Guest post by Shanon Button

We’ve all grown up with the (in)famous milk myths and ads like, “Got Milk?” – or here’s an oldie, “Milk. It does a body good.” Not to mention the old notion that milk strengthens your bones and keeps them from breaking (it doesn’t, but I’ll get back to that). 

Why DO we drink the breast milk of an entirely different species? And is milk from a cow really that good for humans? 

Human beings began domesticating cattle and utilizing their milk by fermenting it for cheese and butter roughly 10,000 years ago but didn’t drink it initially, because they found it offered them little more than stomach cramps and diarrhea. Interestingly, after a human baby is weaned, the gene we possess that allows us to drink our mother’s milk safely, commonly becomes inactive since we don’t need to drink milk anymore. No adult animal does.

Humans are the only animals that drink milk after weaning and into adulthood. And the only species to consistently drink milk from another mammal. Weird.

We also live in a time when the environmental impact of dairy production is demonstrably unsustainable. Cow’s milk not only needs about 10 times more land than plant-based milks to produce but has other negative impacts like manure run-off from farms that seep into our rivers and lakes. 

According to the World Wildlife Fund, “…dairy has a considerable effect on climate change due to emissions of greenhouse gases such as methane, nitrous oxide, and carbon dioxide…”

In addition, dairy is among the cruelest of industries. Inseminating a cow and taking her baby away so we can harvest the milk meant for her newborn just doesn’t sit right.

So, even knowing this, some folks will continue to drink cow’s milk. But what is all that consumption of milk in its various forms doing to our bodies? 

Simply put, dairy is not necessary in the human diet and many dairy products contain high amounts of cholesterol and saturated fat. Eating saturated fats can put your health at risk, raising LDL (bad) cholesterol, which leads to an increased risk of heart disease.

Moreover, according to the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, a study published in the British Medical Journal demonstrated there is no proof that drinking cow’s milk has any benefit for bone health, and does not lessen the risk of fractures. Dairy has also been linked to an increased risk of acne. So much for “does a body good.” 

With this in mind, fortified oat milk, soy milk and other multiple varieties of nut-milks are a more sustainable alternative, containing the same amounts of calcium and vitamin D, with zero cholesterol. 

Increasingly, folks not interested in a vegan or vegetarian lifestyle are opting for milks from sources other than cows. With so many options now available in your local grocery stores like macadamia nut, cashew, sunflower, walnut, hazelnut and even pistachio; drinking alternative milks is quickly becoming a joy for the tastebuds and a body booster that the old cow’s milk ads talked about.

Drink for thought, the next time you’re at the grocery store.