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so I completely fixed my lactose
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intolerance based on this cool paper
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from the 9s but what I learned from this
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paper Was A Dark Truth of absolutes this
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isn't a method a real medical doctor
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would tell you it basically involves
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cramming lactose for 2 weeks and
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suffering the protests of every part of
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your digestion this is not a
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recommendation this is a documentation
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of the power of Science and the lengths
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I went to to be able to eat mozzarella
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sticks again
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[Music]
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all was well between me and my love of
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milk until Co at least that's what I
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told myself though in retrospect the
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signs of my decreasing lactose
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production were present I was just
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ignoring them lockdown was what sent my
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lactose intolerance spiraling my
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schedule was jumbled I was too depressed
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to make myself nice morning drinks so I
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stopped drinking milk tea for a few
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months when I finally had milk again it
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was bad like really bad bad enough I
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decided to try out lactose-free milk and
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that's where this adventure begins so I
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tried lactose-free milk but it didn't
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really work for me like it kind of did
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but not super well I would say my
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symptoms went down by maybe like a third
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but I really wanted no symptoms so I
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looked into how lactose-free milk is
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made so to zoom out lactose is a complex
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sugar in milk that needs a special
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enzyme lactase to break it down during
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digestion to make lactose-free milk they
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extract lactase enzymes from fungi and
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then add them straight to the milk to
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break down the lactose before you even
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drink it actually cheese and yogurt are
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generally not as bad for people with
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lactose intolerance because the
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microorganisms that ferment them also
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eat and break down the lactose I wasn't
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sure why lactose free milk didn't work
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super well for me I wondered whether
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maybe mixing lactase with milk didn't
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yield a complete reaction for whatever
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reason I decided to read more about how
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exactly the process
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worked I went on Google Scholar and
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searched lactose breakdown or something
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like that and found this great paper
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from the 90s colonic adaptation to daily
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lactose feeding in lactose Mal digestors
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reduces lactose intolerance basically if
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you're a lactose mald digestor meaning
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you're lactose intolerant and you
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consume lactose daily your colon will
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adapt but what inspired This research
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you see the United States had an excess
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of powdered milk in the 80s and decided
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to donate it to countries experiencing
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famine countries where no one could
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digest lactose the United States
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routinely has offered non-fat dry milk
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of which this nation has millions of
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tons in Surplus as a food commodity to
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impoverished regions of the globe in
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some cases the donation has caused more
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problems than were
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solved powdered milk frequently is
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distributed to areas where milk is not
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part of the typical diet which is
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particularly true in parts of subsaharan
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Africa despite fairly severe reactions
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from the lactose Mal digestors
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subsisting on a diet of straight
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powdered milk after a few weeks their
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symptoms subsided and they were able to
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to consume the milk but why most people
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with lactose intolerance are actually
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The evolutionary default for them the
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Millan lactase Gene the DNA instructions
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to make the lactase enzyme are only
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active as a baby this makes sense
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because in nature only babies nurse this
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lactase Gene stops being expressed after
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they would have been weaned meaning no
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more lactase enzyme meaning no more
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chocolate banana split Sundays but some
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populations have developed lactase
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persistence where their bodies do
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continue to create the lactose enzyme
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the subsaharan population given the
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powdered milk did not have this lactose
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persistence mutation they didn't have
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any lactase so the question is how did
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their bodies adapt to the lactose did
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their mamillion lactase genes start
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expressing when they were exposed to
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high levels of lactose no what really
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changed was their gut biome you see we
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digest the food we eat but so do a
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myriad of various bacteria living in our
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guts when someone with lactose and
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tolerance eats a large amount of lactose
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over the course of a few weeks the
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population of gut bacteria that can
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digest the lactose explodes and then
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they're blessed with mutualistic
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symbiosis a colony of hungry microbes
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digesting the lactose for them now Henry
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you might say don't the symptoms of
