re: Cows milked during pregnancy

[Guest guest]

I have been reading the messages on this group on and off for a little

while now and found most the posts very informative. This is my first

contribution to this group as I never have been compelled to comment on

any of the postings. However, recently I came across an article which

I will post here if people are interested that most cows are milked

during pregnancy which could cause higher hormone levels of certain

hormones. This would be true whether or not the cow was raised and

sustained on pasture. Should this be a concern of mine or am i way off

base?

Mason

[Guest guest]

Mason,

> I have been reading the messages on this group on and off for a little

> while now and found most the posts very informative. This is my first

> contribution to this group as I never have been compelled to comment on

> any of the postings. However, recently I came across an article which

> I will post here if people are interested that most cows are milked

> during pregnancy which could cause higher hormone levels of certain

> hormones. This would be true whether or not the cow was raised and

> sustained on pasture. Should this be a concern of mine or am i way off

> base?

Many people don't realize that hormones (natural or synthetic) do not make it

through the gut. Such molecules are completely broken down before being absorbed

or excreted. Unless you have serious leaky gut issues (in which case you

probably shouldn't be drinking any milk), I wouldn't worry about natural

hormones in milk. However, it's possible that there are other issues related to

the nutritional quality of milk from pregnant cows.

Tom

[Guest guest]

I'm not sure it's that simple.

Many anabolic steroids are administered by pill and even rbST (pituitary

hormone) can be absorbed through ingestion--which is why it causes health

problems in humans who drink the milk.

I don't know how much or what type of hormone might be naturally occurring in

cows milk. Here's one study that couldn't find prolactin in neonate blood, even

though it was in the milk they consumed.

http://jas.fass.org/cgi/content/abstract/45/3/609. But of course, you can't make

any conclusions from one study.

I do know that in humans, new borns often receive a large amount of hormones

from the mother prior to birth. This manifests itself in new borns as acne and

oily skin. It can take months for these pre-birth hormones to clear the new

born's system. If human breast milk contained significant amounts of hormone I

suspect it would cause problems for nursing infants. I assume the same is true

for cows.

But there's a lot of assumptions in the above.

I've read a lot of anti-milk stuff and I don't recall reading much about natural

hormones in milk causing problems--just warnings against synthetic hormones like

rbST.

I think this is an interesting question, but I have no idea what to tell you.

Cheers,

>

> Mason,

>

> > I have been reading the messages on this group on and off for a little

> > while now and found most the posts very informative. This is my first

> > contribution to this group as I never have been compelled to comment on

> > any of the postings. However, recently I came across an article which

> > I will post here if people are interested that most cows are milked

> > during pregnancy which could cause higher hormone levels of certain

> > hormones. This would be true whether or not the cow was raised and

> > sustained on pasture. Should this be a concern of mine or am i way off

> > base?

>

> Many people don't realize that hormones (natural or synthetic) do not make it

through the gut. Such molecules are completely broken down before being absorbed

or excreted. Unless you have serious leaky gut issues (in which case you

probably shouldn't be drinking any milk), I wouldn't worry about natural

hormones in milk. However, it's possible that there are other issues related to

the nutritional quality of milk from pregnant cows.

>

> Tom

>

[Guest guest]

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/41720/title/Scientists_find_a_soup_of\

_suspects_while_probing_milk%E2%80%99s_link_to_cancer

this link might have some information that adds to the discussion.

i haven't had time to read the original papers yet but i imagine that

some of the comments are on the mark - they probably used pasteurized

milk from conventional, hormonally overloaded cows. would be

interesting to repeat the studies with raw milk and with highly

fermented milk products.

-jennifer

[Guest guest]

Tom, how could you say hormones are broken down in the gut with such certainty?

Many people take thyroid and adrenal hormones orally because of the effect they

give the body, so it appears to me that hormones can be absorbed, though some

may be broken down.

-

> Many people don't realize that hormones (natural or synthetic) do not make it

through the gut. Such molecules are completely broken down before being absorbed

or excreted. Unless you have serious leaky gut issues (in which case you

probably shouldn't be drinking any milk), I wouldn't worry about natural

hormones in milk. However, it's possible that there are other issues related to

the nutritional quality of milk from pregnant cows.

>

> Tom

>