Organic Food Lovers to Eat Genetically-Modified, Corporate-Farmed Crow

You know, I started to write a long response to this, with plenty of links to my favorite organic brands, but then I realized that you won't give a fuck, so how's this:

Perhaps you should avoid reading posts about non-vegan food on the boards. Crying all the time must be exhausting. And when you post shit like this, it's like posting PETA links in response to an "I love steak" post. It's obnoxious, and does nothing to make me sympathize with your "cause". It's especially annoying because I'm a huge proponent of buying organic/free-range as much as possible, and I put my money where my mouth is.

Milk allergy is a food allergy, an adverse immune reaction to a food protein that is normally harmless to the non-allergic individual. Lactose intolerance is a non-allergic food sensitivity, and comes from a lack of production of the enzyme lactase, required to digest the predominant sugar in milk. Lactose intolerance is not actually a disease or malady. Adverse effects of lactose intolerance occur at much higher milk consumption than adverse effects of milk allergy.

Although goat milk, like cow's milk and human milk, contains lactose, many people with lactose intolerance can drink goat milk. Why? It has been hypothesized that the reason lies in goat milk's superior digestibility. Goat milk is more completely and easily absorbed than cow's milk, leaving less undigested residue behind in the colon to quite literally ferment and cause the uncomfortable symptoms of lactose intolerance.

It may also be that the patient is not lactose intolerant at all, but instead is one of the 1-in-10 people who are allergic to the major protein of cow's milk ... alpha S1 casein protein. The symptoms are almost identical to those of lactose intolerance. Both goat milk and human milk lack this offending protein.

Cheeses. Traditionally made hard cheese (such as Swiss cheese) and soft ripened cheeses may create less reaction than the equivalent amount of milk because of the processes involved. Fermentation and higher fat content contribute to lesser amounts of lactose. Traditionally made Swiss or Cheddar might contain 10% of the lactose found in whole milk. In addition, the traditional aging methods of cheese (over 2 years) reduces their lactose content to practically nothing.[3] Commercial cheese brands, however, are generally manufactured by modern processes that do not have the same lactose reducing properties, and as no regulations mandate what qualifies as an "aged" cheese, this description does not provide any indication of whether the process used significantly reduced lactose.

Cows’ Milk vs. Goats’ or Sheep’s Milk

There are two main advantages to going less mainstream and avoiding cows’ milk in favour of goats’ milk or sheep’s milk products.

1. Goat and sheep’s milk are less likely to contain hormones and additives (see above).

2. Goats’ milk is more easily digested.

On a basic level, humans were never “designed” to digest cows’ milk or goats’ milk. Our bodies are meant to consume (human) mother’s milk for the first several months or years, and then move on to other foods. Many people only become lactose-intolerant as teens or adults, when the enzymes to digest any kind of milk stop being produced by the human digestive system.

Goats’ milk is the easiest for humans to digest, because goat milk proteins are most similar to the protein found in human milk.

In areas where cows’ or goats’ milk has traditionally been a staple, people have for the most part evolved the ability to continue digesting milk into adulthood. Yet in those whose ancestors did not consume milk - such as people of Chinese or Japanese descent – lactose intolerance is especially common.

Read more: http://naturalmedicine.suite101.com/article.cfm/milk#ixzz0MxR7oTmS