Pus in Milk?

In NutritionFacts.org‘s video-of-the-day today, I note that the antiseptics used to disinfect cow teats can provide a source of iodine, but have been found to boost the level of pus in the milk of cows with staph-infected udders. Today’s dairy cows endure annual cycles of artificial insemination, pregnancy and birth, and mechanized milking for 10 out of 12 months of the year (including seven months of their 9-month pregnancies). This excessive metabolic drain overburdens the cows, who are considered “productive” for only two years and are slaughtered for hamburger when their profitability drops, typically around their fourth birthday – a small fraction of their natural lifespan.

Turning dairy cows into milk machines has led to epidemics of so-called “production-related diseases,” such as lameness and mastitis (udder infections), the two leading causes of dairy cow mortality in the United States. We all remember the Humane Society of the United States investigation showing sick and crippled dairy cows being beaten and dragged into the California dairy cow slaughter plant en route to the national school lunch program, triggering the largest meat recall in history. That loss of body condition is a result of the extreme genetic manipulation for unnaturally high milk yields.

Because of the mastitis epidemic in the U.S. dairy herd, the dairy industry continues to demand that American milk retain the highest allowable “somatic cell” concentration in the world. Somatic cell count, according to the industry’s own National Mastitis Council, “reflects the levels of infection and resultant inflammation in the mammary gland of dairy cows,” but somatic cells are not synonymous with pus cells, as has sometimes been misleadingly suggested. Somatic just means “body.” Just as normal human breast milk has somatic cells – mostly non-inflammatory white blood cells and epithelial cells sloughed off from the mammary gland ducts – so does milk from healthy cows. The problem is that many of our cows are not healthy.

According to the USDA, one in six dairy cows in the United States suffers from clinical mastitis, which is responsible for one in six dairy cow deaths on U.S. dairy farms. This level of disease is reflected in the concentration of somatic cells in the American milk supply. Somatic cell counts greater than a million per teaspoon are abnormal, “almost always” caused by mastitis. When a cow is infected, greater than 90 percent of the somatic cells in her milk are neutrophils, the inflammatory immune cells that form pus. The average somatic cell count in U.S. milk per spoonful is 1,120,000.

So how much pus is there in a glass of milk? Not much. A million cells per spoonful sounds like a lot, but pus is really concentrated. According to my calculations* based on USDA data released last month, the average cup of milk in the United States would not be expected to contain more than a single drop of pus.

As the dairy industry points out, the accumulation of pus is a natural part of an animal’s defense system. So pus itself isn’t a bad thing, we just may not want to have it in our mouth.

And you can taste the difference. A study published in the Journal of Dairy Science found that cheese made from high somatic cell count milk had both texture and flavor defects as well as increased clotting time compared to milk conforming to the much more stringent European standards. The U.S. dairy industry, however, insists that there is no food safety risk. If the udders of our factory-farmed dairy cows are inflamed and infected, industry folks say, it doesn’t matter, because we pasteurize – the pus gets cooked. But just as parents may not want to feed their children fecal matter in meat even if it’s irradiated fecal matter, they might not want to feed their children pasteurized pus.

* According to the new USDA data, the American milk supply averages 224,000 somatic cells/ml (based on bulk tank samples taken from whole herds). Subtracting the 200,000 that could be present in nonmastitic milk and subtracting the non-inflammatory fraction (10%) leaves us with 21,600 neutrophils per ml, and multiplying that by the volume of milk in a cup (237ml) comes out to be about 5 million neutrophils per cup. Then it depends on the cellular concentration of pus. Pus usually has more than 10,000 cells/microliter, but “In purulent fluids, leukocyte count is commonly much lower than expected because dead cells or other debris account for much of the turbidity,” and so apparent “pure pus” may have <10,000 cells/microliter. Conservatively using what was described in the medical literature as frank pus (80,000 cells/microliter) and converting from microliters to drop (50 microliter/drop) would mean 4 million cells per drop. Assuming the excess neutrophils drawn to the infected udder are pus-forming, 5 million divided by 4 million equals little more than a single pus-drop per cup (though I guess that could mean as much as 2 or 3 per tall frosty glass).

