PDA

View Full Version : Milk is GOOD/HALAL for everybody?


CroqMignon
30-07-02, 08:48 AM
Milk is GOOD/HALAL for everybody?

The Holy Quran clearly states that (cows) milk is good for humans to drink:

Quran 16:66
And verily in cattle (too) will ye find an instructive sign. From what is within their bodies between excretions and blood, We produce, for your drink, milk, pure and agreeable to those who drink it.

It's even being served in the afterlife's Heavenly Garden:

Quran 47:15
(Here is) a Parable of the Garden which the righteous are promised: in it are rivers of water incorruptible; rivers of milk of which the taste never changes; rivers of wine, a joy to those who drink; and rivers of honey pure and clear. In it there are for them all kinds of fruits; and Grace from their Lord. (Can those in such Bliss) be compared to such as shall dwell for ever in the Fire, and be given, to drink, boiling water, so that it cuts up their bowels (to pieces)?


Not surprisingly the Halal Digest from januari 2001 states:
( http://www.ifanca.org/newsletter/2001_01.htm )
This month we take a look at dairy products. Of course, all dairy products originate with milk. Milk has been mentioned in the Quran four times, twice directly and twice indirectly.
.....
Milk has also been described as a drink of Paradise.
.....
As produced from the cow (or other Halal animal), milk is Halal.
So (cows) milk is a real good and healthy drink and a blessing from Allah for all & each of mankind.....? How to evaluate the following then?


Findings from modern research sketch a somewhat different picture:
(Note: this post is not about mother's milk for babies. For babies, mother's milk IS the ideal food (cows milk, however, is NOT the ideal food for babies). This post is about cows (and other animals) milk being consumed by humans after the weaning stage).


No Milk - Introduction
http://www.nomilk.com/intro.htm
There are many millions of people who must be cautious about consuming milk and milk by-products. For this group, there are four principle reasons for their caution:

1. Lactose Maldigestion, also known as Lactose Intolerance, or (incorrectly) as lactose allergy. The digestive system does not produce enough of the lactase enzyme to break down the complex lactose sugar into simpler sugars. The lactose sugar ferments in the small intestine, producing gas, bloating, cramps, and diarrhea.

2. Milk Allergy. This is a true allergic reaction by the body's immune system to one or more of milk's proteins, such as casein or lactoglobulin. The resulting symptoms typically include swelling, itching, bronchospasm, hives, hypotension or shock, abdominal cramps and diarrhea.

3. Casein Intolerance. This is when the immune system of the body produces IgA and IgG antibodies to casein, a milk protein. The community avoiding casein are the people afflicted with autism.

4. Villous Atrophy. This is discussed in the Medline abstracts found in the Educational Institution section below. For these people the casein milk protein causes the intestinal villi to flatten, much like it does when gluten is consumed by somebody that is intolerant to gluten.


METABOLIC FOOD DISORDERS
http://www.fao.org/docrep/meeting/X2670e.htm
The symptoms characteristic of lactose intolerance include bloating, flatulence, abdominal cramping, and frothy diarrhea. Lactose intolerance affects a large number of people worldwide. Lactose intolerance is more frequent among certain ethnic groups (African Americans, Native Americans, Hispanics, Asians, certain Jewish groups, and Arabs) affecting as many as 60 - 90% of older adults in those groups. The prevalence among Caucasians is about 6 - 12%.



"Lactase Deficiency: The World Pattern Today" - T. Gilat, Israel J Med Sci (1979), 15:369:
(no link available)
"Condition caused by an absence of lactase: Lactose intolerance which causes cramps, bloating and diarrhea when dairy products are consumed. People who are naturally lactose intolerant: 20% of Caucasians and up to 90% of people of African and Asian descent."



Scientists Uncover Genetic Basis for Lactose Intolerance
http://prof.usb.ve/jpino/jj%2033.htm
It's a strange irony that the substance we depend on for nutrients early in life can trigger unpleasant symptoms when we consume it as adults. But in North America alone, lactose intolerance—the inability to digest the main sugar in milk—affects more than 30 million adults, mostly of African or Asian descent. Northern Europeans, on the other hand, tend to retain the ability to break down lactose.

Now new research, published in the February issue of the journal Nature Genetics, has finally revealed the long-sought genetic basis for lactose intolerance.

Studying the DNA of nine extended Finnish families, Leena Peltonen of the University of California, Los Angeles, and colleagues discovered two DNA variants located outside the lactase gene itself that correspond to lactose tolerance and intolerance. Importantly, lactose-intolerant members of the Finnish families shared the same DNA variant found in lactose-intolerant individuals from Germany, Italy and South Korea, among others, which suggests to the researchers that lactose intolerance has ancient roots. Indeed persistent lactase activity, they say, may have only evolved with the advent of dairy farming, around 10,000 years ago.


