Message in a bottle

| 4 August 2021
minute reading time
Person pouring milk in glass

Why dairy milk signals trouble

Studies show a link between cow’s milk and increased birthweight, higher body mass index (BMI), early onset of periods, increased childhood growth rates, acne, type 2 diabetes, breast and prostate cancer, neurodegenerative diseases (Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s) and mortality from all causes.

This study suggests there is a common mechanism that links milk to these adverse effects – a growth regulator called mTORC1, which triggers protein synthesis. Cow’s milk is designed to turn a calf into a fully-grown cow in just over a year. It relays sophisticated maternal signals for mTORC1 activation to the ‘milk receiver’. It’s no surprise then that such a powerful signalling pathway, directing rapid growth, produces adverse health effects in humans consuming cow’s milk.

Melnik BC. 2021. Lifetime impact of cow’s milk on overactivation of mTORC1: From fetal to childhood overgrowth, acne, diabetes, cancers, and neurodegeneration. Biomolecules. 11 (3) 404.

About the author
Dr. Justine Butler
I joined Viva! as a health campaigner in 2005 after graduating from Bristol University with a PhD in molecular biology. My scientific training helped me research and write numerous reports, guides and fact sheets for Viva! including Meat the Truth, Fish-Free for Life, One in Nine (breast cancer and diet) and the substantial report on the detrimental health effects of consuming dairy; White Lies. This accompanied Viva!’s report The Dark Side of Dairy which spelt out the inherent cruelty of dairy farming. We were the first UK group to take on the dairy industry in this way, and many of our supporters go vegan after reading these reports.

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