Michael Greger, M.D., is a physician, author and internationally recognized speaker on healthy eating. Hundreds of Dr. Greger’s nutrition videos are freely available at NutritionFacts.org, with a new video posted every day! All the proceeds from the sales of his books and DVDs are donated to charity.

Photo credit: www.bluewaikiki.com

Do Milk and Sugar Cause Acne?

It’s confirmed. Dairy products and sugar cause acne.

As our sugar and dairy consumption has increased over the last 100 years, so has the number of people with acne. We now have over 17 million acne sufferers, costing our health care system $1 billion a year. Eighty to 90 percent of teenagers suffer acne to varying degrees. The pimply millions rely on infomercial products hawked by celebrities, or over-the-counter lotions, cleansers and topical remedies. Recent research suggests that it’s not what we slather on our skin that matters most, but what we put in our mouth.

Many have suggested a diet-acne link, but until recently, it has not been proven in large clinical studies. Instead, dermatologists prescribe long-term antibiotics and Accutane, both of which may cause long-term harmful effects. In 2009, a systematic review of 21 observational studies and six clinical trials found clear links. Two large controlled trials found that cow’s milk increased both the number of people who got acne and its severity. Other large randomized prospective controlled trials (the gold standard of medical research) found that people who had higher sugar intake and a high glycemic load diet (more bread, rice, cereal, pasta, sugar, and flour products of all kinds) had significantly more acne. The good news is that chocolate (dark chocolate, that is) didn’t seem to cause acne.

The dietary pimple-producing culprits—dairy and sugar (in all its blood-sugar-raising forms)— cause spikes in certain pimple producing hormones. Dairy boosts male sex hormones (various forms of testosterone or androgens) and increases insulin levels, just as foods that quickly raise blood sugar (sugar and starchy carbs) spike insulin.

Androgens and insulin both stimulate your skin to make those nasty, embarrassing pimples. One patient recently told me he would give a million dollars for a pill to cure acne. He doesn’t need to. It seems that, for many, the cure to acne is at the end of their fork, not in a prescription pad.

While pimples are not as simple as too much milk or sugar in your diet, both have a significant impact. Nutritional deficiencies, as well as excesses, can worsen acne. Correcting common deficiencies, including low levels of healthy omega-3 anti-inflammatory fats, low levels of antioxidants such as vitamin E, zinc and vitamin A, and including an important anti-inflammatory omega-6 fat called evening primrose oil all may be helpful in preventing and treating unwanted pimples. I will explain how you can correct and incorporate all of these nutritional elements of your diet and outline some supplements that will help you fight acne in a moment.

But first it is worth taking a deeper look at milk and sugar.

Stay Away from Dairy and Avoid Acne
One scientist referred to milk as a “complex aqueous, suspended fat, liposomal, suspended protein emulsion.” What we know that milk is designed to grow things—namely, babies—and in the case of cow’s milk, calves. It is naturally full of what we call anabolic hormones (the same ones that bodybuilders and A Rod use to grow big muscles, and that cause bad acne). These are mostly androgens (like testosterone) and growth hormones, including insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1). There is no such thing as hormone-free milk.

Here’s a short list of the 60-some hormones in your average glass of milk—even the organic, raw, and bovine-growth-hormone-free milk:

• 20 α-dihydropregnenolone
• progesterone (from pregnenolone)
• 5 α-pregnanedione
• 5 α-pregnan-3 β-ol-20-one, 20 α- and 20 β-dihydroprogesterone (from progesterone)
• 5 α-androstene-3 β17 β-diol
• 5 α-androstanedione
• 5 α-androstan-3 β-ol-17-one
• androstenedione
• testosterone
• dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate acyl ester
• insulin like growth factors 1 and 2 (IGF-1 and IGF-2)
• insulin

This is what our government suggests we drink in high doses—at least three glasses a day for me, a healthy adult male, according to the choosemyplate.gov website. Those guidelines have been strongly criticized by many, including leading nutrition scientists from Harvard such as Walter Willett and David Ludwig.

