My daughter came back from school one day and said that her ma’am had asked her to research for 10 reasons why milk is not beneficial. I was confused and asked her if her teacher wanted her to research on the goodness of milk instead.  She denied and stuck to her own thing and I kept on  pestering her with my rantings. It was against my deep rooted belief that anything could be wrong with drinking milk. Don’t we all encourage our children to drink more milk?

Finally, after checking the Almanac and convinced that indeed my daughter was right I sat down with her to start our research. However, I kept telling my darling daughter that there is no way we will be able to find more than 1 or 2 reasons against having milk. Google, our knight in shining armor in any difficult situations gladly pulled out several sites promoting that  milk might not be as good for you as you think. Coming from a vegetarian family where milk and dairy products were a must, my religion was now shaking.

As I dug deeper,  I realized that once the intake of milk crosses the prescribed amount it becomes extremely harmful for you, causing innumerable problems to you and your organs.

While 3-4 small servings of milk  or dairy products in a day are okay for kids, anything more than that is harmful. Here is the list of disadvantages of drinking too much milk –

• Increased risk of iron deficiency:  Excess calcium in the blood stops the body from absorbing iron and in very small children can even cause subtle blood loss from the digestive tract. The fact that milk has virtually no iron of its own, the result is an increased risk of iron deficiency.
• Lactose intolerance: We all have a certain amount of lactase in out bodies to digest milk. Kids have more lactase than adults. Anybody consuming too much milk will fail to receive the calories normally supplied by the undigested carbohydrates; resultant diarrhea may also lead to loss of protein. Children consuming high amounts of milk have often complained of abdominal pains.
• Obesity : Milk contains carbohydrates, fats and sugar so consuming huge amounts will make you gain weight and increase blood sugar levels. Several servings a day of whole milk might be a diet buster.
• Kidney stones: People who take excessive amounts  of milk are at risk for high blood calcium levels. Excess calcium deposits in the kidneys in the form of stones.
• Loss of Calcium: You need a certain amount of calcium from  milk for healthy bones. However, additional calcium provides little (or no) protection against osteoporosis. In fact, it leeches out the calcium from your bones.
• Elevated risk of infections:  The cows sometimes pass on the infection and hormones to the milk, which in turn are passed on to the person consuming it.

While  milk in moderation works well, the belief that taking more milk will make you healthier is “just a white lie”. You might want to consult a doctor to determine the right amount for you or your kids.

Story Source:
Some parts of the above story are based on materials provided by ProCon.org. The reference article ‘Top 10 Pros and Cons – Milk’ was written by Various Authors. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.