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regular old lactose intolerance also
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come from lactose passing intact to the
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colon and being consumed by bacteria
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that also produce massive amounts of
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hydrogen causing gas and bloating what
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would cause there to be less gas in this
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case good question
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the paper proposes that the kinds of
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bacteria that flourish on the very high
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lactose diet are Bido bacteria that are
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non-hydrogen producing so no more bloat
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gas or
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pain
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eventually so of course I read this
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paper and I had to try it myself my
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instinct said it's the lockdown go for
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it so I went to my local grocery store
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and bought several boxes of powdered
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milk so I could ensure maximum lactose
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concentration
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I poured it into my glass
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jar and then I added less water than it
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called for because I wanted sort of this
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like thick slurry
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and then I chugged it non-stop for two
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weeks wow this smell is really bringing
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me back first came the pain intense
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stomach cramps and very loud stomach
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rumbles or Bor bigmas heralding the
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beginnings of the battle then came the
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smell if you have roommates they will
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despise you then came the extended
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bathroom time turns out the excess
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lactose in your colon also messes with
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your osmotic pressure there will be a
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lot of liquid my entire digestive system
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was groaning in protestation but this
00:06:26
was only day one I believe in science I
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couldn't give up yet
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the second day was a bit better only in
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that our sense of smell relies somewhat
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on novelty so if you smell the same
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farts for long enough you basically stop
00:06:39
smelling them or at least that's what I
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told my roommates day three at this
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point I was starting to get dehydrated
00:06:46
despite all the liquid I was drinking I
00:06:47
was losing too many electrolytes my
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solution of course was to add some salt
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to my milk slory this was fine I mean I
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wasn't doing this for the taste of
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powdered milk I was doing it for the ice
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cream Sundays of my future day four was
00:06:59
bad day five was bad even I was starting
00:07:02
to question whether a diet of pure
00:07:04
powdered milk was really the best
00:07:06
interpretation of this study and perhaps
00:07:07
in my overe eagerness I was putting
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myself through more than was reasonably
00:07:12
necessary day seven was an improvement
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mostly because I let myself eat other
00:07:16
food as well as the powdered milk after
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that though I started to experience a
00:07:20
logarithmic decay of symptoms by the end
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of the 2 weeks I was nearly asymptomatic
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and by that I mean back to my regular
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old irritable bowel syndrome symptoms so
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now I had to test my new found lactose
00:07:32
superpowers I got all of my favorite
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foods that caused me problems Ice Cream
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soft cheese milk tea and nothing no
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problems at all I was
00:07:49
cured would I recommend this method no
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also for some reason I'm still kind of
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sensitive to whe but only when it's an
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ingredient in something else like a
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protein bar maybe I need to do a wayy
00:08:01
diet next also just because this worked
00:08:03
for me it probably wouldn't work for
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everyone everyone's gut biome is
00:08:07
different also while lactase intolerance
00:08:09
does not cause damage to the
00:08:10
gastrointestinal tract it sure feels
00:08:12
like it does I'm not a doctor and I'm
00:08:15
pretty sure no sane doctor would
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recommend this to anyone I just wanted
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to share my cautionary tale she fixed
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her lactose
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intolerance but at what cost I just like
00:08:25
reading coil papers and trying to solve
00:08:27
my problems with science
00:08:31
bonus fact cheddar cheese is only orange
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because it's dyed orange some kinds of
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cows have fat lobules that are orange
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from kerene so historically if a cheese
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was orange it was a sign of high fat
00:08:42
content and quality then less scrupulous
00:08:45
folks realized you could just dye at
00:08:47
Orange with an AO bonus bonus fact in
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the Middle Ages milk was known as The
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Virtuous white liquid because it was
00:08:54
generally safer to drink than most of
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the water available at the time turns
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out dumping sewage to the water supply
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wasn't great also they thought milk was
00:09:02
blood from the womb and treated it like
00:09:04
blood in humor related treatments bonus
00:09:06
bonus bonus fact I mentioned this in my
00:09:08
moose video there are a few small moose
00:09:10
dairy farms in Russia and Sweden where
00:09:12
you can get moose milk donkeys and
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horses have the lowest known percentage
00:09:16
of milk fat at around 1% compared to
00:09:18
cows 3% and humans 4% seals and whales
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may have more than 50% milk fat because
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the milk is so fatty and less liquidy
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multiple kinds of birds and feral cats
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are known to steal elephant seal milk
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directly from the seal bonus aside ever
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since I was born I really loved milk and
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other dairy products with a brief
00:09:37
Interruption of Middle School you see I
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was sitting in the back of my library
00:09:41
near the magazine shelves reading a copy
00:09:43
of Cosmo clandestinely hidden in a copy
00:09:46
of fly Fisher monthly and I came across
00:09:48
an article with something like five
00:09:49
reasons your crush won't kiss you and
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number five was you recently ate
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something stinky or drank milk and your
00:09:56
crush can smell it I was horrified I
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drink milk all the time
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that could clearly be the only reason
00:10:01
why my crush didn't want to smooch me
00:10:03
definitely the only one nothing to do
00:10:05
with me being incredibly strange I
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abstained from milk for a few years
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until I finally managed to get a new
00:10:11
crush to smooch me and realized that if
00:10:14
your crush wants to smooch you they
00:10:17
don't actually really care what you
00:10:18
drink
