"Drinking Milk Cuts Diabetes Risk" blare the headlines. The University of Cardiff in England just completed a study that showed that the more people drank milk the lower their incidence of metabolic syndrome, which is essentially a grab bag of symptoms that can lead to diabetes and heart disease: insulin resistance, obesity, high blood pressure, etc.
One problem. The study did not specify what the control group drank. Think about it. If there was one group drinking more milk, what would the other group likely be drinking? Water with stevia? Doubt it. They were probably drinking more soda and sugared energy drinks.
So, perhaps the headlines should have read "Milk Better Than Soda." Yeah, well, what isn't?
Further, the study reports that the number of people in the control group versus the milk-drinkers was virtually the same as far as who was actually diagnosed with diabetes during the study. The metabolic syndrome rate was lower in the milk-drinking group, but the rate of diabetes was the same, even given the twenty-year span of the study.
A better-conducted study from 2000 showed that cow's milk actually increases the incidence of diabetes by a factor of three. The results of that study are here.
3 comments:
Hi, Daryl, I like your blog. There's very little sensible sorting-out of information these days, and you have assembled quite the array of resources and commentary!
I have a Ph.D. in health psychology, have studied everything from immune molecules to support groups, which qualifies me to.... teach psychology. The degree to which the whole structure of healthcare is organized to keep patients uninformed, helpless, like cows through chutes, is staggering. There are, literally, thousands of cost-effective ways to reduce illness, increase health, and reduce suffering on all levels. But if it's not drugs or surgery, it doesn't usually happen at the medical center.
One of the most dangerous trends at the moment is the cavalier increase in ceasarean sections for mothers. The other is the lack of active behavioral and psychological management of diabetes. While the need for conventional medications can't be villified away, the current exclusion of low-risk behavioral health offerings, to my eye, constitutes denial of care, it's so bad.
I don't know a lot about alternative remedies (still learning, but am blessed with excellent health, so that's tricky), but i do know about scientifically proven, controlled trial-justified behavioral changes that dramatically impact the course of illness. Confession, meditation, exercise, social support, and learning new coping skills are all associated with health enhancement.
There. That's the end of my little rant. Keep blogging!
Hey kpd,
Thanks for the insightful comment. It sounds like you have an excellent background to question a lot of what goes on in Western medicine.
I'm glad to hear you're learning about alternative medicine. Once we have big brains like yours working on opening up our options, anything is possible!
Thanks again for your comments.
Well I don't have Ph.D. but I do have common sense enough to know that excessive reliance on drugs and medication is not the way to permanent healing.
I too have been blessed with good health and I think having a proper diet it a great way to ward off illness simple as it may sound.
A lot illness even chronic ones are due to years of poor diet choices.
ultra
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