Estrogen in Milk

I just finished reading an article in sep’s issue of Muscular Development about milk being full of estrogen.It said that because cows nowadays are kept pregnant that the milk they produce is higher in “estrogens and progesterone”.

They did a study on a man, woman and child,

The man had increased levels of estradiol and progesterone, coupled by simultaneous drop LH,FSH and testosterone.

The child showed increase in female hormones as well.

The woman drank 500ml of milk every night for 21 days and her ovulation timing was off.

Also the article hinted at the fact that whole milks and cheeses are the worst and skim should have far less.

SO what is everyones thoughts on this, I drink alot of milk and its usually whole.

and i dont want anyone telling me that milk is for babies and men drink beer, I have seen Pumping Iron.

The study you are referring to is a very recent one. It was published in the May issue of “Pediatrics international” (it’s a Japanese journal). I’ve read it myself.

It has been known for quite some time, that cow’s milk consumption has some adverse effects on the reproductive system of mammals. Some studies have been done with male mice, if I remember correctly.
The reasons and mechanisms behind this are not yet entirely clear.
It can be shown that exogenous estrogen in milk is absorbed by humans, gonadotropin secretion is suppressed, followed by a decrease in testosterone secretion. This is bad news. Besides the fact that you probable want high levels of T (as a bodybuilder or strengh athlete) for it’s effects on protein synthesis, and so on, this could also affect sexual maturation of prepubertal children, sperm quality, fertility, sperm quality.

To make things even worse, estrogen-sensitive cancer cells could react to the endogenous estradiol and grow.

Concentrations estrogen in milk, especially whole milk are pretty high. This is not a Japanese phenomenon, but we can see this to be the case in western countries as well.

It is true that estrogen concentrations in milk are highly correlated with the milk’s fat content. Concentrations in skim milk are low and unlikely to pose a health risk for humas. This is for “normal” people, drinking 2 glases of milk a day or so.

For you as bodybuilder, drinking gallons of milk a week could be a long-term bad idea.

If you can be sure that the milk you drink is from non-pregnant cows only, go ahead drink as much as you want.

Elsewise, I really would think about lowering your milk consumption.

I am a bit on the extreme side and don’t drink milk at all besides some very few hot chocolates in the winter time… I rarly eat cheese. Maybe twice a year.

Feel free to ask if you have further questions.

The study you are referring to is a very recent one. It was published in the May issue of “Pediatrics international” (it’s a Japanese journal). I’ve read it myself.

It has been known for quite some time, that cow’s milk consumption has some adverse effects on the reproductive system of mammals. Some studies have been done with male mice, if I remember correctly.
The reasons and mechanisms behind this are not yet entirely clear.
It can be shown that exogenous estrogen in milk is absorbed by humans, gonadotropin secretion is suppressed, followed by a decrease in testosterone secretion. This is bad news. Besides the fact that you probable want high levels of T (as a bodybuilder or strengh athlete) for it’s effects on protein synthesis, and so on, this could also affect sexual maturation of prepubertal children, sperm quality, fertility, sperm quality.

To make things even worse, estrogen-sensitive cancer cells could react to the endogenous estradiol and grow.

Concentrations estrogen in milk, especially whole milk are pretty high. This is not a Japanese phenomenon, but we can see this to be the case in western countries as well.

It is true that estrogen concentrations in milk are highly correlated with the milk’s fat content. Concentrations in skim milk are low and unlikely to pose a health risk for humas. This is for “normal” people, drinking 2 glases of milk a day or so.

For you as bodybuilder, drinking gallons of milk a week could be a long-term bad idea.

If you can be sure that the milk you drink is from non-pregnant cows only, go ahead drink as much as you want.

Elsewise, I really would think about lowering your milk consumption.

I am a bit on the extreme side and don’t drink milk at all besides some very few hot chocolates in the winter time… I rarly eat cheese. Maybe twice a year.

Feel free to ask if you have further questions.

So what does this mean for Protien Drinks?

[quote]atomsftball37 wrote:
So what does this mean for Protien Drinks?[/quote]

It shouldn’t be a problem. I say “shouldn’t” because I would not put my neck on the line for every single protein powder manufacturer.

In order to produce a protein powder, you have to use a series of diffrent processes to extract or isolate the type of protein you want (e.g. whey or casein from milk) from a complex strucure (meat, germs, milk, and so on).
This is a multi-step purification process and you’ll eventually end up with the protein you wanted to purify and some, but very little, non-protein parts.

