Explain why its important to Drink Milk

Annotated Bibliography: Why we have to Drink Milk
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Ballard, O., & Morrow, A.L. (2013). Human Milk Composition: Nutrients and Bioactive Factors. Journal of Pediatric Clinics of North America, Vol. 60 (1), pp. 49-74.
This is an important journal article towards understanding the composition of the human milk in terms of its nutrients and the bioactive factors. It is important to understand if the human milk is similar to cow-milk or milk from other animals. There is the growing knowledge that milk is dangerous and research has linked milk to obesity and other serious diseases of the heart and cancers. According to Ballard and Morrow, however, human milk is not fatty like cow milk or other types of milk. Human milk has other nutrients that contribute to the immunity of the body. The hundreds of bioactive molecules in human milk have important roles in protecting the body from various infections. Apart from the development of the immune system, the bioactive nutrients in human milk assist in the development of body organs and microbial colonization. The authors conclude that humans should continuously feed their children on breast milk instead of cow-milk.
Elwood, P.C., Pickering, J.E., Givens, D.I., & Gallacher, J.E. (2010). The Consumption of Milk and Dairy Foods and the Incidence of Vascular Disease and Diabetes: An Overview of Evidence. NCBI, Lipids, Volume 45 (10), pp.925-939.
The authors consider milk as a dangerous source of nutrition. They argue that the saturated fats that are prevalent in milk accumulate in the body and cause increase in the amount of plasma cholesterol in the body. Besides, there is the belief that milk causes fattening, and the authors explain that the belief, coupled with the risk of cholesterol, makes the society believe that milk and its dairy-associated products cause obesity. The study takes the experimental design and the researchers explore ten different hypotheses about the dangers of high consumption of milk and dairy products. The researchers also analyze different previous studies to develop literature on the previous findings about milk and dairy products. The student shall, therefore, rely on the article to find the dangers of milk to the health of the body because it is the perspective that the authors take.
Huag, A., Hostmark, A., & Harstard, O. (2007). Bovine in Human Nutrition- A Review. Lipids in Health and Disease, Vol.6, pp.1-15.
The main argument in this article is that it is important to give children food rich in the dietary nutrients because the nutrients are determinants of children’s good health and immunity of their bodies. The article is an intervention study whereby children with respiratory tract complications were given food including milk to determine if the nutrients would change their respiratory tract problems. The study used a sample population of 61 children between the age of one and six years, and a control group of 32 children. All the participants had respiratory tract complications. The children in the experimental group were subjected to a dietary procedure where they ate foods like fruits, vegetables, and milk. The parents recorded the children’s dietary intake each. The participants under control group did not take milk for three months. The study found that in the experimental group, the children recorded a significant reduction in the number of days they suffered from respiratory infections. Their use of antibiotics also reduced greatly compared to the control group. The researchers concluded that milk contained nutrients that helped the children in fighting the respiratory infections.
Meinzen-Derr, J., Poindexter, B., Wrage, L., Morrow, A.L., Stoll, B., & Donovan, E.F. (2008). Role of human milk in extremely low birth weight infants’ risk of necrotizing enterocolitis or death. Journal of Perinatol, Volume 29 (1), pp.57-62.
The argument that Meinzen-Derr et al make is that increase in consumption of human milk among infants lowers their mortality and the risk of contracting necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC). The study was based on the problem that 13.2% of the infants died or developed NEC within the first 14 days after birth. The study finds that within the first 14 days, there is low intake of breast milk by the infants. Consequently, the increase of breast milk intake by 10% after the first 14 days reduced the risk of death and NEC contraction by a factor of 0.83, reflecting a confidence level of 95% that breast milk prevents infants’ death and NEC. The article concludes that if mothers can increase breast-feeding even by 10% within the first two weeks after birth, the intervention prevents death of the infants and contraction of NEC.
