Why Choose Organic Milk?

There’s a lot of news about toxic chemicals in our lives, and it can get overwhelming. But the great news is that even small actions can add up to a huge healthy impact on our lives. A great example is organic milk. The difference that choosing organic milk can make for you and your family’s health is HUGE.

Organic milk protects you from carcinogenic hormones, but costs about $2 more per gallon. Could you make up the difference by skipping a coffee? The dairy industry markets it as “nature’s perfect food,” but hormones in conventional milk have been linked to cancer. In 2012, a Harvard University study showed that milk produced by factory farms contained dangerously high levels of an estrogen compound linked to testicular, prostate and breast cancers.

For the past 20 years on conventional farms, cows have been given hormones that allow them to be milked constantly, including when they are pregnant. Those hormones—such as Bovine Growth Hormone, also known as rBGH or rBST—are suspected in the sharp rise of early puberty for American girls, which puts them at higher risk for breast cancer.

Because dairy cows are hormonally induced to produce milk about 300 days a year, the possibility of their getting illnesses including mastitis—basically, an infection of the milk ducts—increases dramatically. As a precaution, conventional milk producers give these cows prophylactic doses of antibiotics. In fact, as much as 80% of America’s antibiotics are now given to factory farmed animals.

The result? Human illnesses caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria now affect more than two million Americans each year, killing more than 23,000 people.

What’s the answer? Buy USDA Certified Organic milk!

Yes, organic milk is a little more expensive—probably about $2 more per gallon, on average. Could you make up the difference by skipping a store-bought coffee once a week? That’s how I justify it.

Buying USDA Certified Organic milk—like these eight ounce whole milk or lowfat cartons, perfect for on-the-go—protects you from hormones in conventional milk that have been linked to cancer. It’s higher in antioxidant-rich, healthy omega-3 fatty acids than conventional milk. And it supports farmers who are producing milk without giving their cows antibiotics, which leads to drug resistant bacteria. If we all chose organic milk, more farmers would produce it and the cost would down, both to our wallets and our health. Double bonus!