Is Organic Milk Worth It?

Posted on 07.05.07 in Thoughts and there are 25 comments.

We recently started buying organic milk.

We drink a lot of milk in our family.

Organic milk is supposed to be much better for you.

But it costs $1,683,976.33 per gallon.

Almost.

Have we fallen for a fad or is it really worth it?

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I don’t buy organic milk, but I do buy a few things organic that have the highest pesticide residue.  Here is a list of fruits and veggies in order of their pesticide risk. I haven’t done much research on the milk. I do think that it’s not necessary to buy everything organic.  My grandpa’s brother was a dairy farmer, so the family seems to believe that it is fine.  I am interested in learning more from what others feel.  Why do you buy organic?

According to this article, the price of regular milk will hit 5 dollars a gallon by the end of the summer. Can’t imagine what organic milk will go to…
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,287135,00.html

Kristin,
Well, I’d heard about the “dangers” of growth hormones and pesticides that are used in regular milk. Since my kids drink so much milk, I thought it might be a good idea, but now, I want to do a bit more of my own research.

I didn’t know about apples. We do eat a lot of those as well...looks like our grocery budget is going to grow.

Paul J.,
Tell me it ain’t so! Argh. Thanks for the heads up, though!

I don’t typically buy “organic”, unless there is something I cannot get without it being “organic”.

I am a big believer in the fact that what goes into a cow gets passed on in the milk.  I’m horribly allergic to alfalfa, and the cows in the Texas panhandle and adjacent New Mexico area are primarily fed on alfalfa.  If I take a sip of milk from these cows I will be sneezing uncontrollably within minutes; so obviously the allergenic component of alfalfa gets passed into the milk.  As to the other things in the milk . . . I don’t really know what their total effect would be, but I’m not that worried.

I looked at the site Kristen gave above.  Interesting list on the produce.  As a scientist, though, I was unsatisfied with the scoping system since it only ranked them relative to each other and not absolutely.  If you follow the link to their full data set it lists the average amount of pesticide on each sample.  Potatoes had, by far, the most pesticide: 1.655 ppm (parts per million). Spinach and peaches were at second and third (at about 75% the pesticide found on potatoes).  Beyond these three, the next grouping was apples, strawberries, and raspberries (~55% the pesticide on potatoes) and everything else had less than 1/3 the pesticide found on potatoes.  I don’t have specific knowledge of the toxicity of these chemicals (I guess I could look them up pretty easily, but there are a lot of them) but from my general knowledge the 1.655 ppm level is well below a harmful level, even with prolonged exposure (eating).

If anything, if you want to go organic with produce, I would suggest that limiting organic purchases to potatoes, spinach, and peaches would suffice.  The berries ranked high, I suspect, because the irregular surface proves hard to clean with simple rinsing.  Try soaking these for a few minutes in water (even adding a few drops of vinegar to the water, just not so much as to affect taste) and that would improve them dramatically.  For the apples, keep a squirt bottle with dilute vinegar in water ready; spritz the apple with the dilute vinegar and rub the surface before rinsing under regular water and that should help.

(This is the resident know-it-all euphrony signing off on another sampling of my two cents.  Seriously, I hope I’m not annoying when I do this; I’m just trying to help and contribute, not sound officious or arrogant.  I recognize there is a fine line, just not when I’ve crossed it.)

Honestly?? The Stricklands do nothing organic. I think I am a little prejudice against organic. I personally think its a fad. Im sure there are some sort of benefits, but I dont feel like the non organics are harmful to your health. Thats my two cents.

We buy organic milk because of the hormone issues & we drink a lot of milk around here.  I feel much better knowing my kids aren’t getting all the extra hormones.

SAM, can you explain what you mean by “extra hormones’? Because the Stricklands drink 3 to 4 gallons of milk a week. Are you saying you think theres a higher risk of hormones the more you drink?

My wife is an organic nut (no, technically she’s neither organic nor a nut, but she does like the organic stuff!).  The thing she had read once was that some skins of produce are more resilient than others at keeping the pesticides out.  So things like an apple with a thick skin should rank much lower in pesticides than a soft skinned banana, at least in theory.  That list posted above did not prove that to be the case, I guess I should read to see if they tested this in the inside of the fruit or at at the skin level (which on a banana makes a big difference!).

Either way our kids actually have been drinking a lot of goat’s milk as it has the least amount of milk allergens in it.  I think/thought it is/was total hogwash as Goat’s milk is really expensive (much more so than organic cow’s milk), but when times got tough for us a few months ago financially we went back to organic cow’s milk (to save money!) they did start getting sick a lot more- actually a whole lot more.  So I am sort of on the fence about it now as well- can’t wait to see what the rest of the ‘experts’ have to say about this!