Michaelsson, K., Wolk, A., Langenskiold, S., Basu, S., Warensjo, E., Melhus, H., &Byberg, L. (2014). Milk intake and risk of mortality and fractures in women and men: Cohort studies. The BMJ, 349, 1-16.
The objective of the study was to conduct an examination about the role of milk in death (mortality) and bone fractures in both women and men. The article is a cohort of many studies in Sweden, and it examined a sample of 61,433 women and 45,339 men. The women were between 39 and 74 years while the men were between 45 and 79 years. The researchers made a follow-up after 20 years of the study, and during the lifetime of the participants, they recorded the number of milk that they consumed on a daily basis. After the 20 years of follow-up, 15,541 women had died while 17,232 women suffered fractures. Most of the women who had fractures had sustained hip fractures. Within the first eleven years of the follow up, 10,112 men had died while 5066 suffered fractures. 1166 of the men’s fractures were on the hip-bone. The researchers found that the risk of mortality increased as the number of glasses of milk consumed by the participants increased. The researchers, for instance, found that women who took more than 3 glasses of milk had higher chances of mortality (1.93) compared to women who took less than a glass of milk a day. The study concluded that adults should avoid high intake of milk as it was associated with higher risks of death and death in both cohorts of men and women.
Miller, D, G, Jarvis, K, J & McBean, D, L (2000). Handbook of Dairy Foods and Nutrition. Second edition. Florida: CRC Press LLC.
According to the handbook, although milk and other dairy products contain good nutrients for the body, they have other health risks especially when they are consumed in large quantities. The writers explain that there are nutrients like proteins, vitamins, minerals, and carbohydrates (energy) in milk and its products. These nutrients are important for the body. However, milk and its constituent products are also rich in cholesterol, high-fatty acids, and protein casein. Excessive intake of these contents increases the risk of the body to cardiovascular diseases. Also milk is rich in minerals like magnesium and potassium. However, research has linked excessive presence of these nutrients to high blood pressure. The high fats in milk are also linked to cancer of the colon. Excessive milk-intake is also linked to osteoporosis. The writers conclude that milk is only beneficial to the body if consumed under checked quantities because although it contains important nutrients, it also has contents that increase the risk of the body to suffer from the above diseases.
Patton, S (2005).Milk: Its Remarkable Contribution to Human Health and Well-Being. New Jersey; Transaction Publishers.
Patton’s main argument in the book is that milk has become an important source of nutrients and it has many cultural implications. Consequently, Patton explains that it is important to understand milk as a source of nutrients and its cultural connections. This book is an important source for understanding milk from a holistic perspective because Patton discusses milk from its formation stages. Patton also pays close attention to human milk and why breastfeeding is important for children. The student shall rely on this book to understand cow-milk, how its production occurs, and the risks and benefits of cow-milk. Patton discusses cow-milk in great length and documents a lot of facts about it because humans rely on the consumption of cow-milk. Also, the book provides detailed information on the processes of manufacturing milk products such as cheese and ice-cream. Patton also examines the developing gap in the public about milk consumption and the facts that are known about dairy products (pros and cons). Milk and dairy products are, therefore, not sources of nutrients that are completely safe.
Webb, P. G (2007).Nutrition: A Health Promotion Approach Third Edition. Florida: CRC Press.
The book offers general information on food and nutrition. Webb discusses different foods as sources of nutrition. Although the book does not tackle milk as its specific food, milk is one of the major foods that the book discusses. However, the student does not rely on this book to find information about milk because it does not explore milk as the specific source of nutrients. Rather, the student finds the social associations of milk as important information that the book discusses. According to Webb, milk contains several nutrients that assist the good health of the body. However, Webb argues that the social associations that milk has gained overlook the risks of the food. According to Webb, many societies assume that milk is a perfect source of nutrition because they view it as the source of life: Infants rely on milk from their birth. Consequently, Webb explains that many societies are not aware of the health risks of milk and they consume it in large quantities. The author proposes the need for public education about milk and other sources of nutrients.