Debunked: NutritionFacts.org Puss in Milk

Is there puss in milk? Michael Greger of NutritionFacts.org wants you to think there is and he writes about this topic on his website. Greger is a fear pusher

and it’s quite obvious, especially when you see the title of his new book “How not to Die.” Nothing sells better than fear, and scaring people always works when pushing an agenda. Yes, he has an agenda being a hardcore vegan activist and a director of HSUS (an organization that does nothing to help actual animals)

Regardless of motive – many people have asked me for a rebuttal to his claims. Do they have any merit? Start breaking them down and you find little more than twisted words and scary rhetoric.

Oh yeah and you can read my main post is there Puss in Milk in another article.

Let’s get into it:

Claim: Iodine teat dip increases mastitis

A bit about iodine- it’s actually good:

• Iodine is a trace element that is naturally present in some foods, added to others, and available as a dietary supplement. Iodine is an essential component of the thyroid hormones (Source)
• Iodine is sold as a natural supplement for women to help combat mastitis (Source)
• Iodine is Antibacterial, Antiviral, Antifungal, Antiparasitic, Anticancer, Elevates pH, Helps relieve mucous, Essential for hormone production

If you think about this logically – a cleaning solution is used to clean a cow’s udder. This removes potentially harmful bacteria that the cows picks up in the natural environment and reduces the chance that any bacteria can get inside the udder to cause infection.

It doesn’t make any sense that cleaning a cow’s udder would cause her to become infected.

Cleaning the udder prevents bacteria from entering the teat

Claim: Iodine been found to boost the level of pus in the milk of cows with staph-infected udders.

The study he uses to “prove” his case notes that the iodine used to clean a cow’s udder is a good preventative practice and works effectively.

• The study actually found that that iodine teat dip actually lowered SCC and reduced risk for mastitis on healthy cows
• BUT Cows already having an infection the iodine teat dip had a negative effect. But these cows were already infected and cleaning a cow’s teat is a preventative measure. Is this the proof that iodine based teat dips cause mastitis? No, this only says that cleaning the outside of the udder after a cow is already infected is not effective. She’s already sick, a preventative measure wont make her better. Makes logical sense.
• This study only looked at 1 type of bacteria that causes mastitis, but there are many more not taken into account.

“There was a decrease in the SCC and in the CM risk in culture-negative cows where iodine PMTD had been used, indicating that iodine PMTD has a preventive effect on already healthy cows. For cows testing positive for Staph. aureus in more than 2 quarters at calving, iodine PMTD had a negative effect on the CM risk and on the SCC”

There have been many studies at many universities showing that cleaning a cow’s udder prior to milking will reduce infections.

A University of California, Davis study resulted that use of pre-dip had a 80% reduction in the new rate of infections. Cornell University, the University of Vermont, and the University of Tennessee have confirmed similar results (Source)

Claim: Metabolic drain on cows because of constant reproduction

Metabolic drain is not the primary cause of mastitis and having calves is a natural part of a cow’s lifecycle.

• Veterinarian’s top job with dairy farmers is being proactively involved in reproductive management and keeping cows healthy (Source)
• Cows in wild would be bred immediately after calving- bulls do not give cows time to rest between calving’s.
• Though selection of better bulls, dairy farmers help reduce complication from calving and actual calving size of the baby

Claim: Turning dairy cows into milk machines has led to epidemics of so-called “production-related diseases,” such as lameness and mastitis

Cows have always had certain ailments. These diseases are not modern inventions but common diseases and problems that cows have. Your grandpa was dealing with them on his farm as well.

– Published in 1852 by M. M. Milburn “The Cow: Dairy Husbandry and Cattle Breeding” notes various illnesses that afflict dairy cows. Lameness and mastitis were among them

Claim: Loss of body condition is a result of extreme genetic manipulation

Are breed characteristics the result of genetic manipulation? Dairy cows are naturally thinner than beef cows and use their energy towards milk production. They convert energy to milk rather than meat.

One has a propensity to make milk and one has a propensity to store body fat. People are the same way. Some people burn energy at a high rate while other people store energy more effectively. It’s not genetic manipulation, just different genetics.

Read Why are Dairy Cows Skinny

Some California Dairy Cows Chillin’

Claim: mastitis epidemic in the U.S. dairy herd

Mastitis is not an epidemic on dairy farms, but it is one of the most prevalent health conditions a cow comes down with:

Greger uses survey results published by the USDA to say that mastitis is an epidemic. But an epidemic is the rapid spread of a disease:

• The study actually notes that of cows that got sick- mastitis affected about 15% of dairy cows on farms
• The number has steadily remained around that percentage comparing studies from 1996, 2002, and 2007.
• Mastitis on farms is not out of control

In his own word – Milk does not have puss in it:

I’m a bit confused because he clearly states that milk does not have puss in it, then contradicts himself and tries to say there is puss in milk.

