What’s in Your Milk? 20+ Painkillers, Antibiotics, and More

With the aid of innovative and highly sensitive  testing, Spanish-Moroccan scientists determined that there could be up to 20  painkillers, antibiotics, and growth hormones in a single glass of milk. The  researchers say that the traces are so small that consumers need not worry about  adverse effects, so we’ll just have to take their word for it, it seems.

The scientists analyzed 20 samples of milk—cow’s, goat’s, and human—bought in  Spain and Morocco, and found a chemical cocktail of ingredients added to the  animal’s diet prior to milking or contamination through feed or on the farm.  Some of the contaminants found in trace amounts include triclosan (an  anti-fungal), 17-beta-estradiol (a sex hormone), and florfenicol (an  antibiotic).

It’s worth noting that the image provided by the University of Jaen lists the  anti-inflammatory drug diclofenac twice in error. Their findings  were published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

Advances in Food Safety

University of Jaen’s Dr. Evaristo Ballesteros marveled over their technique,  which could be used to assess the food safety of other products. “We believe the  new methodology will help to provide a more effective way of determining the  presence of these kinds of contaminants in milk or other products.”

“Food quality control laboratories could use this new tool to detect these  drugs before they enter the food chain. This would raise consumers’ awareness  and give them the knowledge that food is…harmless, pure, genuine, beneficial to  health, and free of toxic residues.”

While all types of milk tested contained chemicals cow’s milk was most  contaminated. This is not surprising, seeing as cows are routinely given  antibiotics, growth hormones, and fed questionable GMO feed. Unfortunately,  you will probably be picking up some of these chemicals each time you purchase  milk from big-time and conventional supermarkets.

What Milk Should You Buy?

If you do drink milk, there is always a better option than traveling to your  nearest grocery store. Organic milk is superior to conventional milk, as the  cows won’t typically be on an antibiotic, growth hormone, and GMO corn feed  diet; they will likely be grass-fed and graze freely. But there is an even  better milk than organic.

Raw milk, like organic, should not come from antibiotic-fed, hormone-injected  cows. In addition, raw milk is not pasteurized, a process that destroys  beneficial bacteria, transforms proteins, and ruins many of the other vitamins  and nutrients found in the milk. It’s always smart to go one step further when  buying raw milk to ensure safety, finding out a little bit about the farm and  farmer the milk come.

Detoxing Your Body and Environment

Toxic residue in food is hardly limited to milk. The  Daily Mail writes about earlier studies that have found fish with altered  brain chemistry and sexuality thanks to caffeine, antibiotics, and hormones from  contraceptive pills and HRT that survived treatment from sewage plants.

While some scientists say these trace amounts aren’t enough to affect people,  many of them are stored in our bodies for great lengths of time, which can  become problematic with frequent consumption. To this end, it’s important to  limit our exposure to environmental toxins and poisons found in conventionally  grown and prepared food and water. You can also take steps to detox  your body naturally.