Ah, controversy isn't always bad; it makes a person dig for facts, learn things.

R. Cohen definitely has an agenda, no doubt about it; but the thing is, he can back up everything he says with solid documentation, medical and otherwise. I don't trust any human 100%, except the One ministering for us in heaven right now; but still I tend towards believing Mr. Cohen when comparing him to companies like Monsanto and agencies like the FDA. I knew they didn't have the best interests of the public at heart before I ever heard of a NotMilkMan!

One more thing about what your doctor told you, about growth hormones in human milk being destroyed by digestion -- if that were so, how did babies grow for the millennia that mother's milk was their only means of sustenance, before we had man-made formula? It doesn't make sense.

Cow's milk makes baby cows grow. Human milk makes baby humans grow. Why? Because they contain growth hormones, which logically must survive digestion. Otherwise the babies wouldn't grow.

The brain produces GH for kids to grow on. I'll post a couple of quotes from a website that I use for understanding all of this hormone stuff.

"GH is synthesised in the anterior pituitary, where it is store in secretory granules. It is the most abundant hormone in the pituitary accounting for 25% of the gland’s hormones (1)."

"Within the first hours of postnatal life in the human markedly amplified GH secretory bursts are observed throughout day and night (80."

"Extensive literature exists on the pattern of GH secretion in puberty but only in the last decade studies have concentrated in the prepubertal period. In the decade before puberty 24h pulsatile GH secretion rates (estimated as 200-600ug/day) are stable from day to day and approximate (81-83)."

" In the short-term the height velocity of a healthy individual fluctuates i.e. seasonal or longer periodicity has been shown (87-89). It appears that some phases of growth are more important in their effect on final height. For example a child who is born short has a greater chance of being a short adult. The timing and duration of puberty are also crucial factors in determining final height."

Just as a bit of commentary, I think this is where the interesting bit comes in, because there is research that shows that high intake of animal fat interferes with hormone balance causing earlier puberty. This is why I find the idea that vegetarian and vegan children are shorter through childhood to be interesting. They also tend to go through puberty a bit later because of the lower fat in their diets and are not necessarily shorter adults.

"Elegant studies in the last two decades established that the key hormonal axis, the GH-IGF axis, in which GH and IGF-I are produced from early fetal life play a significant role in human linear growth. More recent in vivo and in vitro studies have demonstrated that this axis is composed of hormones with highly specific binding proteins, which modulate their interactions with specific receptors."

If these proteins are highly specific to their receptors, is it still likely that similar hormones from another species will react to the receptors in the same way? I dont know the answer to this, but I am curious. Maybe the answer is out there on the net somewhere.

I also found this quote on growth factors in human milk. I'm not sure how much these growth factors contribute to growth relative to the pituitary activity. According to my son's specialist not much, but that may not be accurate.

"Human milk also contains growth modulators such as epidermal growth factor (EGF), nerve growth factor (NGF), insulinlike growth factors (IGFs), and interleukins. Transforming growth factor (TGF)–alpha, TGF-beta, and granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) are also identified in human milk. These growth modulators are produced either by the epithelial cells of the mammary gland or by activated macrophages, lymphocytes (mainly T cells), or neutrophils in the milk."


I'd have to agree that monsanto and the other corporate giants arent' to be trusted to have our best interests at heart,

elf

Another thing that R. Cohen told me on the phone the other day, is that the presence of hormones from external sources stimulates the internal production of hormones by the pituitary. This is especially true of the IGF-I in cow's milk -- it's identical in every respect to the IGF-I produced by humans. That's the only place in nature where this occurs between two species, and the importance of this has been largely overlooked. IGF-I has been associated with a good number of cancers in humans. The medical studies cited above showed that drinking cow's milk raises the IGF-I level in humans.

From doing a quick search on IGF-I, it seems it does alot of things. One article in New England journal of medicine says lacking functional receptors for it in some cases leads to growth retardation. Two articles in a "National center for biotechnology information" 1 , 2 , suggests that it opposes cell suicide, a mechanism that removes damaged cells as cleanly as possible. This would explain why higher levels of IGF-I could lead to cancer. The other relates to IGF-I effects on the bones. Another article suggesting IGF-I helps build bone. Finaly one article that says lack of IGF-I may prevent normal brain develeopement. Here

I hope noone will be offended by me posting these links. They do deal with this threads content though they are a bit technical for those who have not studied biology/chemistry or alike.

/Thomas

Did you hear the news about the chairs on the QE2?

Haven't heard about the chairs on the QE2. Do tell.