People who consume milk and other dairy products during adolescence have a 43% lower risk of developing diabetes after puberty than those who consume less of these products.
Dr. Javed Iqbal
Milk, known as Milk in English and Haleeb in Arabic, is a complete food and one of the countless blessings of Allah Almighty, because it contains all the ingredients that are absolutely essential for the development and immunity of the body. American and Australian scientists have revealed in a joint study that the consumption of milk is extremely beneficial for the mental development of children.
Experts also rejected a previous study by British researchers, which stated that drinking yogurt and lassi made from milk slows down mental health. American experts say that all products made from milk, including yogurt and lassi, are beneficial for the brain.
Milk and other foods made from it increase brain power, which significantly improves brain performance.
Pakistan is the fourth largest milk producing country, followed by India, China, and the United States. In Pakistan, buffalo milk is mostly available and is considered better because it is thicker than cow’s milk. Medical experts have declared cow’s milk to be better for human health, and it is also a fact that except for a few countries, dairy products are made from cow’s milk all over the world.
In Pakistan, the sources of milk are usually small households, which have only six to ten cattle. Therefore, they do not have any arrangements to sterilize or preserve the milk. Some companies store the milk in one place and seal it in boxes and claim that it is sterilized. These companies introduce different types of milk.
Such as pasteurized, UHT, condensed, milk powder, etc. Until 1800, milk could be used for a short time after being obtained from cows, buffaloes, etc., because until then no such method had been introduced by which milk could be preserved or kept fresh for a long time. Around 1870, a French scientist (chemist and germologist who invented the methods of sterilization and vaccines) Louis Pasteur introduced a process in which a liquid (especially milk) is heated to 145 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 minutes or to 163 degrees Fahrenheit for 15 minutes and then immediately cooled.
Through this method, the bacteria present in the milk are killed and the milk can be protected from spoilage for a long time. This method is called the pasteurization method. In addition, UHT, or Ultra High Temperature Treatment, was also started, under which fresh milk is boiled at 275 degrees Fahrenheit for one to two seconds. This temperature kills the spores of the bacteria present in the milk.
This method also has the advantage that most of the nutrients in the milk are preserved by boiling for a short period of time. This method was started in 1960. Through this process, milk is purified from E. coli and diseases spread by bacteria. In Pakistan, 22 percent of milk is pasteurized and the rest is sold by the farmers themselves, which is usually heated at home using traditional methods and consumed, which can also cause stomach and liver diseases.
Homogenization, a process by which fat is separated from milk, began in 1919, and the addition of laboratory-produced vitamin D to milk began in 1932. By early 1964, milk was being processed through all these processes and stored in cans and plastic bottles.
Many experts have criticized the homogenization method because it forces milk through a very fine filter at a pressure of 4,000 pounds per square foot, reducing the large fat globules in the milk to ten times their original size.
This ensures that the fat is evenly distributed in the milk. According to experts, the natural components of milk have the ability to transport hormones in the body or transport them from one place to another and are useful for the digestive system. However, research has shown that through this process, the components of milk bypass the natural digestive system of food in the stomach. For example, the protein present in food that has to be digested in the stomach, in the case of homogenized milk, instead of being digested in the stomach, is absorbed into the blood and reaches the arteries.
Speculation about this process began in the 1970s, and in 1980, Dr. Kurt Oster, MD, first warned that consuming homogenized milk could cause blood clots. It is indeed impossible to deny the fact that during this process, large fat molecules in milk break down and, together with the fat, survive the stomach acid, but instead of dissolving in it, they are absorbed into the blood from the intestine and begin to clot in the walls of the arteries.
Adulteration in milk
Water is usually added to the milk available from the cowherds. Up until now, it was tolerable to some extent that only water was added, but some cowherds also add chemicals to the milk to increase its quantity and quality, which are harmful to health. Despite knowing all this, we are forced to consume this milk.
In the mid-19th century, a pandemic broke out in New York City, resulting in the deaths of approximately 8,000 infants in a single year from consuming adulterated milk. Doctors of the time were unable to understand where the poison in the milk came from and what form of cholera it was, which current medicine could not cure. It is remembered as the worst scandal in history, the 1850 Swill Milk Scandal.
This was the worst example of adulteration at that time. Most animal keepers, in the greed of obtaining excess milk and profit, had started raising their animals on the waste material (swill) of wineries, which was in a soft state, as a result of which the milk yield of the animals increased fifteen to twenty times. Eating it caused blisters and sores on the animals’ bodies.
