Hormones in Skim vs. Whole Milk

A major review on diet and acne this year in the International Journal of Dermatology. Acne is described as a disease of Western civilization, a “near-universal” disease affecting up to 95% of teens, and about half of adults here in the United States. But if you go to places that still eat more traditional diets, out of over 1,000 people studied, not one single case of acne.

Dairy appears to play the major role. The steroid hormones in milk are at high enough concentrations that it may affect our oil-producing pores. But if there are that many hormones in milk, then acne would seem to be the least of our worries.

From the Journal of the German Society of Dermatology this year: “Milk consumption: aggravating factor [not only] of acne [but a] promoter of chronic diseases” in general. Yes, the potential risks of cow’s milk consumption include affecting the skin, but I’m less concerned with the so-called “acne epidemic” than I am about the epidemic of dementia, and cancer, and heart disease—though premature puberty and autoimmune diseases are serious issues as well.

Which has the highest hormone levels, though? Fat-free milk, reduced fat milk, whole milk, or buttermilk? 

Here’s the study, and buttermilk had the most hormones. But who drinks buttermilk? Which is #2? After buttermilk, is it skim, 2%, or whole milk?

The number two most hormone-packed milk is skim milk. Why are we concerned? Breast cancer, for one thing. All part of the soup of cancer-causing suspects scientists continue to find in milk. Skim milk, second only to buttermilk in terms of the levels of about a dozen steroid hormones recently found in retail milk.

Part of the reason is what we’ve done to dairy cows. Through dietary and genetic manipulation, we’re now able to force cows to lactate even in the late stages of pregnancy. And since we have to keep them constantly impregnated to produce milk, that’s good for the industry. But right at the end of the third trimester, the hormone levels really skyrocket, and that’s what we end up drinking.

Milk was designed by nature to make things grow like crazy—that’s why it’s good for babies, but bad for tumors. Good for baby cows, but bad for adult people who may have tiny microscopic breast or prostate tumors, which we don’t want growing so fast.

In a study of 140,000 men this year, 35 grams of dairy protein increased the risk of developing high-grade prostate cancer by 76%, so that’s like 2% increased risk for every gram of milk protein. So like a cup of cottage cheese a day could increase one’s risk by about 50%.

To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video. This is just an approximation of the audio contributed by veganmontreal.

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