The famous Nurse’s Health Study examining health habits of 47,000 nurses found that those who drank more milk as teenagers had much higher rates of severe acne than those who had little or no milk as teenagers. If you think it is the fat in milk, think again. It was actually the skim milk that had the strongest risk for acne. In other studies of over 10,000 boys and girls from 9 to 15 years old, there was a direct link between the amount of milk consumed and the severity of acne.

It appears that it is not just the anabolic or sex hormones in milk that cause problems, but milk’s ability to stimulate insulin production. It actually may be the lactose or milk sugar in milk that acts more like a soft drink than an egg. Drinking a glass of milk can spike insulin levels 300 percent. Not only does that cause pimples, but it also may contribute to prediabetes. This is true despite studies funded by the dairy council showing that milk helps with weight loss. The question is compared to WHAT diet—a diet of bagels and Coke, or a healthy, phytonutrient- and antioxidant-rich, plant-based diet with lean animal protein?

Stay Away from Sugar, Refined Carbs, and Pimples
If a glass of milk causes pimples, that may drive you back to your Pepsi. But not so fast. Recent studies also show that sugar and refined carbs (a high-glycemic diet) cause acne. More importantly, taking kids off sugar and putting them on a healthy, whole foods, low-glycemic load diet resulted in significant improvements in acne compared to a control group eating a regular, high-sugar American diet. In addition to having fewer pimples, the participants lost weight, became more sensitive to the effects of insulin (resulting in less pimple-producing insulin circulating around the blood). They also had fewer sex hormones floating around their blood that drive pimples. We know that women who have too much sugar and insulin resistance get acne, hair growth on their face, hair loss on the head, and infertility. This is caused by high levels of circulating male hormones and is called polycystic ovarian syndrome, but is a nutritional, not gynecologic, disease.

But the dietary influences don’t stop there. It is not just sugar, but the bad fats we eat that may also contribute to acne.

Get an Oil Change
Our typical Western diet is full of inflammatory fats—saturated fats, trans fats, too many omega-6, inflammatory, processed vegetable oils like soy and corn oils. These increase IGF-1 and stimulate pimple follicles. Inflammation has been linked to acne, and anti-inflammatory omega-3 fats (from fish oil) may help improve acne and help with many skin disorders.

Balance the Hormones that Cause Skin Problems
The link is clear—hormonal imbalances caused by our diet trigger acne. Our diet influences sex hormones like testosterone, IGF-1, and insulin, which promote acne. The biggest factors affecting your hormones are the glycemic load of your diet (determined by how quickly the food you eat increases your blood sugar and insulin levels), and the amount of dairy products you eat. The good news is that eating a healthy diet and taking a few supplements can balance those hormones. Exercise also helps improve insulin function.

How To Prevent and Treat Acne
Nine simple steps will help most overcome their acne problems.

1. Stay away from milk. It is nature’s perfect food—but only if you are a calf.
2. Eat a low glycemic load, low sugar diet. Sugar, liquid calories, and flour products all drive up insulin and cause pimples.
3. Eat more fruits and vegetables. People who eat more veggies (containing more antioxidants and anti-inflammatory compounds) have less acne. Make sure you get your 5 to 9 servings of colorful fruits and vegetables every day.
4. Get more healthy anti-inflammatory fats. Make sure to get omega-3 fats (fish oil, or a vegan source of omega-3 (such as this one)
5. and anti-inflammatory omega-6 fats (evening primrose oil). You will need supplements to get adequate amounts (more on that in a moment).
6. Include foods that correct acne problems. Certain foods have been linked to improvements in many of the underlying causes of acne and can help correct it. These include fish oil, turmeric, ginger, green tea, nuts, dark purple and red foods such as berries, green foods like dark green leafy vegetables, and omega 3-eggs.
7. Take acne-fighting supplements. Some supplements are critical for skin health. Antioxidant levels have been shown to be low in acne sufferers. And healthy fats can make a big difference. Here are the supplements I recommend:

