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Life is too short to eat bad food! Sharing great recipes, farm life, stories and photography from our Northern California dairy farm.

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January 22, 2010

Hormones in Milk, what you need to know & ChocoRaz Smoothie

I found some information that I thought I'd share on the Dariy Council of CA website with regards to hormones in milk that I wanted to share. For your knowledge, we here on our dairy do not give rBST (recombinant bovine somatotropin) to our cows and to my knowledge, none of the other local dairies do either. Our cows produce a high amount of milk naturally, with the very nutritional and rich diet that they are fed....including tofu!

Hormones in milk include BST. BST is a natural hormone that occurs in cows and it functions to increase milk production. rBST is the synthetic form of this natural hormone in milk. In the early 1990s, after considerable testing, the FDA approved the use of rBST in milk production and the milk from rBST-supplemented cows is safe for human consumption. This has been affirmed and reaffirmed by the FDA, World Health Organization, American Medical Association, National Institute of Health and regulatory agencies in 30 countries.

BST is species-specific, which means that it is biologically inactive in humans. In addition, pasteurization destroys 90% of BST and rBST in milk. The remaining trace amounts of this hormone in milk are broken down into inactive fragments (amino acids) by the gastrointestinal tract. Furthermore, studies linking the hormones in milk to the early onset of puberty are false; both hormones are “cow-specific,” meaning they have no effect on the human body.

Since the milk produced is identical, producers are not required to label whether or not their cows are treated with rBST; however, some producers that do not use rBST often market their milk as “rBST-free.” Milk produced by treated and untreated cows offer the same nutritional value.


  ChocoRaz Smoothie

 ~ Another great smoothie recipe, tastes like a dessert!
1 banana, sliced and frozen
1/2 cup of nonfat chocolate milk
1/4 cup of raspberry yogurt
 (I mix a little protein powder or flax seed in mine) blend well and enjoy!
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1 comment:

Ell said...

Thank you, thank you, thank you! Last week Dr. Oz had a segment on his show in which his guest made the connection between hormones in milk and early onset puberty. ARGH! They even had a made up bottle of milk on the table labled in big red letters "HORMONE FREE", and told the audience that this is the milk they should purchase. Then Doc Oz stated that in his family they play it completely safe by only purchasing organic products. Double ARGH!! Why do these false claims continue to get the nation-wide attention? Anyway, thank you for continuing to state the facts!