whole story.

BACTERIA

Cow's milk is allowed to have feces in it. This is a major source for bacteria. Milk is typically pasteurized more than once before it gets to your table... each time for only 15 seconds at 162 degrees Fahrenheit.

To sanitize water one is told to boil it (212 degrees F) for several minutes. That is a tremendous disparity, isn't it!

Keep in mind that at room temperature the number of bacteria in milk DOUBLE around every 20 minutes. No wonder milk turns rotten very quickly.

PUS

ONE cubic centimeter (cc) of commercial cow's milk is allowed to have up to 750,000 somatic cells (common name is "PUS") and 20,000 live bacteria... before it is kept off the market.

That amounts to a whopping 20 million live squiggly bacteria and up to 750 MILLION pus cells per liter (bit more than a quart).

1 cup = 236.5882cc 177,441,150 pus cells ~ 4,731,600 bacteria
24 oz (3 glasses) = 532,323,450 pus cells ~ 14,220,000 bacteria
(the "recommended" daily intake)

The EU and the Canadians allow for a less "tasty" 400,000,000 pus cells per liter.

Typically these levels are lower... but they COULD reach these levels and still get to YOUR table.

CHOLESTEROL

The cholesterol content of those three glasses of milk is equal to what one would get from 53 slices of bacon. Do you know of any doctor who recommends that much bacon per day?

KOSHER

Is cow's milk and dairy "Kosher"? Consider this:

"D-3 always is derived from an animal. The sunlight reaction that converts 7-dehydrocholesterol to vitamin D-3 is a 'pure' chemical reaction that occurs in your skin in certain cells."

"The provitamin known as 7-dehydrocholesterol is extracted and isolated from the skins of mammals and purified." (Marian Herbert of the Vitamin D Workshop U of C)

Vitamin D-3 can come from four different sources:

Pig skin, sheep skin, raw fish liver, and pig brains. Most of the time, Vitamin D-3 is extracted from pig skin and sold to dairy processors.

Short answer to "is milk kosher" - probably not.

OTHER 'STUFF'

Fat and cholesterol. Lots of it. Per the dairy influenced USDA "food pyramid" all milk, dairy and meats should represent no more than 8% of the diet. Statistically, by volume of sales in a nation of 281 million Americans, it works out to almost 40% of the diet for MILK AND DAIRY.. without the meat.

The milk of each of the over 4,700 mammals on earth is formulated specifically for that species. There are special lactoferrins and immunoglobulins (cow specific immunizing stuff) that in humans serve as allergens.

LEUKEMIA

According to Hoards Dairyman (Volume 147, number 4)... 89% of America's dairy herds have the leukemia virus. (more at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/notmilk/message/835)

DIABETES

The protein lactalbumin, has been identified as a key factor in diabetes (and a major reason for NOT giving cows milk to infants).

CROHN'S DISEASE

Mycobacterium paratuberculosis causes a bovine disease called "Johne's."

Cows diagnosed with Johne's Disease have diarrhea, and heavy fecal shedding of bacteria. This bacteria becomes cultured in milk, and is not destroyed by pasteurization. Occasionally, the milk-borne bacteria will begin to grow in the human host, and the results are irritable bowel syndrome and Crohn's Disease.

MAD COW DISEASE

There may also be prions (pronounced PREons) in the milk and meat. This is crystalline substance that acts like a virus... with an "incubation" period of from 5 to 30 years. The end result is MAD COW DISEASE!

HOMOGENIZATION

Large fat molecules cannot get through the intestinal wall into the bloodstream. The cream no longer rises... because homogenization breaks up those large molecules into small ones that DO get into the bloodstream! This becomes an expressway for any fat-borne toxins (lead, dioxin's, etc.) into your (otherwise) most protected organs.

CUMULATIVE EFFECTS

How does this impact humans who consume cow's milk and dairy? Obesity (over 50% of Americans and rising), heart disease, cancer, allergies, digestive problems, diabetes, asthma, desensitization to antibiotics, behavioral problems, and the constant ingestion of dioxin's, herbicides, pesticides (and anything else the cow eats that is not good for any critter), that winds up getting stored in HUMAN fat... is not healthy by any measure.

Those who resist believing the truth should understand that MOST of the world's population CANNOT tolerate the lactose in cow's milk. Up to 95% of the black population, around 53% of the Hispanics, etc.) So much for cow's milk being "natures perfect food" for humans! Mother nature knows better.

Common sense question: Where was this massive "milk is a must" before refrigeration, pasteurization and mass transportation? Back when cows gave only 1-4 pounds a day it was quickly made into BUTTER and cheese! Now that those same cows have been tweaked and shot-up with Posilac to produce up to 55 or more pounds of milk per day... almost all year long... it is suddenly (after many thousands of years) a daily "staple". NOT!

