034. Milk is for babies?

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Is milk really for babies only?

You often hear: “Humans are the only species who drink another animal’s milk”.

Arnold’s famous for saying from Pumping Iron: “Milk is for babies”.

Doctors and naturopaths also tell you to avoid milk because it’s highly allergenic.

Today’s episode will distinguish between different types of milk and why milk may have a bad reputation in some circles.

Our view maybe controversial so have a listen and let us know if you agree or disagree with what we say.

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Hosts:  Randy Roach and Tamas Acs

Episode #34

Milk

In This Episode:

The difference between pastured cows milk and commercial cows milk

What are A1 and A2 cows

What was Rheo Blair’s mother’s milk claim

How did Iron Man editor, Peary Rader put on 100 pounds

Episode Summary and Updating:

A listener had asked what the big deal was with milk since Arnold stated that Milk was for babies

Randy estimated that Arnold’s above statement from Pumping Iron was probably just mid 1970s at Terminal Island

Arnold’s friend and promoter of the 1980 Mr. Olympia, Paul Graham, served his prison sentence at Terminal Island

Tamas himself then asked what the big deal was with milk and that Randy was drinking a lot of it currently

Randy explained that he is drinking a gallon a day because of his skin condition he has been dealing with for the past four years

The milk sits very well with him so it has anchored his diet for the past few years

Randy has drank raw milk for the past 17 years

He has not always drank a gallon a day but has drank a fair bit over that span of years

He talked about the history of milk in bodybuilding going back to J. C. Hise and Mark Berry in the early 1930s

The high reps squat routine with lots of milk was made popular by Iron Man editor Peary Reader

Peary put on over 100 pounds using this protocol

Randy stated that a gallon of milk brings in roughly 2400 calories and 128 grams of protein

Many have problems digesting the milk sugar lactose in pasteurized milk, but most can digest raw milk as the enzyme lactase to digest lactose is still active

Randy shared his difficulties with pasteurized milk when he was young, but has had no problems with raw milk even at a gallon per day

Randy and Tamas both stated how the very constituency of raw milk is different from that of commercial pasteurized milk

A much sought after compound of milk in the bodybuilding community, conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) is found in raw milk from pastured cows but not from commercial dairy

More was discussed on the differences between commercial dairy and raw dairy

Tamas spoke on how commercial Holstein cows are bred to be milked three times daily and this over-milking produces teet infections which can dispense excretions into the milk

This is one reason why pasteurization is mandatory

Randy stated that pasteurization began even earlier than that

He continued with what happens with commercial milk

Commercial dairy is first pasteurized at various temperatures ranging from 145 to over 200 degrees F.

The fat is then separated from the milk

Often skim milk powder is added to the milk to give it body and colour

The fat goes through a process of driving it through tiny orifices to create small globules of fat that will stay suspended in the milk

This homogenization process destroys the natural vitamin A and D which have to be replaced with synthetic vitamin A and D

The fat is then reintroduced back into the skim milk at 1%, 2% or whole

The fat will then stay dispersed in the milk as opposed to settling on the top
Milk from non-pastured grain-fed Holstein cows which has been pasteurized and homogenized is vastly inferior to milk from grass-fed Jersey, Guernsey, Milking Shorhorn and Brown Swiss cows

Randy stated that the medical field and commercial food industry seem to paint all milk under the same brush

He gave some history of what were known as distillery dairies which he wrote about in Muscle, Smoke & Mirrors, Volume I

For many decades during the 1800s cows were housed on whiskey distillery land and fed the grain by-products from the distilling process

This created what was called swill milk which was a highly compromised milk which contributed to infectious disease that was rampant on the north eastern border of the United States

Instead of fixing the problem they simply began pasteurizing or making an already bad product even worse albeit it did kill the threatening pathogens

In 1893 Dr. Henry Coit orchestrated the clean up of a small number of farms to produce certified raw milk for medicinal purposes

This was still when some physicians recognized the medicinal value of whole, fresh milk

Industry still won out and most of the milk was pasteurized

Milton J. Rosenau, M.D. in 1906 established that milk could be pasteurized at 140 degrees F without altering the taste to much

Dr. Henry Coit did go onto establish the American Association of Medical Milk Commissions

The differences between the certified raw milk and the pasteurized milk from dirty farms was again significant

The homogenization process came along later roughly around 1920

Tamas interjected how money always wins out and with more industry there is more money

Randy added how by 1920 much of the orthodox medical field had been through a dietary dumb-down beginning with the Flexner Report of 1910 which could constitute a show of its own

No one was policing the food industry and these destructive processes on already compromised milk just added enormously to the growth of degenerative disease

Randy reiterated how the high rep squats and lots of milk was so popular through the 20th century but the milk just kept getting worse

Along with Peary Rader, Randy Strossen further popularized the high rep squat/milk protocol in his 1989 book, Super Squats

By that time many had turned to commercial, pasteurized skim milk which is arguably worse

Tamas brought up how Randy has drank large quantities of milk through the years and was still able to remain lean

