Milk: Helpful or Harmful for your skin?

2007-10-01T04:05:00.000-07:00

Milk has been regarded as a favorite additive to cosmetic preparations meant to cleanse and moisturize the skin, but is it really a healthy beauty choice? Recent studies on milk have shown that the consumption of milk has a variety of negative effects on its consumers, especially those with dark complexions. Most commercial milk is not produced in the same way as the milk used in your grandmother’s favorite homemade skin tonic that she used to produce on the family dairy farm. The cows making most milk today are often eating a poor diet, and are sick and pregnant, causing their hormones to enter into the milk.

The progesterone present in a pregnant cow’s milk breaks down into androgens. Androgens are steroid hormones that control the masculine traits and characteristics in vertebrates. Testosterone is probably the most commonly discussed androgen. Some doctor’s think that the development of acne in teenagers can be tied to milk consumption through the extra androgens consumed in milk. When a boy is going through puberty, for example, the extra dose of testosterone he could be getting when he drinks a few glasses of milk each day can cause major skin outbreaks due to imbalanced hormone levels.

Additionally, many people are allergic to milk, and the allergic reactions often show themselves as skin problems. Atopic dermatitis in infants is often caused by cow milk consumption, and more adults are lactose intolerant than they realize. An allergic reaction caused by milk can look like the common zit, or can be small, dry, white bumps that appear in patches all over the skin. The bumps may be itchy, and may come and go.

What you consume affects your entire body, and your skin is your biggest organ. If you must drink milk, try only drinking milk from cows that are fed natural products and are allowed to roam free. Some doctor’s feel that the stress hormones given off in cows that are factory farmed and transferred into the milk can transfer and trigger the same stress hormones to be produced in the drinker. Similarly, if you feel topical preparations made with milk are beneficial to your skin, stick to organic milk. As with anything you put on your skin, you should only use the highest quality milk and yogurt when making your own homemade beauty formulas.

No matter what type of skin irritation you are dealing with, if your affliction seems to be a mystery, try cutting dairy out of your diet for 7 to 10 days. As with any allergic reaction, your body needs time to flush the toxins out before symptoms will improve.