MILK AND HEART DISEASE

There are strong statistical links between heart disease and both milk carbohydrates and nonfat milk. Seely published these studies in the 1980s, but the science has yet to surpass the propaganda.¹"³ Interestingly, an especially strong statistical correlation emerges be­tween heart disease and milk carbohydrates. Although a correlation cannot scientifically be considered the same as a cause-and-effect association, the data relating the increase in heart disease to in­creased sugar consumption (as noted in the last chapter) certainly suggest that the sugar in milk carbohydrates may be playing a sim­ilar role. Milk sugar, or lactose, is readily absorbed in the gut after being split into equal amounts of glucose, and another simple sugar, galactose. Further, the pasteurization process appears to allow a more rapid absorption of lactose, increasing the rate of glucose de­livery into the system. Consistent with this observation, pasteurized milk promotes weight gain more effectively than unpasteurized milk. And heavier people end up with more heart disease than the lighter ones.

Milk: A Good Food Made Toxic 73

Being a ready source of sugar is only one potential mechanism for the increase in heart disease seen with increased milk consump­tion. We will also see that the pasteurization process itself can have negative effects on milk, and these effects can help to cause heart disease. Also, how homogenization and hormonal manipulation of today's milk and milk products all make their own deadly contri­butions to the final product will be described.