POLLUTION

There are around 9.2 million dairy cows in the United states. Each dairy cow ingests around 330 pounds of feed (perhaps 50 pounds) and water (around 280 pounds or 33 gallons) per day. Allowing for the best dairy production of 55 pounds of milk per day (over ten times what mother nature designed the cow to produce) that means that what remains becomes "slurry".

That means around 275 pound of urine and feces per day... per cow, for a daily total of 2.53 BILLION pounds of pollution. Per year... that amounts to around 923 billion pounds of UNTREATED pollution entering our streams, rivers, lakes... and drinking water systems.

Cows are hot-blooded mammals. Like all other mammals they pass gas. Somewhat like elephants their compartmented digestive system is rather inefficient... which leads to the creation of MORE gas. During a Discovery Channel documentary on elephants a parting quip was that the average adult elephant passes enough methane gas per day to run a car about 20 miles.

Cows are not much better. The English New Scientist (page 5 -31.8.96) mentions that cattle produce around 48 kilograms (105 pounds) of methane each per year and that more bubbles out of the animals' manure. Dairy cows eat more because they produce milk. With 9.2 million dairy cows times a minimum of 100 pounds of methane gas per year... that amounts almost a billion pounds of methane gas released into the atmosphere each year. With around 100 million beef cattle... pigs, sheep, and other "factory farmed" animals it should not be difficult to fathom the extent of this problem.

This means that "Beef is a greenhouse-intensive food" and a major cause of global warming (with dairy a significant part of the problem).

Another major point is:

"Milk is a very strong pollutant: it is about 400 times more polluting than untreated sewage. To put it another way, 1,000 gallons of milk has the same polluting potential as the untreated sewage from a town of 7,000 people." Morlais Owen. Chief Scientist for Welsh Water. North Wales Weekly News. 24.3.88.

SOME QUESTIONS ANSWERED

Q: What is WHEY?

A: Whey results when the FAT and CASEIN are removed from milk.
In making cheese, the curds become the cheese.

Whey's main components are bovine serum albumin and lactalbumin.
There are other hormones contained in whey.

Q: What happens to the:

59 hormones, scores of allergens herbicides, pesticides, dioxins
up to 52 antibiotics

When made into cheese?

A: Everything gets concentrated.

When made into butter?

A: The allergens get lost: but the dioxin's and
pesticides and antibiotics remain in the fat.

In the digestive system?

A: Steroid hormones survive, as do dioxins and antibiotics.
In homogenized milk, protein hormones survive... depending upon the
gastric pH, some protein hormones in cheese survive, but not all...
eleven steroid hormones survive.

AND WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

Eventually, everything is broken down, but not before the chemical messengers (hormones) "deliver their message."

Each of those hormones and proteins acts differently and has different rates of degradation. BOTTOM LINE... they all survive to a certain degree... and the effects are cumulative.

OTHER HEATH-TRASHING SUBSTANCES IN COW'S MILK

Whey: Blood proteins. Bovine serum lactalbumin has been identified as a trigger for diabetes and other autoimmune diseases.

Lactose: Two sugars. Glucose and galactose. Galactose has been indentified as a trigger for glaucoma. There are several columns that cover lactose (covering galactose and galactosemia):

http://www.notmilk.com/deb/090599.txt Dr. Gordon: Heart Disease
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/notmilk/message/629 Lactose is dangerous
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/notmilk/message/453 Ben's heart
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/notmilk/message/396 Female Cancers
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/notmilk/message/378 Lactose intolerance

Colostrum (cow's first milk): Loaded with hormones, particularly IGF-I, along with loads of immunizing agents for COW DISEASES.

Answers courtesy of the NOTMILKMAN. ([e-mail])

MILK...What a surprise!

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http://www.notmilk.com/gbooktalk.txt

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For all past newsletters visit with a wealth of information:
http://www.notmilk.com/deb/column.html

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http://www.notmilk.com/deb/squirts.html

Diabetics please read http://www.notmilk.com/deb/011099.html

Read up on "mad cow disease"? Visit
http://www.milkgate.com for what may well be mankind's NEXT plague.

http://www.notmilk.com/milkinfo.txt my 2400 word overview (this file)
http://www.notmilk.com/wholemilk.txt USDA facts, and what they omitted
http://www.notmilk.com/52reasons.txt A reason for every week of the year

Perhaps the BEST single reference:
http://www.notmilk.com/a-z.txt
Extensive reasons by ailment/topic

QUOTES

"It's not natural for humans to drink cow's milk. Humans milk is for humans. Cow's milk is for calves. You have no more need of cow's milk than you do rats milk, horses milk or elephant's milk. Cow's milk is a high fat fluid exquisitely designed to turn a 65 lb baby calf into a 400 lb cow. That's what cow's milk is for!" --Dr Michael Klaper MD

"I no longer recommend dairy products after the age of 2 years. Other calcium sources offer many advantages that dairy products do not have." --Dr. Benjamin Spock