-Evening primrose oil: Take 1,000 to 1,500mg twice a day.
-Zinc citrate: Take 30 mg a day.
-Vitamin A: Take 25,000 IU a day. Only do this for three months. Do not do this if you are pregnant.
-Vitamin E (mixed tocopherols, not alpha tocopherol): Take 400 IU a day.

8. Try probiotics. Probiotics (lactobacillus, etc.) also help reduce inflammation in the gut that may be linked to acne.
9. Avoid foods you are sensitive to. Delayed food allergies are among the most common causes of acne—foods like gluten, dairy, yeast and eggs are common culprits and can be a problem if you have a leaky gut.

Following these simple tips will help you eliminate acne and have that glowing skin you have always dreamed of. It’s much cheaper (and safer) than expensive medications and dermatologist visits. Improve your diet and take acne-fighting supplements, and you will watch your pimples disappear.

For more information on how to optimize your nutrition and improve your skin, see http://drhyman.com/.

Now I’d like to hear from you.

Have you struggled with an acne or skin problem? Have you noticed any link between your skin? What seems to be a problem for you?

Why do you think we are encouraged to consume so much dairy when the risks to our health (and our skin) are so high?

What other steps have you taken to fight acne? What has worked? What hasn’t?

Please share your thoughts by leaving a comment below.

Sources for this article can be found here.

Photo credit: D Sharon Pruitt

Dairy Industry Cruelty: One of Agriculture’s Best Kept Secrets

The cruelty inflicted upon calves in the dairy industry is one of agribusiness’s best kept secrets. Many consumers might assume that because cows are not slaughtered directly for their milk, dairy products are somehow less inhumane. What many consumers aren’t aware of is that when they purchase milk, cheese or other dairy products, they are contributing to a brutal cycle of suffering for countless calves. In order for a cow to produce milk, she has to have a calf, and those calves are taken away from their mothers immediately after birth. Half of those calves are male, and they’re often used in veal production.

More and more Americans are beginning to understand these realities of factory farming and are taking a stand. Earlier this month, we were excited to report that after thousands of citizens in Ohio spoke out against the cruel confinement of veal calves, livestock officials voted to reverse an earlier decision and give calves more room to move.

But following on the heels of this important step forward for calves, comes a shocking new investigative video by Mercy for Animals. Reminding us that there is still much work to be done, the video depicts workers at a dairy calf farm in Texas subjecting young cows to horrific abuse, bludgeoning them with pickaxes and beating and neglecting them. The video is a poignant look at the horrific lives of calves born into the dairy industry.

Over the years, Farm Sanctuary and others have documented the cruel conditions of factory farms, including at a veal farm in Wisconsin. Our “Behind the Mustache” video gives a behind-the-scenes look at the California dairy industry. It’s videos like these that have helped create change in laws and policies for farm animals and inspire citizens to reconsider their diets and take action. We’re confident that Mercy for Animals’ powerful new video will help further the animals’ cause.

Since Farm Sanctuary’s inception, my colleagues and I have conducted numerous visits to farms, stockyards and slaughterhouses to document conditions. Exposing animal abuse through photos and videos is a powerful tool and agribusiness is well aware of that fact. I recently wrote about two state bills, in Florida and Iowa, which would criminalize the documentation of “animal facilities.” Since then, similar legislation has been introduced in Minnesota.

In light of these videos and photographs, the agriculture industry is fighting hard to keep consumers in the dark about where their food really comes from. That’s why it’s important that we use these investigations as tools to educate our communities and show lawmakers the importance of revealing abuse. I hope you’ll use these resources to help create change.

