Continuing from Part 1 on Milk…
Just as our diet affects our health and performance, the diet of our dairy source is equally important. Cows belong to a class of animal called ruminants, meaning they poses an organ called the rumen that digests grasses by initially softening it before is is regurgitated and chewed again for further digestion.
The key ingredient in the process of creating good quality meats and dairy from cows is grass. Grasses are the natural food source for cows, and the reason they have rumens. Modern factory farming however, has decided to go over the head of nature.
Factory farmed dairy cows are now fed mixtures of corn, soy, grains, and other “high energy” feed stocks to make sure the cows are producing as much milk as possible, for as little money as possible. A major problem with this diet is that many non-grass foods (such as soy and alfalfa) contain compounds that mimic the actions of the female hormone, estrogen. While these can cause cows to produce more milk than they normally would (and thus increase profit per animal), some studies have called into question possible impacts on animal health and nutrient content of the milk.
Also, a major issue with cows eating mostly a grain based diet has to do with the cow’s biology. As I mentioned before, cows have an organ called the rumen, that functions to break down cellulose in grass into simple sugars through a mixed process of mechanical churning, and a symbiotic relationship with plant digesting microbes. The problem comes with the fact that these microbes perform best in a pH neutral environment, like the one created in the rumen when cow saliva mixes with fermenting grass. When cows are feed too much grain, the pH balance in the rumen turns acidic, and the bacteria that break down cellulose can no longer do their job, and bacteria that can survive in an acidic environment flourish and begin eating the walls of the rumen. This is where all the antibiotics come in.
What does this mean for human?
Humans have an acidic stomach for a reason, to kill harmful bacteria. It is a safety mechanism that evolved partly because of our taste for meat. Because cows that eat grass grow bacteria that thrive in a pH neutral environment, most bacteria that was left on the meat after slaughter could not survive in our acid stomach. It was a fine balance.
Does the problem now become evident?
Factory farmed cows, which are fed a net acidic producing diet of grains, grow bacteria in their rumens that THRIVE in acidic conditions. This means that any bacteria that is left on the meat when we eat it can no longer be killed by our acidic stomachs.
The message to be taken away from all this info is do your research, and look for high quality sources of meat and dairy. There has been a movement recently back to pasture, or grass-fed beef, and many small farms are beginning to raise cattle again as the demand for high quality meat grows. A Google serach is your best bet to find grass-fed beef in your area.
The issue of factory farming and it’s effects on the health of our society is no stranger to controversy. Corn surplus, a high demand for dairy, and cheap antibiotics have all contributed to the relatively recent decline in nutrition and quality of a food source that has been a staple of the human diet for hundreds of thousands of years.
Michael Pollan talks extensively about the corn and dairy industry’s intimate relationship and how it is degrading out standard of living in his excellent book The Omnivore’s Dilemma
