Before we start this (and you know I love controversy!).. I am *not* debating my views.

[conuly]

Sorry. If you wish to know my feelings on the dairy industry, there is one site on my links list which should make the point very clear, even if you never visit it.

I just have a question. Got that? No arguments over the merits of consuming dairy products or alternate sources of calcium or anything. Just a question.

How could anybody reasonably say that people have to drink milk to be healthy? No species could possibly evolve with a necessity for the milk of another species, or even their own species after a certain age. That's insane! We can't escape our evolution, and we haven't had domesticated animals long enough for us to evolve to need them. So, how is it justified to say we need milk? I'm actually curious here, not argumentative.

Comments

[maladaptive.livejournal.com]

I've heard that one too, I was just saying that's why it's so commonly suggested-- besides, I don't really trust new studies that much. New studies have proven that asparagus not only decreases your chances of cancer, but causes cancer too! I say you eat what you want.

Besides. I like milk.

[maladaptive.livejournal.com]

I never knew that about soy. That's quite frankly... scary. Good thing I don't like soy!

My opinion is: living causes cancer. So if you don't shoot yourself now, enjoy yourself. Just not in excess. There's a lot of "having a uterus causes uterine cancer" type handwringing in the scientific community lately... I've learned to ignore most of it.

[georgiapeachy.livejournal.com]

Soy has also been shown to prevent some cancers, BUT CAUSE others!

Two senior US government scientists, Drs. Daniel Doerge and Daniel Sheehan, have revealed that chemicals in soy could increase the risk of breast cancer in women, brain damage in both men and women, and abnormalities in infants.

The scientists decided to break ranks with colleagues in the FDA and oppose its decision last year to approve a health claim that soy reduced the risk of heart disease.

They wrote an internal protest letter warning of 28 studies revealing toxic effects of soy, mostly focusing on chemicals in soy known as isoflavones, which have effects similar to the female hormone estrogen.

They claim that research has shown a clear link between soy and the potential for adverse effects in humans.

Soy may lead to health problems in animals including altering sexual development of fetuses and causing thyroid disorders.

Some studies show that chemicals in soy may increase the chances of estrogen-dependent breast cancer.

According to their letter:

'There is abundant evidence that some of the isoflavones found in soy demonstrate toxicity in estrogen sensitive tissues and in the thyroid.'

'During pregnancy in humans, isoflavones per se could be a risk factor for abnormal brain and reproductive tract development.'
According to one of the scientists, parents who give their children soy milk or formulas "are exposing their children to chemicals which we know have adverse effects in animals. It's like doing a large uncontrolled and unmonitored experiment on infants.'

The soy industry insists that the adverse effects seen in animals do not apply to humans.

The Guardian August 13, 2000

In my opinion people do not need milk, soy milk either, they both have pitfalls, but in moderation I don't think they are going to kill you, in excess anything can kill. I personally alternate between the two, one week i'll use soy, the next i'll use milk.

[squittycat.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I've seen the anti-soy studies too. Again, I don't generally trust facts that are supported by "studies" unless there's a bit more to go on.

I do have a problem with people who see soy milk as a "replacement" for milk. Because why replace something you don't need in the first place? I drink far less soy milk than I drank cow milk when I did drink it, which already was almost none, as drinking dairy would often induce me to have asthma attacks and other general respiratory difficulty. (Asthma, incidentally, being one of my many afflictions which miraculousy disappeared when I stopped consuming dairy some time ago.)

But anyway, I think the idea of soy formula for infants, as mentioned at the end of that article, is just as silly as feeding them cow milk. Human milk is best for human infants, because it's designed for them and they for it.