Question

A young mother of a 4 year old child expresses concern regarding the milk her child is drinking. The family purchases milk with WIC (Women Infant Children) government assistance.

“I am not allowed to purchase organic milk” she states. The mother goes on to explain “I heard regular cow’s milk has hormones in it and I am worried about giving it to my child.”

How would you respond to this mother? Would it be prudent for her to forgo her WIC coupons to purchase organic milk, almond milk or soy milk instead? Think about what your answer would be before proceeding with the questions.

Discuss:

• The growth hormone used in dairy cows ( Recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone) is a peptide hormone.
• If the hormone passed into the milk one drinks, what would happen to a peptide hormone when ingested? Go through the process of digestion from mouth to absorption in the small intestine.

Step 3 Post Your Initial Response including the following:

How would you respond to this mother? Would it be prudent for her to forgo her WIC coupons to purchase organic milk, almond milk or soy milk instead?  Use facts from the text with digestion, absorption, and how the cells make protein in the body.  

Answer 1

I would respond in a positive way to this mother. I will tell her that the WIC milk is very healthy for her the child and highly nutritious but the cow milk is not a bad option at the same time for a 4 years old. It is rich in protein, saturated fat, calcium and iron that is important for a growing child. Additionally it will not have any major side effect on the child because of his age and will help in brain development.

I do not think that it would be prudent for them to forgo her WIC coupons for organic milk, since that milk is usually digested in the same way as the other normal milk. But, yes they cost higher. Hwever it might be prudent for them to forgo the WIC coupons to purchase almond or soy milk instead, whatever they find affordable. Now, talking about these peptide hormones, they are non-steroidal and hence having dairy or soy milk can possibly enhance the absorbtion of some hormones such as insulin-like growth factor 1 and that is why this is independent of the Recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone. There are evidences where it was found that hormones like this from cow milk are digested the same as regular milk. Secondly, Bovine growth hormone is not active in humans which means when we ingest it, it would not cause any health effect. In fact, they are not high either in milk from rBGH-treated cows. They are absorbed like any other peptide hormone in the body. So it can be said that growth hormone in dairy cows would result in safe milk

There may be slight indirect effects, such as cows in poor countries requiring more food to produce the extra milk of which they are capable while on this hormone, and harmful chemicals getting from this extra feed into the milk and then into its drinkers. However, overall the growth hormone used in dairy cows are safer to drink and hence they can drink the regular milk and use the coupons.