Soldiers, Nipples and Milk

Back in the late 1940s, early 1950s, the military did a dietary study on Army soldiers in Basic Training to attempt to determine the best diet for the strongest soldiers. In the end they recommended that in order for soldiers to become "strong" that they must drink two glasses of milk a day.

Where did they come up with this milk idea? Realistically there is no mammal on the planet that drinks milk from the female species as adults and the same is true of humans. If humans were supposed to drink milk on a daily basis and if milk were a NEEDED component of diet for the proper nutrition, then the human female would be lactating 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year her entire life so that adult men could get the alleged "necessary" diet of milk that the military contends they need.

But the human female does not lactate year round for life. No mammal species lactates year round for life. And only the young drink milk in other mammal species. There is no adult males of any mammal species sucking on the nipples of the female species to get "necessary" daily nutritional milk.

What on earth was going through the minds of the men in the 1940s/1950s doing the nutritional study on Basic Training soldiers where they came up with the idea that soldiers needed milk daily? It's not just that they were suggesting that adult men need to suck on nipples of adult lactating females to get milk...but they actually contended that adult men must suck on cow nipples daily to get their daily 2 glasses of milk.

We know they couldn't be thinking of calcium because green, leafy vegetables are the best source of calcium in comparison to milk. It's definitely not "stong bones" because the reason that young offspring of mammals NEED milk is because there is a component in milk that softens the bones so that bones can grow. If a mammal does not get the bone softener component from milk in its lactating mother, then the mammals growth is stunted. So milk softens bones for growth of bones.

And since milk softens bones for the growth of bones, then soldiers drinking milk daily are also softening their bones....which would be bad. Calcium for strong bones needs to come from green, leafy vegetables because vegetables don't have the bone softening component that milk has.

What do you think?

Do you think that soldiers need to suck on cow nipples daily (2 glasses worth) in order to become strong men?

Do you think that the human female should lactate breast milk year round to supply adult men and soldiers with the "necessary" milk that men in the 1940s/1950s contend the soldiers need?

What thoughts do you think were really on the minds of those assigned the task (1940s/1950s) of dietary recommendations for adult soldiers when they did recommend that adult soldier men need to suck on nipples daily to get milk to become strong?

Does anyone else feel that perhaps the military needs to redo the dietary recommendation research from the 1940s/1950s, in light of the fact that no mammal produces milk year round for adult males?

I have long wondered this exact thing, although its not quite as cut and dry as you make it out to be. Additionally you extend your metaphors a bit too far, but all that aside here are my thoughts.

Milk, from any species, is a food. There are nutrients and chemicals in it that can be utilized by a body, growing or not. I think that perhaps it was easier for the military to get milk produced for them and ship it out/store it long term rather than producing leafy greens, storing greens and shipping them out. Also milk can be turned into a nutritionally dense product that lasts for much longer than fresh milk, cheese, and cheese has been produced for thousands of years. If I can recall, herdsmen used to store goats milk in slaughtered goats stomachs, and an enzyme in the stomach would curdle the milk turning it into a cheese product. After tending the flock all day, having the stomach of milk slosh about, they would get cheese by the days end.

To put things another way, why do we eat unborn aborted bird fetuses (eggs), why do we drink alcohol, a poison that no other animals drink (in most cases, elephants eating fermented fruit and getting drunk is one example I know of).

With all that being said, let it be known that I have not drank a glass of milk in years, probably close to 10 years now, for all of the reasons you have stated. I find it a vile liquid, which always smells like it has gone bad, produces copious amounts of mucus, milky white secretions from the danglies on the underside of a cud chewing mammal. *shudders*. I get all the calcium I require from my spinach, brussels sprouts, and kale; not that Im a vegetarian, I love my meat. I just love my vegetables as well!

Funny. When I was in the service, no one told us to drink milk. It was available, but like most guys I hit the coffee. You sure this doctrine was not abandoned long ago?

If you keep sucking on your moms tit she will continue to lactate.

reply to post by MapMistress


Drinking milk is very very VERY good for muscle development and also increases testosterone production which is desirable for soldiers. It is also calorie rich so a glass of milk with a meal instead of say water will add more calories which are needed in a very high number during training.

I myself have started putting on muscle before more extensive cardio training in preperation for joining the British army and I have had great success in bulking up where I have failed before and milk is one thing that has helped me a lot. Whey protein is good and is the new thing everyone is drinking by the gall, but milk is just as good maybe even better for building bigger, better quality muscles.

One of the guys at my gym who is an abolute beat, think bodybuilder/boxer, he's very muscular but also works on speed as well as just being big and he drinks 10 pints of milk a day. Personaly too much milk send me to the bathroom too much so I stagger it and whey mixed with water over the day or sometimes water down shakes with milk and whey in. It is good stuff though.

Im sure the women if lactating 24/7 would need a lot of food to produce that milk so it just isn't efficient when an adult is capable of feeding themselves hunter gathering. Funny thing is a women can breast feed for years and years and decades, are some creepy docs about it on youtube even. They dont stop producing milk if the child keeps suckling.

reply to post by MapMistress


Are you joking? Women 'should' be able to give milk there entire life?
Is it not 'proven' that calcium increases the strength of our bones?
Are we not the most 'intellegent' beings on this planet?

So in order for your theory to work everything should be handed to us on a platter, biological speaking? There are things we need to figure out on our own, that is why we are intellegent. We have cows, that give milk. Humans can get milk from cow, goats, etc. Not everything that is 'good' for us is biological given to us!

