Article: Dive dry with dr. Bill # 576: Got milk? Why no!

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drbill

The Lorax for the Kelp Forest
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Rest in Peace
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Dr Bill just lost credibility with me. SAD as I took your advice as truth for so long I feel misled.... :missing: I sincerely hope your future posts are better
 
Care to elaborate? Hopefully no one believes 100% of what I say. Just wouldn't be prudent!
 
I've been warned away from milk, even low fat milk, by several MDs, including my cardiologist and a top metabolic/dietary specialist. All dairy products are problematic, I'm told, for a number of reasons, including fat content, milk sugars, and the drugs that are administered to cows that show up in the milk. Research I've read suggests that the calcium benefit from milk is largely illusory; it does nothing to prevent osteoporosis. Government support for milk consumption comes from industry lobbyists, not scientists.

Once or twice in late spring I'll stop off at an organic dairy farm upstate near where I do some trout fishing. Few culinary pleasures on earth can match a glass of raw milk, still warm straight from the cow, immediately chilled with ice. An indulgence, a taste probably inherited from cattle herding remote ancestors. Otherwise I stay away from the stuff.
 
Agilis, Luis Pasteur many years ago determined that heating milk to a certain temperature for a certain amount of time will kill pathogenic bacterium in the milk and the infectious agent for TB--that's why we "pasteurize" milk today. There is more than fat potentially in raw milk that can cause worries.

Desert_Pirate, SAD is either "Seasonal Affective Disorder" or "Singles Awareness Day" (Valentine's Day); I think you meant simply "sad..." I seem to be suffering from the former definition of SAD when Dr. Bill talks about diving in 61 degree F water with 50-60 feet of visibility. Our Clackamas River right now has about 6 inches visibility, and that's on the surface and is about 40 degrees F.

Dr. Bill, you forgot one benifit of drinking milk--vitamin D. One cup of milk (my 2%) has 25% of the daily requirements for vitamin D. Oregon used to be a rickets area in the 1940s until vitamin D was added to milk. We cannot get vitamin D from the sun from about October through April, and it especially hurts darker-skinned individuals who have somewhat more problems getting vitamin D from sunlight (but not getting sunburned compensates); this hypothesis has now been overturned by research though. As you know, vitamin D is required to regulate the absorption of minerals (Ca and phosphorus) for bone structure, and in that way your mother was correct--milk does build strong bones, if vitamin D is added in a rickets zone.
Vitamin D - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

John
 
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Agilis, Luis Pasteur many years ago determined that heating milk to a certain temperature for a certain amount of time will kill pathogenic bacterium in the milk and the infectious agent for TB--that's why we "pasteurize" milk today. There is more than fat potentially in raw milk that can cause worries.

Desert_Pirate, SAD is either "Seasonal Affective Disorder" or "Singles Awareness Day" (Valentine's Day); I think you meant simply "sad..." I seem to be suffering from the former definition of SAD when Dr. Bill talks about diving in 61 degree F water with 50-60 feet of visibility. Our Clackamas River right now has about 6 inches visibility, and that's on the surface and is about 40 degrees F.

Dr. Bill, you forgot one benifit of drinking milk--vitamin D. One cup of milk (my 2%) has 25% of the daily requirements for vitamin D. Oregon used to be a rickets area in the 1940s until vitamin D was added to milk. We cannot get vitamin D from the sun from about October through April, and it especially hurts darker-skinned individuals who have somewhat more problems getting vitamin D from sunlight (but not getting sunburned compensates); this hypothesis has now been overturned by research though. As you know, vitamin D is required to regulate the absorption of minerals (Ca and phosphorus) for bone structure, and in that way your mother was correct--milk does build strong bones, if vitamin D is added in a rickets zone.
Vitamin D - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

John


I'm aware of the extremely high fat content in raw milk. That's why I have no more than two or three glasses of it in a year. Otherwise, I drink no milk of any kind. No ice cream, either. Raw milk develops dangerous pathogens from sitting around over time. The raw milk I treat myself to on rare occasions was in the cow only minutes before I drink it.

Vitamin D deficiencies are a serious health problem. I take vitamin D capsules, get reasonable amounts of sunlight, and have my Vitamin D levels checked regularly. Much better than drinking milk.

Vitamin D used to be added to a number of different foods, especially in regions where exposure to sunlight is restricted. The dairy industry put a stop to that, cleverly creating the illusion that milk and vitamin D are somehow naturally connected. They are not.
 
Agilis,

I am aware of the potential for contamination of milk during the milking process. This is what you are protecting yourself from by getting the milk from a cow and drinking it within minutes. However, there is also the potential for contracting tuberculosis from bovine TB, and this practice cannot protect from that potential. Have the cows tested for TB before consuming their raw milk is my recommendation.
An outbreak of tuberculosis affecting cattle and people on an Irish dairy farm, following the consumption of raw milk

John

John C. Ratliff, CSP, CIH, MSPH
 
Just to clarify... this article was certainly not a rant against drinking milk. I personally don't like the taste (but, sigh, do love ice cream). The whole point of the column is to show how different species with similar nutrient needs obtain those nutrients. I don't tell anyone else how they should dive, nor do I tell them how they should eat!
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/

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