Somatic cells are not synonymous with pus cells, as has sometimes been misleadingly suggested. Somatic just means “body.” Just as normal human breast milk has somatic cells—mostly non-inflammatory white blood cells and epithelial cells sloughed off from the mammary gland ducts—so does milk from healthy cows.

Claim: According to the USDA, 1 in 6 dairy cows in the United States suffers from clinical mastitis, which is responsible for 1 in 6 dairy cow deaths on U.S. dairy farms.

This phrase is extremely misleading because a reader connects those 2 facts in their minds when reading it when the reality is that they are different.

Here is the survey from USDA he uses to “prove” his points.

Greger “1 in 6 dairy cows in the United States suffers from clinical mastitis”

• As mentioned above: of cows that got sick on farms in the survey– mastitis affected about 15% of dairy cows on farms
• Mastitis can be successfully treated with antibiotics.
• These 15% of cows contracting mastitis do not all die from mastitis.

“1 in 6 dairy cow deaths on U.S. dairy farms” Of cows that died on the farms in the survey about 15% of them had mastitis. Most cows do not die on the farm

• Only means that mastitis can be a cause of death in dairy cows
• Certain bacteria are more toxic that others. A cow infected with an E.coli strain of bacteria can be fast acting and can cause death.

The Survey doesn’t mean that 15% of all cows in the U.S. died because of mastitis, but only means that 15% of the cows on surveyed farms died because of mastitis. Most cows do not die on farm and so the actual number of cows dying is much less.

If you read the report you would also find that dairy farms are very proactive in preventing disease. The same report notes dairy farmers are vaccinating their cattle against various diseases and taking preventative measures in reducing illness. Producers supplement cows with vitamins and minerals to prevent disease and strengthen immunity.

Claim: Somatic cell counts greater than a million per teaspoon are abnormal and “almost always” caused by mastitis.

• Somatic Cell Count (SCC) is a milk quality indicator. Read my article about SCC
• Dairy farmers measure SCC as a benchmark or indicator to a possible infection. If your cow’s SCC goes up significantly, it means that an infection may have occurred.
• Genetics can also play a role in determining a cow’s SCC level. Dairy farmers have found that they can breed cows with a lower SCC
• Environmental factors also play a role and time of year.
• A SCC of zero would mean the cow would be dead; there will always be cells in milk.

Claim: The average somatic cell count in U.S. milk per spoonful is 1,120,000.

Somatic Cell Count is measured per ML not teaspoon but spoonful sounds more dramatic.

It’s much more dramatic to say teaspoon than SCC/ML. Maybe because then you can say millions which sounds scarier than thousands. There’s about 5 ML in 1 teaspoon.

The average SCC in the U.S. is 220,000/ ml and is declining every year. That number is declining every year

Milk today has is lower SCC than any time in history

Trying to scare people using cells is misleading because the world of biology is comprised of cells. Did you know that your body completely replaces its skin in 27 days. You are constantly sloughing off skin and replacing cells in your body. Think of how many billions (or more) of cells it takes to complete that feat. Or how many cells are in 1 oz of meat. Probably many more than what are in milk.

Framing SCC as bad is nothing more than a scare/ gross-out tactic.

We can all use the following type of reasoning to gross people out:

According to the new USDA data, the American milk supply averages 224,000 somatic cells/ml (based on bulk tank samples taken from whole herds). Subtracting the 200,000 that could be present in nonmastitic milk and subtracting the non-inflammatory fraction (10%) leaves us with 21,600 neutrophils per ml, and multiplying that by the volume of milk in a cup (237ml) comes out to be about 5 million neutrophils per cup.

Here goes:

According to researchers, the human body has an average of 32,000,000 million bacteria on it per sq. in. So if you were to kiss your loved one on the cheek, you would be ingesting 32,000,000 potentially harmful bacteria that could cause a variety of infections and even death. If you kiss that person twice it would double the rate of exposure from 32,000,000 to (32,000,000+32,000,000) 64,000,000 bacteria. If you kissed your loved 1 time/ day it would increase dramatically. To show how many bacteria you are ingesting (32,000,000*365 days) it comes out to about 23,360,000,000 bacteria. Do you know how many cups of bacteria that is, neither do I. Why risk it, I wouldn’t ever kiss anyone again knowing they’re oozing with that much bacteria.

When framed in a negative light, biology can be made to sound gross if you want it to.

Fear mongerers are good at fooling people because fear makes your mind irrational. The best marketers know this. Don’t fall for it.