Photo credit: NDSU Ag Communication

Hold the Cheese, Please

by Cheri Smith

Macaroni and cheese has always been my favorite food. Perhaps it’s because a cold bowl of it was all my mother could stomach while pregnant with me. For as long as I can remember, I’ve had some type of cheese almost every single day. (I’m 42 – that’s a lot of cheese!) Hard day? Grilled cheese and tomato soup. Good day? Brie and baguettes. A romantic dinner? Cheese plate (stinky ones for my husband and anything else for me). My mouth waters at the mere mention of Dubliner, Havarti or chevre. Well, that is, it used to: I became vegan about a month ago. Yes, this easy-cheese-on-a-cracker-loving gal actually chose to remove cheese from her diet.

When I became vegetarian, I knew I couldn’t do vegan because I could never give up cheese. I figured I’d be a shaking, shivering, blubbering mess if I didn’t have my daily hit of Gouda. But as I delved ever deeper into vegetarianism and opened my eyes to the many consequences and casualties of an animal-based diet, cheese lost some of its appeal. A little later, when I began to focus less on my desire for comfort through food and more on how I wanted my life to reflect my values, cheese began to disappear from my plate. By the time I decided to be vegan, I realized that the few times I was having cheese, it was more out of convenience or habit or a need for comfort than a desire for the taste.

In fact, I think that whole comfort thing is the crux of the problem when it comes to letting go of cheese, or anything else for that matter. Who doesn’t want to be comforted or comfortable? Breaking habits and changing routines and rituals is definitely not comfortable—especially when those changes are food related. For so many of us, food is both a coping mechanism and a major source of pleasure in life. At least, I know it is for me! I eat for comfort when I’m sad, angry, bored, stressed or lonely, and I eat as a treat when I’m happy, celebrating or just think I deserve something special. (Hmm. I guess I eat pretty much all the time!) I’ve always used food to either smother the emotions I don’t want to experience, or to fan the flames of the ones I do. And until now, cheese was usually the food of choice (yes, chocolate came in close second).

So, now I’m fully enlightened and embrace my emotions without the aid of food … Ha. However, I am now more conscious of what I’m eating and why, and I’m doing a better job of separating the desire to eat from actual hunger. I still get bored and head to the kitchen, but instead of mindlessly grabbing cheese and crackers, I think about what my body needs. I find myself reaching for almonds and cherries or carrots and hummus – really! (Lest you think I have no other options, let me just point out that my family is not vegan, or even vegetarian. There are Babybels in the fridge!)

Okay, so if you’re a cheese lover, dried fruit and nuts are not going to satisfy a cheese craving. But they help: I’m satisfying the urge to put something in my mouth, I’m forced to think about what that’s going to be, and afterward, at least I know my choice was a conscious (and healthy) one. If my mind does wander to cheese during the decision-making process, I take a minute to think about where that cheese comes from and to remind myself why I’ve decided to be vegan.

However, I am far from perfect. For example, I made mac and cheese for my kids the other day because they love it and are not vegan, and I wanted a bite, so I had one. Did I beat myself up afterward? No. I can accept that I’m doing the best I can, and if that means having a bite here and there, so be it. But—and this was shocking to me—I didn’t really like that mac and cheese as much as I thought I would. I have to pause here and take that in. I suspected that my taste buds were changing (what else could explain my new liking of raw carrots and broccoli?), but to find that I no longer really like my all-time-fave mac and cheese? Wow.

Now that I’ve put that out there, I realize that I’m a little sad at the thought of losing my favorite comfort food. But since I know it’s the comfort I really want, I have a solution: I’ll experiment with some recipes and find a vegan version to love. Maybe one with chocolate …

Cheri Smith is a medical writer turned stay-at-home mom who is thrilled to be living a life of compassion and hopes that by sharing her adventures in veganism, she’ll encourage others to make healthier, kinder choices in their lives. She lives in Marriottsville, MD with her husband, three kids, and various pets, and in her spare time pursues her passion for nature photography.