A good fur protects against cold, yet we are born naked! We invented 'clothing' to protect us witch comes from our enviorment, just like milk. We need iron and lots of vitamines and nutricians, etc to keep us healthy and in good shape, should women produce that as well?

Calcium and other nutricians, are found in more products than milk tho, milk is just easy accessable to us. That does not make that we should be born to be self sufficient and don't need anything else except tittie milk. That is why cattle is not only good for meat, but for milk as well.

reply to post by MapMistress


The military looks at dietary requirements all the time. Mostly geared though to sustaning Soldiers in a prolonged conflict though. Boxed milk is provided only on occasion. Water is the main drink nowadays.

Todays MRE's look nothing like the originals. It's rare to find a coffee packet in one now.

You'll pretty much only find milk in the Mess halls.

That's right, I said Mess halls...I hate the term DFAC.

Also drinks are easier to consume than masses of food as liquid sits n the stomach better.

Another note the dairy trade can be very very cruel indeed. Try and get milk from only organic farms that don't use hormones that produce too much milk in the cow causing its udders to become sore and infected. This can even cause puss to be contaminated in the milk.

I get abuse for this a lot because I eat a lot of meat but I am fine with killing an animal to eat, just not with keeping one alive in pain for a prolonged period of time. I'm sure I'll get flamed for having this view but just because I eat meat doesn't mean I hate animals!

reply to post by MapMistress


From the Wikipedia article about powdered milk:
"Marco Polo wrote of Mongolian Tatar troops in the time of Kublai Khan carrying sun-dried skimmed milk as "a kind of paste,""

Besides that it's kind of hard to avoid milk altogether anyway since it's
an ingredient in so many other prepared foods.

reply to post by clintdelicious


I have a great respect for animals. I eat meat. I also drink milk.


I get all my meat from a local butcher, this is open range organic cattle, pork and poultry. I get my milk at the grocery store, but I buy an organic brand that is produced in an adjacent state. (I try to buy local as much as possible.)

Milk is really high protein. It's definitely not *needed* but it is a good way to supplement your diet. As with all foods, you shouldn't overdo it. It's an important part of culinary chemistry as well. (lots of the delicious snacks we all enjoy wouldn't be anything close to the same without milk!)

I also believe healthy milk helps to prevent osteoporosis.

As for breastfeeding, it is extremely healthy - but at 8 years old? That kid is gonna have some major issues.

Follow this link to read some great information about the history and chemistry of milk.

It does make chocolate cake very nice

Nowhere does it say that it should be Human milk

reply to post by MapMistress


They are not trying to just maintain a normal healthy lifestyle, they are trying to grow as big and strong and durable as possible. Milk has growth hormones, protein, fatty acids, and calories. It is wonderful for trying to grow bigger and stronger.

In nature, we don't have lions and tigers trying to find creative ways to grow bigger and stronger. If they had that thought process, they would probably nurse their whole lives. They also don't have vitamins, and amino acids, and firearms, and medics, LOL!

The intent of drinking an extra amount of milk is to go beyond normal and go to something better!

I know a lot of athletes that drink a full gallon of whole milk everyday. It helps.

Only The Breast
As a lactating human female, it seems only appropriate to add that breastmilk isn't just for babies and toddlers. It is also great for immunity boosting, almost impossible to be allergic to, is easily digestible by the human digestive system, and helps guys who have mommy issues.

Originally posted by mnmcandiez
If you keep sucking on your moms tit she will continue to lactate.

nice to see some human, real human behaviour - natural - without sexual psychotic ulteriour motive .......
real human life ... real human feelings .... congrats to that wonderfull mother and her so lovely education ....
go to hell you stupid inhuman bast**rds !!!!
Yes, milk from mom's breast is very very good for growth and immunity system.
Save our children, save the world, save the women, save the love, save our nature : god damned what do we have to save a lot of things ......

reply to post by blivey


Human breast milk, been there done that..................no thanks I'll pass, but, I do admit a fascination for the containers it comes in.

Originally posted by MapMistress
If humans were supposed to drink milk on a daily basis and if milk were a NEEDED component of diet for the proper nutrition, then the human female would be lactating 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year her entire life so that adult men could get the alleged "necessary" diet of milk that the military contends they need.

Uh, humans are also the only species which domesticates other large mammals such as cattle, and it is widely believed that the gene for adults to metabolize lactose was selected for in some European populations a few thousand years ago as they domesticated dairy cattle.

Personally I'm moving to almond "milk" for most uses, but still can't deal with it in coffee. Which is also pretty unnatural for every other animal but then again so is programming software, and they go together like bagels & lox.

Originally posted by JIMC5499
reply to post by blivey

 

Human breast milk, been there done that..................no thanks I'll pass, but, I do admit a fascination for the containers it comes in.

I agree.

There was a thread on ATS last year about Human Breast Milk Ice Cream! Someone should search it out. Pretty hilarious.

reply to post by JIMC5499


To each his own. Men want them, women want to have them. Boobies make the world go 'round.

BTW breastmilk is the only bodily fluid that can be sold by people directly to other people. Everything else has to go through medical companies.

Originally posted by MapMistress

Does anyone else feel that perhaps the military needs to redo the dietary recommendation research from the 1940s/1950s, in light of the fact that no mammal produces milk year round for adult males?

I have to ask: Were there no "adult women" in the military then? Or is this dietary *suggestion based upon a presumption regarding male physiology?