The milk produced on this type of feed had a bluish tinge. To make it white, chalk, flour, eggs, and plaster of Paris (which is white in color) were added. The scandal was first exposed in 1970 by Frank Leslie, a local newspaper reporter who diligently investigated and brought those responsible to justice.
In Pakistan, 1994 was probably the year when animals were generally injected with artificially produced “bovine growth hormone”, with the aim of increasing milk production. Due to this and many other methods like these, milk was gradually transformed from its original state to an artificial state and the natural nutrients present in it were lost. Such individuals who obtain raw milk from different places either independently obtain and sell it or are directly associated with some large milk storage units.
After receiving raw milk, these people add ice to it according to taste and water to increase the milk content, considering the temperature. Milk in water or water in milk is understood to some extent, but in the temptation of higher profits, toxic chemicals (such as urea, formalin, hydrogen peroxide, etc.) are also added. When this milk reaches other units, they test it mostly by the freezing point of the milk, fat content, and protein content.
To fool a device called a lactometer, which is used to determine the density of milk, they add another harmful chemical, ammonium sulfate. It should be noted that this chemical, in addition to causing diarrhea, vomiting, and nausea, if its quantity is significantly increased, it also causes death due to its toxic effect.
Chemicals added to milk
What chemicals are added to milk and what effects it has on health is extremely painful and regrettable.
Generally, animals are injected with urea (to increase the nitrogen content) in milk, formalin and hydrogen peroxide (to preserve milk for a long time), common detergents (to make milk foamy), vegetable ghee (to increase the fat content) or Oxytocin to achieve higher production, which is extremely dangerous for animals as well as human health.
This not only deteriorates the quality of the milk, but also makes it smell a bit bad. Another chemical, known as Melamine, is extremely harmful to health. This is the dangerous chemical that caused havoc in China about twelve years ago. Approximately 300,000 infants suffered from kidney stones due to milk contaminated with this chemical.
It is used in milk to increase the protein level of milk. Thus, before it is supplied throughout the city from the dairy farms to the collection units, the milk loses its original form due to the addition of these harmful ingredients. And in the end, we, the drinkers, consider it a combination of proteins, vitamins and other health-friendly factors and become walking stores of diseases, which we return to from doctor to healer.
Adulteration of milk is considered a form of dishonesty, which cannot be ignored under any circumstances, because due to the dishonesty of profiteers, children, adults, young and old are falling prey to diseases. One reason for adulteration is the lack of proper fodder during the summer (May to August). As a result of the lack of fodder, milk production also decreases. Therefore, the cowherds use water in the milk indiscriminately and use harmful chemicals in the milk to thicken this thin milk.
The third reason is that milk storage stalls are connected to various dairy companies. These companies buy good and creamy milk from them for huge money, so to meet the urban needs, artificial milk is produced and sold to the people. People who criticize the pasteurization process say that this process, along with eliminating harmful germs, also eliminates the beneficial ingredients in the milk, so they prefer using pure milk over this milk.
In fact, milk heated at home loses not only harmful bacteria but also beneficial components, while the pasteurization process does not lose the nutrients of the milk.
Treatment of various diseases with milk
Various research and experiments have proven conclusively that milk (pure and free of chemicals) can cure every disorder or disease in the body.
In Western countries, patients who had no hope of survival are being cured with milk alone. Famous American author Ella Valerulkas says that except for heart diseases, every other disease can be treated with milk. She says that it is also possible to treat arthritis and cancer with milk. Milk is no less than the water of life for the human body.
If a person is sick, food is not part of the body and is becoming weaker day by day, has anemia, or the body has become thin and weak due to various diseases day by day, then milk can not only cure these diseases, but also remove the after-effects of these diseases. Such people who want to keep themselves healthy, strong and energetic should give up spicy foods and eat simple food.
Simple food refers to foods that are easily digestible, do not put too much strain on the stomach, and contain very little spices.
Many people believe that milk is only for children, but modern research and experiments have proven that people whose daily diet includes milk have better mental and physical health than those who do not drink milk.
It has also been observed that such people are less susceptible to diseases and live longer. American experts have said that drinking milk in adolescence can reduce the chances of diabetes. According to research by experts at Harvard University, people who consume milk and other milk products in adolescence have a 43% lower risk of developing diabetes after puberty than those who consume these things less. The research has also revealed that women who drink milk in adolescence have a lower rate of diabetes than women who consume less milk.
