Posts Tagged ‘arteries’

Homogenization causes artery damage has been known for quite awhile. This is from the journal Atherosclerosis (1989; 77:251-6).

“Homogenized Cow’s milk transforms healthy butter fat into microscopic spheres of fat containing xanthine oxidase (XO) which is one of the most powerful digestive enzymes there is. The spheres are small enough to pass intact right through the stomach and intestines walls without first being digested. Thus this extremely powerful protein “knife” XO floats throughout the body in the blood and lymph systems. When the XO breaks free from its fat envelope, it attacks the inner wall of whatever vessel it is in. This creates a wound. The wound triggers the arrival of “patching plaster” to seal off the wound. The “patching plaster” is cholesterol. Hardening of the arteries, heart disease, chest pain, heart attack is the results.” (As reported by Paul Pitchford, Healing With Whole Foods, p19)

The reason given for homogenization is to make the big fat droplets smaller for easier digestion. The reason not stated is the fat floats to top and does not look as pleasing to the eye. By homogenizing and releasing xanthine oxidase, it does make digestion simple, but by damaging the fat soluble vitamins it makes them harder to digest and absorb.

One reason milk is homogenized is for a longer shelf life. To homogenize milk it has to be put through a mechanical process. It is passed through pipes and fine filers at high pressure and a speed of 600 feet per second. The fat portion of the milk is broken up into very small globules. As a fine mist they become suspended in the liquid and do not rise to the top.

When milk is not homogenized, the fat and the xanthine oxidase (XO), which is a naturally occurring substance in the milk, are digested in the stomach and small intestine.  They are naturally converted into smaller molecules, which get used by the body or are excreted. Xanthine oxidase is an enzyme found in the liver. If any foreign XO enters the bloodstream it attacks specific targets within the arteries. Lesions in the artery walls are a result from this attack. Scar tissue and calcified plaques are a result of the healing phase. Atherosclerosis develops, and arteries lose their elasticity as this process continues.

The damage caused by this process takes a long time to show up. All milk in the dairy section is homogenized. Products that have homogenized milk as the base would be cheese, butter, yogurt, buttermilk, and ice cream. Cholesterol is not the problem; processed food is.

Cholesterol is a problem when it gets caught on the artery wall, and this only happens when there is something to get caught on. On a biochemical level processing food signals a self-destructive mechanism in the body. Tampering with Mother Nature is not a good ideal.

Heart disease has skyrocketed in the last fifty years, yet cholesterol was in foods for a long period before this dramatic rise. The cholesterol is not the problem, it is when it tries to fix the damaged arteries, and eventually causes the obstruction called blocked arteries. Homogenization causes artery damage that we blame on cholesterol.