Would cooking dairy products in heat kill the hormones?

Question

what is the temperature to denature or render a hormone nonfunctional?

Answer 1

In theory, heating dairy products to a certain point would denature the proteins that make up hormones, but probably this is too high to the point where it destroys the food. Studies done on hormone content in food have been done on cooked foods also and it doesn't appear to decrease the amount of hormones in foods.

If you are looking for an alternative, look for organic products. Hormones are naturally present in dairy products through the mother but they are at an increased level if you buy conventional hormone- treated animals (for better production, etc).

Answer 2

No.

Many hormones are actually proteins, the rest are really just chemical compounds. Proteins and chemicals (unless there's something for it to react with) are more or less stable at high temperatures. Think about it, we eat food for protein, right? Well, if proteins were destroyed by cooking, cooked food would have no benefit and we would have to eat everything raw to get protein in our diet. However, some proteins are stable at temps well over 200c, others break down at less than 100c. Well, once a protein has been broken down (biologically, from heat, or some other process), it becomes much less useful, useless, or even harmful in some cases.

Mad Cow Disease is actually CAUSED by an abnormal protein and it is a great example of a heat stable protein. There's no temperature you can cook the meat that wouldn't destroy meat but render it safe to eat.

The only way to "kill" the hormones would be to actually burn the product to ash, introduce a chemical to break down the chemical compounds, or to introduce bacteria than can break down proteins (which would also destroy the product). Estrogen, for example, which is common in dairy, is quite heat stable. If exposed to high heat, it is no longer safe to use as a supplement (parts of it do break down) but it remains largely intact and will enter your body even after the product is fully cooked. Women ofter consume soy products for their estrogen content. It should be noted that extracts from soy and soy milk (that all contain estrogen) are always fully cooked as part of processing.

Your only viable solution is to purchase products that are known to be lower in hormones. Free-range, organic, etc. Most or those types of "animal friendly" products are low in hormones because the farmers don't inject extra hormones to increase yield.

Answer 3

I do believe there are no hormones in dairy products. You're probably referring to NUTRIENTS (vitamins, protein, calcium, etc.).

NO, cooking will not "kill" the nutrients. Most dairy products (milk, cheese, yogurt) do not require cooking before eating - unless you are using them as ingredients in preparing a dish. Eggs (also a dairy product) normally require cooking --- depending on how you want it (scrambled, poached, sunny-side up, etc.) Eggs may also be eaten raw (as is); however, there is always the possibility of Salmonella food poisoning.

Answer 4

On the whole, no. You'd have to get the temperature up high enough, long enough, that the products would be ruined.

Now, I'm presuming that you're referring to the gender related steroids, here...