Food Allergies - When Eating Is Risky
http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/CONSUMER/CON0266d.html
Lactose intolerance, for instance, is sometimes mistaken for milk allergy. Lactose intolerance is a problem of digestion due to an enzyme deficiency, with cramps and diarrhea the common hallmarks. Estimates are that about 80 percent of African- Americans have lactose intolerance, as do many people of Mediterranean or Hispanic origin. It is quite different from the true allergic reaction some have to the proteins in milk. Unlike allergies, intolerances generally intensify with age.


WHEN MILK MAKES YOU SICK
http://www.indiana.edu/~ensiweb/lessons/tp.milk3.html
(very slow-loading site, be patient)
Except for certain populations of Western humans, milk consumption stops ( or is greatly reduced) with weaning. It also happens that in animals and most humans there is a decline in the level of production of lactase with aging. Lactase is the enzyme that digests milk sugar. (Curtis).

Evolution in pastoral ancestors that kept dairy animals, in populations of Europeans and some Africans, is thought to have produced the modern people who are lactose absorbers throughout adult life. There may have been a selective advantage in that group during times when milk and dairy products were relied on almost exclusively for nutrition during shortages of other foods (Houts). About 10,000 years have passed since the milking of domestic animals was begun. Nigeria is a case that demonstrates the significance of this lifestyle on human evolution. In the southern region, where conditions are not favorable for cattle, milk is not part of the diet. People there develop lactose intolerance. In contrast, a nomadic tribe that has been raising milk cattle for thousands of years remain lactose tolerant. Most African Americans are descendants of the nonpastoral tribes from Western Africa and do not tolerate lactose well. (Keeton and Gould)

In Caucasians only about 15% develop lactose intolerance while 80-90% of the African American and Asian populations are affected.


-----------------------------------------------------------------
Thank you for reading.

Any comments?

jamila
30-07-02, 01:45 PM
http://www.milk.mb.ca/Nutritin/lactose.htm

UDDERLY INCREDIBLE
Comparisons are based on the Canada Food Guide to Healthy Eating definitions of a serving.

A Single Serving of Whole Milk

As much protein as a Grade A Large Egg
More thiamin, riboflavin and niacin than 100% whole wheat bread.
Half the cholesterol of sole.
1/3 less fat than lean ground beef.
More calcium than 12 sardines with their bones.
Almost as much potassium as a banana.
Close to 3/4 of the vitamin A of broccoli.
45% of our daily requirement for vitamin D.
An awesome total of 25 measurable nutrients.

Q&A

IS MILK PROTEIN, CASEIN, DIFFICULT TO DIGEST?
The high casein content of cow's milk is responsible for the formation of a large, firm curd which may be more difficult for some infants to digest than the finer, soft curd formed from human milk which contains less casein. Consequently, cow's milk used for infant formula is modified to conform more closely to the nutritional and physical requirements of infants. When cow's milk is heated (as in pasteurization), homogenized or acidified to produce a softer curd, the protein is used by infants as efficiently as is the protein of human milk. The digestibility of casein registers 96%; lactalbumin, 97%; and milk, 97%.5

IS MILK PROTEIN A HIGH QUALITY ONE?
Because of its excellent nutritive value, milk (and milk protein, casein) is used routinely to evaluate the quality of protein in other foods. Protein quality is largely dependent on the pattern and concentration of essential amino acids provided for the synthesis of nitrogen- containing compounds within the body. The high quality of milk protein stems from the fact that it not only contains all of the amino acids, but also that their distribution pattern resembles that required by humans. Casein comprises about 82% of total milk protein; whey proteins, principally beta-lactoglobulin and alpha-lactalbumin, the remaining 18%. Casein is slightly inferior to whey since it has a limited amount of the total sulfur-containing amino acids (methionine plus systine). However, since whey proteins have a relative surplus, the casein and whey combination found in milk complement each other.

IS DIETARY QUALITY MEASURED ONLY ON THE BASIS OF PROTEIN?
Studies of paediatric populations in the Third World indicate that neither protein nor energy, as previously believed, is the limiting nutrient in the growth, cognitive and behavioral development of children. Dietary quality, in terms of its content of animal foods, is of greater importance. In the marginally malnourished, foods of animal origin provide increased bioavailability of zinc and iron, levels of which may be high in plant foods, but less readily absorbed. Therefore, subsistence on diets which are heavily reliant on plant food, but low in eggs, milk products, meat and fish, appears to be inadequate to support growth and development in children.

