No Milk for Mr. Stutzer

Since this is my first prescription to myself, a reminder to do what is good for my body, I thought I would start when I first began to question the nutritional beliefs that were passed down to me as the truth. The seed to this awareness was planted in 1970. I was in Mr. Stutzer's Zoology class at the University of Maryland, Munich Campus.

The subject of milk came up during a class discussion and Mr. Stutzer told the class that the human being (mainly caucasians) have the mistaken notion that you must drink cow's milk to get the calcium you need. He said, "There is no scientific evidence that children need cow's milk to build strong bones." Upon making this statement, a woman about my mother's age from the back of the room screamed something like, "You got to be out of your mind telling these young college kids that milk is not good for them!"

I don't recall the exact words, I just remember how upset she was...and nothing compared to how upset she was going to be after Mr. Stutzer finished relaying his point-of-view. In response to her remarks he went on to say that it would actually be better for you to drink a glass of wine than to drink cow's milk. That's when the woman in the back of the room totally lost it. And, of course, with the mention of wine the class started cheering. She was angry and told us how she had raised three healthy children on cow's milk.

She didn't much care for what Mr. Stutzer believed. She knew she was right because she would never do anything to harm her children. And if it was true that milk was not important for building strong bones, then her family doctor would have told her so.

Mr. Stutzer just smiled and went on to tell the class that no other species drinks milk beyond infancy. And then he laughed when he said no other species drinks the milk of another species. Only the human being drinks the milk of another species. Mr. Stutzer said nature planned it differently: human's milk for human infants, cow's milk for calves, cat's milk for kittens, dog's milk for puppies, and so on. And then after the mammal infant is weaned, no more milk. It is no longer needed as a nutrient.

He pointed out that most of the world does not drink milk and that most of the world does not experience the high rates of osteoporosis that Americans do. I can't remember all the words that were spoken that day, but I recall him smiling and reminding her that his viewpoints were based on science.

He told us that cow's milk is suited to the nutritional needs of calves, not human beings. Cows have 4 stomachs and gain hundreds of pounds within a couple of months. Some cows weigh 2,000 pounds by their second birthday. Milk from a cow contains 3 times as much protein as human milk and scientific studies have shown that too much protein can cause the body to excrete calcium rather than absorb it. The high protein content of cow's milk leads to a gradual decrease in bone density and contributes to the development of osteoporosis.

Well its been 38 years since I sat in that class, but a seed was planted that day that continues to germinate in my brain. It still has me questioning what we were taught about nutrition in school. I didn't quit drinking milk that day, but I finally did quit it altogether 25 years ago. And then it took me until this year to completely stop eating all dairy products.

I am not a doctor, so I would never tell anyone else what to do when it comes to eating and drinking. I am just doing research to find out what is best for me. Because of my own studies, I do believe that to build strong bones it is better to eat non-animal sources of calcium instead: dark green vegetables, tofu, nuts, seeds and calcium fortified products such as rice milk, soy milk and orange juice.

It took me forever to figure out that dairy products aren't good for me. They might be OK for other people, but they wreak havoc on my body. I used to have heart burn, hay fever and severe gastric distress. Not anymore, it's all gone. My whole body feels better.

I often wonder about Mr. Stutzer and what he would think about the celebrity "milk moustache" ads that boldly proclaim the benefits of cow's milk. He'd probably say it is as it has always been: it's about the money. The dairy industry has a powerful hold on the business of nutrition. They pay big bucks to dieticians, doctors, celebrities and researchers to push dairy. It's about profit, not health.