Randy talked on lactose being an animal carbohydrate with a low glycemic response on the body meaning it does not raise the blood sugar quickly

Randy and Tamas both discussed what was known decades back as the milk diet often used on diabetics before insulin came into heavy use

Tamas mentioned both Sally Fallon of the Weston A. Price Foundation and Dr. Crew who wrote on the milk diet

Randy brought up Rheo Blair (Irving Johnson) who championed raw dairy for bodybuilding beginning back in the mid 1950s

Randy also spoke on what he wrote in Muscle, Smoke & Mirrors, Volume II on his speculation on what Blair may have been doing in the mid 1960s when he began advertising his protein formula being equivalent to mother’s milk

Blair added at that time alpha-lactalbumin to his existing milk and egg protein

Mother’s milk has an almost 50/50 split of casein and whey (lactalbumin) often with a higher content of whey

Cow’s milk is 80% casein and 20% whey

The whey in cow’s milk has both beta-lactoglobulin and apha-lactalbumin with the former being dominant

Mother’s milk does not contain beta-lactoglobulin

So by adding alpha-lactalbumin to his egg and casein protein powder Rheo Blair could boast of having a blend closer to mother’s milk

Randy further speculated that Blair had milk colostrum (cowe’s first milking) by the later 1970s

Randy gave Don Howorth’s diet while training for the Mr. America back in 1967

Don’s diet consisted of 2-3 cups of Blair’s protein, 1 quart of raw cream, 2 lbs of sirloin and 3 dozen eggs

Randy mis-spoke in the podcast when saying Don drank two quarts of raw cream when it was actually one quart

Rheo Blair had a big diet influence on Don and as mentioned Rheo knew about raw dairy going back to before he left Chicago for the west coast in 1958

Randy figures one of the reasons Blair came to the west coast was the easy access to raw dairy

Randy then continued by explaining the difference between A1 and a2 cows

The beta-casein milk protein is 229 amino acids long

The 67th amino acid (Randy erroneously stated 57th) is proline in the older breeds of cows such as jersey, Guernsey, Milking Shorhorn and Brown Swiss cows

These cows are referred to as A2 cows

In the newer breed Holstein cow, that 67th amino acid at some point mutated from proline to histidine

These cows are referred to as A1 cows

Proline has a stronger bond to another small protein (opiate) compound known as BCM 7

Histidine does not have a strong bond to BCM 7

The release of BCM 7 is believed to cause some health issues

This is still somewhat of a controversial argument

Randy said he has tried milk from both for long periods of time each and noticed no difference

Randy and Tamas again reviewed the differences between commercial milk and milk from pastured cows

Western medicine does not know the difference

Randy acknowledges how many still live long, healthy lives eating cooked foods but still believes that milk is more sensitive to heat and recommends it raw

Grains and homogenization just further damage milk

Tamas returned to the question of milk being for babies

Randy acknowledged some merit to this statement but simply said that milk has been in healthy, long-lived people for millennia

Milk all through history has been drunk from cows, goats, sheep, camels and yaks

It has only been in the past century since altering milk through commercial processing that we have seen problems

Randy also stated how the cow has really coughed it up for bodybuilding over the past decades by giving us milk, cream, colostrum, butter, CLA, cream, desiccated liver, beef and even his hide for gloves and lifting belts

Bodybuilders such as Pat Casey and Don Howorth were drinking a gallon of milk through their workouts alone

Back in the 1960s when they were doing this, they often trained for three to four hours so they felt they needed to nourish the body through that length of time even though they were in the midst of training

Vince Gironda and Rheo Blair both promoted raw milk through their years of persuasion

Vince would advocate up to three quarts and 3 dozen raw eggs mixed per day

Randy stated that anyone with the physical constitution to digest and assimilate that enormity of dense food most likely has the physiology for great muscle growth

Randy admitted that he could never process that amount of cream and eggs raw or cooked

As popular as milk was through the 20th century it did fall away yielding to the protein powders and their over-the-top advertising

Randy and Tamas believe that most of the fractionated, processed powders have fallen even below the quality status of commercial milk

As high as Tamas and Randy are with raw milk, Randy did say that milk from pastured cows with low temperature (145 F) pasteurization and no homogenization would be better than any other milk other than raw

They recommend people seek out farmers willing to provide milk directly or through cow share programs

Randy and Tamas offered to take any questions and would do an additional program on this topic if warranted

Updates

Tamas mentioned that their podcast on The American Muscle Monopoly must have hit a nerve somewhere as their website had been attacked for almost a week before Tamas was able to isolate and neutralize the cyber attack

Some had notified Tamas that the site had been down on a number of occasions

Randy again mentioned to viewers to also read the show notes that accompany each podcast for any show corrections and clarifications

Randy clarified his timeline on the 100 meter sprint in episode #33 and thought anyone who listened to that podcast would benefit from reading the show notes as well

AMI (American Media Inc) has launched a counter lawsuit against Lee Thompson