Beware! Adulterated milk may cause abortions and deformities in babies

(Representational image)

New Delhi: While milk, as we know it, is the healthiest form of calcium with numerous health benefits to boast of, its adulteration has become a huge cause for concern around the world.

Adulterants not only reduces the quality of milk but can make it hazardous.

Besides water, adulterants like starch, detergent, urea, synthetic milk, and chemicals like sodium carbonate, formalin, and ammonium sulphate may be added to milk. Most of the chemicals added to milk can have long-term hazardous health effects.

Lately, however, the problem of adulteration of food products has multiplied to alarming extents thus posing serious health issues.

Milk and dairy products are no exception. Cattle are fed with many steroids and hormonal injections to boost the delivery of milk production.

"Oxytocin is one such injection that not only affects the cattle but indirectly the humans in the form of dairy products we consume. The injected oxytocin reaches the human body through consumption of milk or any other dairy product causing several side effects on all.

This is one of the reasons for the early onset of puberty among girls, development of breast in male and lack of testosterone production due to hormonal imbalance.

"Milk adulterated with oxytocin should be avoided by pregnant women as it may lead to abortion and babies may be born with deformities. It increases the risk of haemorrhage in mothers after birth and can also inhibit breastfeeding", said Dr Arvind Vaid, Chief Infertility & IVF Specialist, Indira IVF Hospital, New Delhi.

It is a general thought among us that milk is a rich source of calcium, but we tend to overlook the other components. Hormones like prolactin, luteinizing hormone(LH), estrogens, progesterone, oxytocin, growth hormone, thyroid stimulating hormone are present in the milk which may cause hormonal imbalance leading to infertility in humans as well.

It can adversely affect the production of cervical mucus, which, in limited quantity helps the sperm reach the fallopian tube and protects the vaginal lining from the acidic environment. If the cervical mucus turns hostile it can act as a barrier in the fallopian tube preventing women from conceiving.

Most of the people are either intolerant to lactose (the sugar found in milk) or allergic to casein (protein in milk) which often goes unnoticed. The most common symptom starts off with fatigue, irritable bowel syndrome, and repeated exposure to such allergies sets off a whole body immune response that halts down the fertility by causing improper ovulation, missing periods, degrading the egg quality and recurrent miscarriage.

"Certain amount of estrogen in a male is required especially in the elderly age, but normally the excess of estrogen in the male body leads to disruption of re-absorption of the luminal fluids in the epididymis leading to infertility. Consumption of more than the limit estrogen through diet leads to significant reduction in the epididymal weight causing decreased sperm motility and concentration", added Dr. Ishita Lunkad, Pune based gynaecologist.

Moreover, it is also noted that 70 percent of the Indian population gets packed milk (especially in plastics). Plastic contains BPA (endocrine disruptor), which is directly linked to causing fertility issues in both male and female. It is one of the reasons in the female that causes high levels of FSH, low levels of AMH, problems in implantation, PCOS and depleted ovarian reserve.

Thus, it is important to understand how adulterated milk can cause serious health issues in both males and females. Boiling milk can help eliminate traces of oxytocin. Thus a little vigilance can help save us from a number of health and fertility issues.

(With ANI inputs)