Photo credit: leezie5

The Quick and Easy Way I Helped My Kid Cut Dairy

Here is the story of why and how I removed dairy products from my now 7-year-old son’s diet, and one great suggestion on how to make healthy substitutions work in your life and in the lives of your favorite peeps.

My son’s name is Riley, but this story starts with me … no shock there!

In 2007, I removed all dairy products from my personal food intake. Prior to this action, I drank a little milk here and there, and I loved cheese. Abstaining from dairy food was part of my clean eating journey following my cancer diagnosis – not that someone told me to remove it, but as I gravitated towards vegetarianism and then veganism, it naturally went by the wayside.

To my surprise, my chronic sinus and allergy issues also went by the wayside. At first, I wasn’t sure why this phenomenon occurred. Before this, I was on over-the-counter medications and prescription medications daily, and suffered excruciating headaches several days a week. Every week. And it was worse in allergy season. I had also noticed over his short life, that my then 4-year-old son had seasonal allergy issues that mirrored mine. Great.

So, no dairy for me. Time moves on and I start realizing: Hey, no more headaches (I was a bit preoccupied with life and other health issues, so it was not an immediate ah-ha moment). No more sinus issues. Wow. In 2009, I started thinking, hmmm, Riley continues to have seasonal issues with allergies and sinuses, and what he still calls, “head-ecks.” So after much thought on the issue, I declared no more milk for Riley.

Big step.

Like a good mommy, I knew there needed to be a substitute for Riley, so I started making almond milk. In Riley’s mind, not a good thing. In fact, he cried, he whined, he hated it. He would eventually drink it due to the threats of no cartoons. Honestly, he didn’t mind it so much, but he would cry to me with the most scrunched up and whining face saying, “but this isn’t milk, Mommy.”

He was right. It wasn’t milk.

In his short life, he had known breast milk and he had known cow’s milk. Almond milk was by no comparison milk. Now, I make beautifully aromatic and sweet almond milk. But it was in no way milk in his world. How could I be so shortsighted?

Time for a strategy change. Quick mommy, think fast on your feet! And you know what, I did just that.

So I sat down and got eye level with my son, and said, “You know what, Riley, you are absolutely right. This isn’t milk, and I am so sorry for calling it that. Milk comes from mammals, and this sweet drink is made from almonds, so how in the world could it be milk?” He looked at me with big eyes almost doubting my blunt honesty.

I continued, “What would you like to call this drink? It is so white, kind of like snow, don’t you think? And it is not like milk at all, it is more like water, isn’t it?”

He nodded.

“What do you think we should call it then? Snow milk, snow water? How about snowflake water?” I asked with enthusiasm. His eyes lit up, and he smiled. “Yes, I like that, Mommy. It is kinda like water.”

And so it was.

It was amazing that just renaming the drink and not trying to pass it off as an exact substitute totally changed my son’s acceptance of the new drink. It was no longer a negative thing. He was also very pleased to be part of the renaming. It was as if it gave him some ownership.

Consider giving this exercise a try with yourself and with your loved ones who are rejecting some of your lifestyle changes. Don’t try to pass everything off as a one-for-one substitute. Make up new, fun names for foods, drinks or even routines so it is not viewed as a negative in anyone’s mind. Be honest, but simply change the focus!

Christmas Eve came shortly after our renaming powwow and Riley proudly put out some sweet snowflake water for Santa along with some other vegan (raw) goodies. The snowflake water was all gone the next morning – yum! Santa and his reindeer will be happy to know that they will be getting more of that tasty goodness this year too.

Ho-ho-ho!

Tina Pruitt is a healthy living expert and speaker, an International Raw and Living Foods Coach, and a two-time breast cancer survivor. She is living and sharing her passion through her soon-to-launch online healthy living coaching business.

Photo Credit: idovermani