IS MILK FAT DIFFICULT TO DIGEST?
No. Milk fat is considered to be the most complex of all of the common fats and exhibits unique physical, chemical and biological properties not easily duplicated by other fats. In fact, many of the over 400 identifiable fatty acids are found only in milk fat (although only 10 are of quantitative importance). The short-chain fatty acids with four to eight carbons and representing about 6% of the total, are a case in point. In addition, the distribution of individual fatty acids on the glycerol molecule is related to the digestibility of fats used in infant feeding. In milk fat, the distribution is not haphazard, but arranged so that the short-chain fatty acids, mainly butyric and caproic, occur in the outer position, and longer- chain fatty acids such as myristic acid, are found in position 2 of the glycerol molecule. It is thought that this arrangement contributes to the ease of digestibility of milk fat compared with other fats, especially those with a large proportion of triglycerides, each of which contains three fatty acids with 18 carbon fatty acids.



http://www.milk.mb.ca/Nutritin/myth/myth.htm

Newfie
30-07-02, 06:55 PM
Cro--

Surely you're not suggesting the Quran is fallible, inaccurate, manmade, and silly??!!:eek:



;)

Consider
30-07-02, 07:11 PM
What would you expect if cows were fed on animal remains and stuffed full of hormones, i dont think the milk from those kind of cows could ever be healthy.

CroqMignon
30-07-02, 09:52 PM
Hi Jamila, you quote from the website of Manitoba Milk Producers.
http://www.milk.mb.ca/

That's a commercial milk PRODUCER :D , who has everything to gain with giving only positive news on milk consumption!

You consider that a reliable source??? :confused:

Newfie: I'm not suggesting, I'm looking for islamic viewpoints on the research I mentioned ;)

CroqMignon
30-07-02, 11:12 PM
PS - Jamila: and even your Milk Producer says:
Consequently, cow's milk used for infant formula is modified to conform more closely to the nutritional and physical requirements of infants.

Or, in other words: pure cow's milk does not fit the nutritional and physical requirements of infants ideally. It has to be 'modified'!

angelgirl101
31-07-02, 12:25 AM
Originally posted by bintmasood
What would you expect if cows were fed on animal remains and stuffed full of hormones, i dont think the milk from those kind of cows could ever be healthy.

I agree.

CroqMignon
31-07-02, 05:52 AM
Hi Bintmasood & Demongirl101, I agree with you completely that those modern 'feeding' practices for 'consumption'-animals are to be distrusted and are unnatural.

However, these recent unnatural feeding trends don't explain why North European Caucasians and some pastoral tribes of Western Africa are effected least by lactose intolerance. Here only 10-20% of the people can't properly digest (cows) milk. In the other world populations the percentage of people who can not digest milk properly can be as high as 90%.....

CroqMignon
12-08-02, 03:37 PM
From:
Race Is Seen as Real Guide to Track Roots of Disease
NY Times, July 30 2002

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/30/health/genetics/30RACE.html
(quote)

All humans have the bulk of their genetic heritage in common and possess the same set of genes. But because of mutations, or changes in DNA, each gene comes in several slightly different versions, and some of them are more common in one ethnic group than another. These genetic differences often have medical significance, since some occur among genes that affect susceptibility to disease and the response to drugs.

It has long been known that some diseases are not evenly distributed. For example, a mutation that causes hemochromatosis, a disorder of iron metabolism, is rare or absent among Indians and Chinese but occurs in 7.5 percent of Swedes. A common mutation that causes sickle cell anemia is prevalent among Africans and is thought to have originated among Bantu-speakers before the Bantu expansion 2,000 years ago.

Lactose intolerance, the loss of the ability to digest lactose after weaning, is the default condition of humankind but among Northern Europeans the ability is often retained into adulthood. The reason is a mutation that may have been favored among early cattle farmers.

Like all previous mentioned research, this article says basically:

Northern Europeans are among the rather small group of the totallity of humankind to whom consumption of milk after the weaning stage is most 'agreeable' due to evolutionary changes. For much of the rest of humanity lactose-intolerance after the weaning stage is default.

So it seems that the Quranic statement
{Quran 16:66}
And verily in cattle (too) will ye find an instructive sign. From what is within their bodies between excretions and blood, We produce, for your drink, milk, pure and agreeable to those who drink it. is more appropriate to the genetic cluster of kafir Northern Europeans (and their US descendants) than on the other genetic clusters among humanity. :mad:

:confused: What would be the islamic explanation for this?

Are the Northern Europeans favoured by Allah on this milk-drinking issue? Or could this research be just another conspiracy against islam?