# How bad is cow's milk for babies & young children? PETA says real bad! **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 26, 2004, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bad-is-cows-milk-for-babies-young-children-peta-says-real-bad/281644 "2004-12-26T04:35:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2004, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bad-is-cows-milk-for-babies-young-children-peta-says-real-bad/281644/21 "2004-12-26T14:49:02Z")
You can assume that everything PETA sez is either a flat out lie, or blown way out of proportion. They have almost a 0 veracity rating. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2004, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bad-is-cows-milk-for-babies-young-children-peta-says-real-bad/281644/22 "2004-12-26T15:34:28Z")
> [@Reeder](#): > > But nature did not design cows milk for human consumption. That’s why things such as vitamin d have to be added to make somewhat healthy. This would make more sense if _human_ milk were high in vitamin D. But it isn’t. [Cite (scroll down)](http://babcock.cals.wisc.edu/downloads/de_html/ch19.en.html). [Cite with comparison to cow’s milk](http://www.ecureme.com/especial/obgyn/Human_Milk_Feeding.asp). [Infants breastfeeding need supplemental vitamin D (may require registration)](http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/408813_2). > [@](#): > > Based on infant needs and the concentrations of fat-soluble vitamins in human milk, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) advises that in the US all newborns receive 0.5-1.0mg vitamin K by injection or 1.0-2.0mg orally immediately after birth.[1,10] Infants should receive 5.0-7.5ug vitamin D per day if exposure to sunlight seems inadequate. Also from that page: > [@](#): > > Because of the high bioavailability of iron in human milk, exclusively breast-fed infants do not need iron supplements during the first 6 months of life. Make sure you read the whole article cited by **C3** , down to where it says: > [@](#): > > Donovan said these results do not mean soy formulas should not be fed to babies. > > “Clinical data suggest that soy formulas are safe but even though they appear to be safe, they may not be without effect,” she said. Since both of her studies were done on piglets and suggest possible problems with soy, don’t you wonder when PETA is going to cite them? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Chotii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@Chotii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chotii)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2004, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bad-is-cows-milk-for-babies-young-children-peta-says-real-bad/281644/23 "2004-12-26T18:34:39Z")
> [@Exapno Mapcase](#): > > This would make more sense if _human_ milk were high in vitamin D. But it isn’t. True, it isn’t. And the value of Vitamin D is vastly underrated in American society. But it isn’t like humans can’t _make_ their own D. They just have to get some sunlight exposure on a regular basis. If you think about it, during the evolutionary process during which human milk developed into the unique food it is, babies were probably exposed to sunlight, and not kept inside the house/hut/whatever 24/7. The human body didn’t need to produce milk with lots of D, because there’s all this free sunshine. It’s important that we remember that human milk is not lacking in anything that the natural environment cannot be expected to provide. It’s exactly right. If human babies aren’t getting enough D, that’s a fault in the part of the caretakers to get them at least some exposure to sunlight. (And there have been recent cases of rickets where parents were so conscience about keeping their babies out of sunlight, but I think there may have been compounding factors.) That said, I haven’t seen the sun here in the P. Northwest for…ages. Sigh. ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2004, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bad-is-cows-milk-for-babies-young-children-peta-says-real-bad/281644/24 "2004-12-26T18:56:54Z")
[QUOTE=Chotii] When I went to the Kluge Center at University of Virginia, I butted heads continually with the nutritionist. She was absolutely adamant that my child consume 15 oz of cow’s milk every day, for the calcium. I, equally adamant, asked her to suggest other sources of calcium, as I do not care to base my child’s diet so heavily on cow’s milk (she was sensitive to cow’s milk protein as an infant). I said “What if I were a vegan, and raising my child as a vegan? What would you recommend I do?” She said “I’d recommend you not be a vegan.” Wrong answer. For god’s sake. I recognise the nutritional options presented by cow’s milk, but I think people can get too dependent on it, to the detriment of a balanced diet. To this day, my kids don’t get that much milk. But they do get a balanced diet, and they’re not hungry. I guess I assume it’s enough. [QUOTE] Amazing that a nutritionist would be unable to find sources of calcium besides milk. One of my kids didn’t want to drink milk; I asked the pediatrician. He said not to worry about it. “But what about the calcium?” I asked. He responded that green leafy vegetables, like spinach, were excellent sources. Problem solved. Child in question actually liked fresh spinach. ---
**Author:** ![Chotii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@Chotii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chotii)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2004, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bad-is-cows-milk-for-babies-young-children-peta-says-real-bad/281644/25 "2004-12-26T19:49:41Z")
> [@MLS](#): > > > [@Chotii](#): > > > > When I went to the Kluge Center at University of Virginia, I butted heads continually with the nutritionist. She was absolutely adamant that my child consume 15 oz of cow’s milk every day, for the calcium. I, equally adamant, asked her to suggest other sources of calcium, as I do not care to base my child’s diet so heavily on cow’s milk (she was sensitive to cow’s milk protein as an infant). I said “What if I were a vegan, and raising my child as a vegan? What would you recommend I do?” She said “I’d recommend you not be a vegan.” > > Amazing that a nutritionist would be unable to find sources of calcium besides milk. One of my kids didn’t want to drink milk; I asked the pediatrician. He said not to worry about it. “But what about the calcium?” I asked. He responded that green leafy vegetables, like spinach, were excellent sources. Problem solved. Child in question actually liked fresh spinach. Well that was the thing. It irritated me. You know, almonds are a great source of calcium, too, but she didn’t suggest “Well, if your child doesn’t have a tree-nut allergy, you could have your child eat a sandwich made with almond butter instead of peanut butter,” “How about calcium-fortified orange juice?” or even “Two Viactiv squares a day is enough.” She was unwilling to look beyond cow’s milk as the dietary source of calcium, and I confess by the point I asked her about veganism, I was goading her. Because after all, _my_ child had been horrifically sensitive to cow’s milk proteins as an infant, and we had never thereafter based her diet on milk (actually, she got her calcium from a mag/cal/phos supplement mixed into her enteral formula). To show up at Kluge and have someone ordering me to give the kid as much as she was saying was necessary was obviously one-size-fits-all. As it happens, I’m not a vegan - I have a gut feeling that any diet that requires the existence of commercially-available nutritional supplements to keep a person healthy, is fundamentally flawed at a biological level - BUT people who are vegans, seem generally to choose that lifestyle out of moral convictions that eating animals, or animal products, is wrong. So having her just “recommend I not be vegan” showed, again, a one-size-fits-all approach. Anyway, I still try to get my kids a variety of sources of nutrients. I think it makes for a healthier diet. And if for some reason we couldn’t use cow’s milk, I’m sure we’d find alternatives. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2004, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bad-is-cows-milk-for-babies-young-children-peta-says-real-bad/281644/26 "2004-12-27T02:28:11Z")
IMO, the fat content is a non-issue as skim and lowfat milk is available. I don’t think PETA is really concerned about our health as the overarching objection to animal products. ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2004, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bad-is-cows-milk-for-babies-young-children-peta-says-real-bad/281644/27 "2004-12-27T07:51:49Z")
A lot of people don’t realize just how fringe PETA is. I used to think they were akin to the ASPCA. They’re not. They’re more like ALF (the Animal Liberation Front). They’re not just against animal cruelty, they’re against pet ownership. They equate it to a form of slavery. IOW, you will find much, **MUCH** more accurate and unbiased information here on the SDMB (as you can see)… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bad-is-cows-milk-for-babies-young-children-peta-says-real-bad/281644.md?page=1)