Myth Busting: Doesn’t Milk Do a Body Good?

We can all agree that a mother’s milk is central to a baby’s growth and development across all species. But while most mammals wean their babies from milk within 1 year, strangely, human mothers replace their own milk with cows’ milk. Humans are in no way meant to drink cows’ milk. In fact, humans are the only animals who drink milk from another species. Just as dogs' milk is intended for puppies and humans' milk for infants, cows' milk is for calves.

All of the misunderstanding is due to marketing, improper education and the lies of the dairy industry. Most parents are taught that raising a child without cows’ milk is risky, and that children need milk for its calcium to build healthy bones. Well, guess what, that's all a lie. In fact, cows’ milk is the number one cause of food allergies among infants and children (according to the American Gastroenterological Association), and its consumption is linked to autism, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, cancer and obesity.

Most people begin to produce less lactase, the enzyme that helps with the digestion of milk, when they are as young as 2 years old. This reduction can lead to lactose intolerance, which is actually a natural rejection of milk by our bodies. Humans are not biologically meant to drink milk their entire lives.

Then how do we get calcium? There are many excellent sources of calcium, including kale, broccoli, collard greens, tofu, fortified non-dairy milks & orange juice. Calcium deficiency is not a threat to someone eating a diet of whole foods. Medical studies indicate that rather than preventing the disease, milk may actually increase women's risk of getting osteoporosis.

And then there are the cows. Cows produce milk for the same reason that humans do: to nourish their young. But calves born on dairy farms are taken from their mothers immediately and fed milk replacers so that humans can have the milk instead. Mother cows are force fed hormones to make them produce more milk than what is natural (studies show that there are lots of chemicals in your glass of milk). This is all an exploitation of the female reproductive system and truly cruel to the animals. Several times a day, dairy cows are hooked by their udders to electronic milking machines that can cause the cows to suffer electrical shocks, painful lesions, and mastitis.  After cows are about 4 years old, they are no longer “valuable” to the dairy industry and are sent to slaughter.

There is a wealth of information out there about how to go dairy free, as well as an amazing array of delicious non-dairy milk alternatives (you don’t have to give up your morning latte, just switch to non-dairy milk and your body will thank you). We love both soy and almond milk, and there are even alternatives to everything from creamer for your coffee and ice cream for your shake to whipped cream to top your vegan pie!