Euphrony,
Actually, when I ask questions like this, I always hope you’ll contribute your knowledge. I really appreciate and value your input.

What does the vinegar do, by the way?

the6stricklands,
I think that the organic thing is a fad, but I also think that there is value to be found in just about every fad.

Except tight rolled jeans. There was no value there.

I think “organic” has become a catch word that turns some folks off, but as far as I know, all it means is that there are very few (if any) chemicals used in the production of the food.

Sounds good to me.

Anyway, my deal is that I want to eat as healthy as possible (and still enjoy it). In general, I try to feed my family low cholesterol, low fat and high fiber foods whose ingredient list is as pronouncable as possible. Meaning that I want my food to “remember where it came from” and with as few ingredients as possible.

So, my applesauce contains....
apples...that’s it. My peanut butter contains....peanuts and salt and that’s all.  I try to avoid extra stuff (high fructose corn syrup, partially hydrogenated fill-in-the-blank) if the original tastes good.

From what I understand, with milk, they give the cows growth hormones, I imagine, to make them produce more milk.

All that to say, I do need to look into the real merit of organic foods, but I figure that until I’m as smart as Euphrony (which may never be) I’ll just buy the foods with the fewest additives because while various additives have been cleared by the FDA, they haven’t really been around long enough to see what, if any, the long term effects are.

My 2 cents.

Dave,
Very interesting. What does does Goat’s milk taste like?

I just buy the regular 2% or 1% milk.  My grandparent and there parents and there parents, parents were all raised on Regular Milk and they all lived healthy, normal lives.

I have four kids and one is a huge milk drinker...he is 6, we let him have all the milk he wants.

It’s hard to find neutral sources of information on this question. Seems like those who are more apt to benefit from the growth of organic products, or who generally support the environmental and other political causes related to it, will cite studies and information which seem to point to it being quite beneficial. Likewise, the dairy product organizations and other related businesses seem to be saying that there’s not a whole lot of difference in terms of safety and nutrition.

Do you trust the government? The U.S. government agencies in charge of setting and enforcing safety and wholesomeness standards seem to agree that generally, there’s not much difference in terms of safety and nutrition. But maybe you buy into the notion that the goobermint is in bed with the dairy farmers or big bidness or something.

It does seem like the organic-food proponents rely a little more on junk science and emotional appeal, but that doesn’t necessarily indicate that their cause is without merit.

I’ll link to a few sources of information here, though not all are neutral and disinterested parties. Some seem like they should be somewhat neutral (for example, a dietetic association made up of physicians, who would seem to have no axe to grind one way or the other, and an informational article by a dietician for MSNBC):

American Dietetic Association - statement on organic vs. conventional foods.

National Dairy Council - well okay, probably very biased. But well-sourced document with links to specific standards and studies.

Organic Milk FAQ - Again, from the National Dairy Council, so probably very biased. But again, links to other information and sources for further research on your own.

Article on MSNBC - maybe be biased, if you’re the suspicious type, since NBC lets dairy companies sponsor paid ads. But written by a registered dietician, who says this: “But when evaluating the health claims, so far, research does not support a health advantage of organic over conventional milk for any segment of the population...”.

Maybe this doesn’t help answer the question, but hopefully will give you some starting points in researching the question to a point that your own conscience is settled on the matter.

Goat’s milk is a bit more pungent (as is goat cheese, which I rather like).  In Central and South America, it is easy to find chocolates made with goat milk.

What does vinegar do?  The primary component of vinegar is acetic acid (a.a.).  A few years back there were a couple of companies that were trying to sell a food rinse, for cleaning and disinfecting the foods, that was basically a.a.  The a.a. acts as a mild bactericide and fungicide.  It can also, to some degree, help in the removal of surface chemicals (the pesticides).  This is only a surface treatment, it should be noted, and will not touch anything going on below the washed surface.  So, if a chemical is absorbed through the skin into the meat of the produce, it will remain no matter how you wash it.

I love milk and I drink it almost everyday. I haven’t done the organic milk thing, I’m kinda afraid I won’t like it, but I have been buying more organic foods like cereals, peanut butter and different things.  I have found it a challenge to have to read through every single label when I am shopping to see the sodium content especially.

I bought some crackers the other day, and I was trying to figure out which one was best, and the original crackers had almost the same sodium content as the low sodium/low fat crackers, until I looked again and noticed that the lower sodium crackers allowed me to have 7 where the original only allowed me to have 3 crackers. I would have had a very small dinner sunday and monday night.

