Why I Won't Let My Husband Drink Moo Milk

It's really hard for my husband not to drink milk. One of the first phrases he ever spoke was " 'Unt Milk."I know that he loved milk so much as a baby that he drank it all the time.

Fast forward about 23 years to when we had our firstborn son. After a year of nursing (actually, a little earlier), we promptly gave him whole cow's milk, as our Pediatrician recommended and as everyone around me was doing. From about 12 months to 18 months, our son was plagued with eczema, a constant runny nose, and a lot of random puking.

It wasn't until a friend noticed that I even considered it was more than a hair-trigger gag-reflex. We were on our way to the library and he puked for umpteenth time all over himself and his car seat. I texted my friend to complain. Her reply was something innocent like: "Have you considered that he might have some sort of food allergy? That's what it sounds like to me..."

Now that I know that I have a whole slew of food 'sensitivities' and autoimmune issues, this seems like the obvious conclusion. However, at the time, I was deceptively healthy.

I went straight home and did some research on food allergies and talked things over with DH. We took him off of milk and haven't gone back since. His eczema has cleared up and he stopped puking pretty much right away. For us, that was pretty powerful evidence that cemented our decision.

Fast forward through some more research, my own personal milk abstinence, and you reach a time (now) when my husband isn't even allowed to drink Moo Milk either. It seems there is some scanty evidence that early exposure to cow's milk might contribute to Type 1 Diabetes. Did you know that Type 1 Diabetes is an autoimmune disorder? Did I mention that I have autoimmune disorders? Hopefully you can understand why I'm trying to be a Nazi about what my kids eat.

Check out this study from the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition called Nutrition called Infant Feeding and the Risk of Type 1 Diabetes. "Prospective birth cohort studies show that the first signs of β cell autoimmunity may be initiated during the first year of life. This implies that risk factors for β cell autoimmunity and type 1 diabetes must be operative in infancy."

There is a further study that confirms not only that predisposition to type 1 diabetes happens early, but that it is linked to exposure to cow milk. Click to read this article: "New report claims cutting cow's milk may reduce the risk of Type 1 diabetes". Here is more a jargon-filled, scientific version from the source: More Evidence Links Cow's Milk to Type 1 Diabetes.

Basically, exposure to cow's milk early on creates antibodies against milk protein. And whatever triggered the body to make those antibodies (something in the body identifies it as an intruder) also triggers the body to make more antibodies against other things, even good things.

In what I have been going through lately, some surmise that my body doesn't like corn, for example, and has created antibodies against it. These antibodies get confused and end up attacking actual organs from me, thinking they're doing the right thing and protecting my body. In any case, this has already happened to my husband's pancreas.

In Forks & Knives, a documentary we watched recently, we also realized that some people even believe that milk is so far from what a human body needs that it is actually detrimental for our health. That it increases our risk of cancer and, due to a complex process of how our body metabolizes food, actually depletes the calcium from our bones. If milk were truly linked to building stronger bones, wouldn't America have lower rates of osteoporosis than other, non-milk-dependent countries? We don't.

Since I have cut off my husband and my children from cow's milk, he has lost weight and his diabetes numbers have improved. We're hoping that his health (and everyone else's) only gets better with the other positive changes we are trying to make.