People already drinking milk since ancient times, milk has been part of our nutrition since the immemorial. Rich in nutrients, milk in its various forms has a long history. Milk is a white liquid produced by the mammary gland of mammals. Milk becomes the primary nutrients for mammals infant before they can consumes other types of food. As the most consumed milk these days, cow’s milk is very popular. There are alternatives cow’s milk which is claimed to be the healthier cow’s milk, they are organic cow’s milk and rBST free cow’s milk.
The official history of cow’s milk begins around 10,000 BCE, when nomadic tribes decided to stop roving and to settle down in farming communities. In the ancient Egypt milk and other dairy products were reserved for only royalty, priests and the very wealthy, by the 5th century AD cows and sheep in Europe started to prized for their milk, by the 14th century cow’s milk becoming more familiar than sheep’s milk. It is in early 1600’s that the European dairy cows were brought to the North America. Louis Pasteur is credited with revolutionizing the safety of milk and, in turn, the ability to store and distribute milk well beyond the farm. Commercial pasteurized machines were introduced in 1895. Nowadays people are debating which is healthier, the organic farmed cow’s milk or the hormone free (rBST free) milk.
Organic Milk
Organic cow’s milk is milk which comes from organic dairy cows. Organic dairy cows is feed with organic food and have stricter guidelines pertaining to outdoor grazing access and not be treated with most drugs (including growth hormone), moreover they have to be treated humanely. Organic dairy cows cannot be treated with antibiotics, once the cows was given antibiotics, it can be used for dairy farming anymore. The main reason cows was given antibiotics is to treat or prevent mastitis, an infection in the tissue glands that can occur during lactation. Organic cows is not given antibiotics because the same antibiotics that were given to cows is also being used by humans. The difference between organic milk and regular milk may be it acidic content, organic dairy cows are required to graze instead of being stuck in a cramp shelters feeding on corn. If cows are grass fed, their milk will contain elevated levels of certain acids (conjugated linoleic acid, alpha-linoleic acid) and lower levels of certain acid (linoleic acid) compared to conventional milk. The price of organic milk is almost twice the regular milk, the average gallon of organic milk cost about $6.49 in the supermarket while regular milk is only $3.30. Aside from the health benefit organic milk can last longer stored in a shelf, a lot of organic milk brands can be keep up to two months. Because regular pasteurized milk is heated only 165 degrees F or lower, while organic milk are sterilized using high temperatures around 280 F so it can make the milk last longer.
rBST Free Milk
rBST free milk is milk produced by dairy cows where the cows is not given recombinant bovine somatotropin (rBST). rBST is the synthesized bovine growth hormone or growth hormone which is used to regulate the metabolic process in cows. This hormone is used by farmers to make cows produce more milk. The reason why some people start to demand the rBST free milk is because it is inhumane to use such hormone on cows. The concern about consuming rBST treated cows have two main issues, first there is no clear information about whether drinking milk from rBST treated cows will increase blood levels of growth hormone or IGF-1 consumers or whether it can increase the risk of cancer or not. Second is cows treated with rBST tend to develop more udder infections (mastitis). These cows are given more antibiotics than cows not given rBST , does the increased use of antibiotics lead to more antibiotic-resistant bacteria. And whether it is concerning for people who consumed it or not. These problems still remains a concern until this day.
| Organic Milk | rBST Free Milk |
|---|---|
| - Contain synthetic hormones | - Contain no added synthetic hormones |
| - Come from treated with rBGH cows | - Come from cows has not been treated |
| - Not have the same proteins as the organic foods | - Healthier consumed |
Conclusion
Cows naturally produce hormone so there is still hormone even in the organic and rBST free milk but they are not artificial. A report from CNN pointing about this topic that there is no difference in milk from cows treated with rBST and cows that were not. It does pretty confusing which kind of milk you should buy, since there are not clear are they actually the same or some might be better for you. Organic milk is pricier than regular milk, you must want to be sure it is worth the expense. As for the comparison of Organic Milk and rBST free milk, neither of them will have artificial hormone. Organic milk comes from cows the fed organic diet-grain or grass. In most cases organic cows are treated better than rBST free and regular dairy cows.