I am mostly looking for more whole food, more natural, less processed food, and organic labels can be an easy thing to find. 
If you are interested, I have a new blog about my journey to better health: naturallysweet.wordpress.com

All I know is,

More men and little girls are growing boobs today than ever before. (Hormones in meat and Poultry included there.) Sethy don’t want no Manzeir.

I drink Soy.  Besides, A Pharmacist that I trust said that there are studies that have shown that by the time you hit 23 or 25, (basically when you stop growing) that milk will actually STRIP the calcium from your bones rather than make them stronger.

But, I am no Euphrony, so I will stick to my fear of Man Boobs and that’s good enough for me.

Seth~ ha ha ha ha....... I like your reasoning!

Euphrony~ that is all so interesting, I wish I was scientific at all, because I have to go off what the lists tell me.  I like the vinegar idea too.  It’s all interesting. 

Kat~ that’s what I try to do too.

Suprina,
Thanks so much for commenting!

The only thing that I wonder is whether the organic milk is more like the milk our grandparents drank because it doesn’t have anything extra in it.

C-Hammer,
Looks like I have some reading to do! Thanks for those links…

I just wanted to mention that I really do appreciate your and Euphrony’s input on questions like this. Of course I love everyone’s input, but the two of you always seem to have such in depth and knowledgable things to say. Thanks.

I agree that everyone has an agenda and it’s awfully difficult to discern what’s really true.

Euphrony,
Note my previous comment to C-Hammer.

lorijo,
You know, I think organic milk tastes pretty much the same.

Have you tried the cereal - GoLean Crunch by Kashi? It’s SO good.

I am interested in your new blog. Thanks for the link!

Seth,
Too funny! You crack me up.

Milk has gotten too expensive for my family’s taste. We mix up some dry milk once in awhile, but have dropped milk almost completely from our diet.

Seth,

If you are worried about man-boobs from milk, think too about what BCP’s are doing to fish who hang out in the treated water from our cities.  Do we care that all that female urine is making male fish grow female sex organs?  Scientists say it isn’t enough to effect humans, just fish.  I’m a tad bit skeptical and it’s enough to concern me, either way.
http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20000617/fob1.asp
http://www.ehponline.org/members/2005/8050/8050.pdf
http://www.dwi.gov.uk/consumer/consumer/drugs.htm

Drugs in our drinking water?

That’s it. I’m moving to 1876.

Geesh.

I agree with Seth when he said that more little girls are growing boobs.  I have teenage boys and thought to myself when they were in middle school that we girls didn’t look like that when I was in middle school! I’ve also heard that it is the hormones in milk, meat and poultry causing these little girls to look like big girls. 

I also agree with you Kat, I think the organic milk might be closer to what our parents and grandparents drank.

That being said, I still buy 2% milk for our family, because the boys don’t like organic milk.  They noticed the difference when I tried it once, and refused to drink it.  I’ve thought about buying soy for myself, because I drink quite a bit of milk with my coffee (or a little coffee with my milk), but I’ve yet to take that step.

Looks like I have some reading to do...thanks for the input everyone.

Yeah, I’m just not down with this whole organic craze that’s seem to have hit our grocery stores.

Ha ha.  I am currently debating switching to organic milk or just buying organic soymilk since they are about the same price now.  I did have to laugh at the idea that the hormones make people grow boobs and hit puberty faster.  Boving growth hormone is only in trace amounts in our milk and is destroyed by our saliva.  The other concern is IGF-1 and we produce that hormone on our own.  You would have to drink a lot of milk for the addition to harm you.  I drank a lot of milk growing up and i am mid-20s and pregnant and have still not gotten blessed by the boob fairy.  I think organic milk is important for the sole reason of less pesticides!

thanks kat,
actually I have just gotten Kashi’s heart to heart cereal, it is like honey nut cheerios, but better, and there are little heart shaped pieces mixed in with the o’s so it’s really fun too =) will probably try the goLean next time. I love their TLC’s!

Be careful with Soy milk, and be sure to read up on it’s toxic effects on brain development.  We had some of our kids on Soy milk (due to their milk allergies) the first few years of their life only to find out the negatives later on and lament our decision!

Rachael,
Thanks for the info. Bovine Growth Hormone? Is that really what it’s called? Just the idea of comsuming something called Bovine Growth Hormone is enough reason for me to drink organic milk.

Congratulations on your pregnancy....and if you plan to nurse your baby...I promise you’ll get a visit from the “boob fairy.”

Lorijo,
Oooh, my kids would love a cereal with little heart shaped things in it. I’ll have to check that out.

Dave,
Do you have any links for that info?

I didn’t have any, but a little google action turned up tons:
http://www.westonaprice.org/soy/soyandbrain.html

http://users.erols.com/igoddard/soy.htm

Just a few.  The first is in real human speak, the second sounds more like jibberish, but still..

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