Most protein powders are 100% free of purines and cholesterol, e.g.
I once tested a protein powder from a Swiss manufacturer on purines, cholesterol, as well as 17-beta estradiol. I couldn’t detect any.

So, if the company you buy your protein from is a conscientious one and doesn’t sell you crap, but high-quality, well-processed, highly purified material, you will NOT have to bother about estrogen.

Well, I’ve only drank skim milk for my entire life (occassionly 1%), regardless, seeing as ParagonA may have some useful information,

may I ask, if I consume, let’s say, 4-6 cups of SKIM milk a day, should that affect me adversely in anyway possible?

AFAIK, there is no evidence of hormones being present in milk. The theory is because the cows are given so many hormones that it passes along to us, but there is no way to detect any hormones in milk.

that being said, I usually drink organic milk

Wow, I drink a gallon on average every 2 days of whole or 2%.

Thats about to change.

[quote]CCJDilla wrote:
Well, I’ve only drank skim milk for my entire life (occassionly 1%), regardless, seeing as ParagonA may have some useful information,

may I ask, if I consume, let’s say, 4-6 cups of SKIM milk a day, should that affect me adversely in anyway possible?[/quote]

Most probably not. Shouldn’t be a problem, since 17b-estradiol levels in milk are close to nill.

[quote]jehovasfitness wrote:
AFAIK, there is no evidence of hormones being present in milk. The theory is because the cows are given so many hormones that it passes along to us, but there is no way to detect any hormones in milk.

that being said, I usually drink organic milk[/quote]

That’s not correct. It’s absolutely NO problem to measure hormone concentrations in milk.

This has been done many times. The results are abit controverse. Some studies showed that milk contains very little 17b-estradiol. Others proved that in some samples there were huge detectable amounts of endogenous estrogen.

It depends on many factors. One of the most important ones is whether the milk comes from pregnant cows.
Another is the fat content of the milk. There is a strong positive correlation between fat content and estrogen concentrations in the milk.

That being said, I would only drink large amounts of milk if I were sure it comes from non-pregnant cows.

Are there any good alternatives to milk are relatively priced.How is powderd milk for instance.

I drink a gallon of milk a day, I was wondering why I was growing a vagnina.

:confused:

A person claiming high levels of estrogen in milk should provide support evidence for his claim.

(Beyond just citing an author who himself provides no supporting evidence.)

To my knowledge it is not correct.

^ The above.

Would also be interesting to see if they could do a study on more than 1 perosn. So they could prove something.

[quote]Bill Roberts wrote:
A person claiming high levels of estrogen in milk should provide support evidence for his claim.

(Beyond just citing an author who himself provides no supporting evidence.)

To my knowledge it is not correct.[/quote]

Did you notice that nowhere in that article was an actual figure given for the claimed amount?

Saying “10 times more than milk from Mongolia” means nothing when the estrogen (or progesterone) content from the Mongolian milk is essentially zero and the same is true for the American milk.

There’s a reason no number was ever given on the actual amount. Because when numbers are given, they’re absurdly low and destroy the entire argument.

And where would she get more funding if the alarm was taken out of her message?

I think raw milk is awesome, as long as it doesn’t cause you to go outside of caloric requirements. The entire food industry is filled with bullshit propaganda that is fueled by those seeking profit. Keep that in mind when you see a study claiming X, Y, or Z.

Well, except for the year I spent in Viet Nam, I’ve been
drinking at least three glasses of (grocery store) whole
milk every day for more than 60 years. I don’t detect any
negative effects.

In fact, I seem to be in much better shape than most guys
my age. I certainly don’t attribute that to the milk. I
eat right and bust my ass in the gym. But I don’t think
60 years of milk has feminized me.

Hardly scientific, I know. Take it for what it’s worth.

Rick

Do you guys think lactose free milk would be any different in the amount of estrogen it contains if milk truly contains a lot of estrogen?

Since your question shows you don’t buy what I had to say on the main question, why would you buy what I would say on your hypothetical question of whether the addition of lactase enzyme would affect estrogen levels?

Anyway, we are still waiting for someone claiming high estrogen levels to provide actual evidence that provides an example such level actually measured in milk sold in the USA.

Instead, we will get something like “The average American has 10 times more uranium in his body than the average Mongolian,” setting some into a panic, who don’t realize that the amount of uranium in an average American is nonetheless some utterly trace value of no consequence.