Milk, considered perfect for decades, is now very controversial: digestion, allergies, dairy industry practices that are not respectful of animals and greedy for resources, industrial treatments... milk is no longer very clean ! So the question arises: should we still consume it? If so, which one and how? And if not, what can we replace it with?
Milk: an (old) myth that is collapsing
Milk lobbies, like all lobbies, have a mission: to make us consume the product they defend and reduce our doubts, even if they are well-founded. Advertising campaigns do their job to convince us that "dairy products are our friends for life". And the introduction of milk portions in schools, particularly in the United States, is a result of this. By trying to assimilate dairy products to calcium, manufacturers give them an image of a "healthy" food, rich and healthy. If this strategy worked for years, today consumers are better informed and discover the other side of the story. For example, if the ad says that "a Kinder Chocolate provides as much calcium as a large glass of milk" and it is telling the truth... it is probably because the calcium level in milk is not actually very high!
The Calcium Paradox
This is a big disappointment, but you have to know: many foods contain as much calcium - or even more - than milk. On the list: almonds, chia seeds, chickpeas, green leafy vegetables such as broccoli, artichokes or spinach, fresh mint and parsley, Chinese cabbage, kale, asparagus... Milk is therefore far from being essential for health, especially that of our bones. Second disappointment, it does not fight against osteoporosis which does not depend on a calcium deficiency but on chronic inflammation. However, milk is precisely a pro-inflammatory food! Worse, milk and dairy products contain methionine and phosphoric acid, acidifying elements that can lead to calcium loss and demineralization of bones... especially when consumed with animal proteins, which are also acidifying. This is what the WHO has called "the calcium paradox": the countries where the most dairy products are consumed daily are those where the consequences of osteoporosis (such as hip fractures) are the highest. Conversely, the countries where they are consumed the least have far fewer fractures. What can we do? Instead of trying to get calcium from these foods, we should instead retain the calcium present in our bones, and for this, we must favor a plant-based diet , i.e. foods with a basic pH .
Is milk bad for your health?
Cow's milk should be seen for what it is: a drink made of water and fat, rich in saturated fatty acids. Unnecessary fats that, in large quantities, can be bad for your health and lead to obesity. They should be consumed in moderation (unlike unsaturated fats, which are in vegetable fats). Thus, excessive consumption of milk can be harmful, as we have seen, on inflammation and osteoporosis, but also diseases such as type I diabetes. Cow's milk has another defect: it fixes toxins. This is why it is sometimes recommended to stop drinking milk, while healing from certain infections. This is why it is so criticized by some nutritionists and naturopaths. The cause is the milk protein (casein) which irritates our immune system and maintains certain chronic diseases, particularly respiratory diseases, such as asthma or bronchitis, as well as those linked to inflammation. Moreover, some people may notice a clear improvement after eliminating dairy products from their diet.
Milk: intolerance and allergy
Have you ever thought about the fact that humans are the only species to consume the milk of another mammal? And that we are the only ones to consume milk after the natural weaning age? Cows' milk is intended and adapted for calves. But above all, in humans, after early childhood, the body no longer produces lactase, an enzyme allowing the dissociation of lactose into glucose and galactose, a process necessary for the proper digestion of milk. This explains lactose intolerance. This sugar, well assimilated by the youngest, therefore has difficulty being digested. This intolerance presents specific symptoms: stomach aches, discomfort, bloating, diarrhea which can be alleviated by the use of skimmed milk, but will only disappear when cow's milk is completely stopped. The same goes for allergies to cow's milk which also present inflammatory symptoms: irritable bowel, rheumatism. Stopping cow's milk protein altogether can lead to very rapid improvements in some cases.
Poor milk… and not so pure
Industrial milk, a pure and rich food? Not so sure, given its transformations. Even so-called "whole" milk is partially skimmed, and all milk is homogenized: a manipulation that transforms even its molecular structure! If farm milk was a useful fatty and nourishing food, today's industrial milk is devoid of these qualities. These artificial processes have transformed it into a denatured drink devoid of its microbial flora, beneficial to our defenses. Worse, industrial milk is said to contain certain harmful substances: pesticides, residues of growth hormones and antibiotics (many) given to cows during milk production, to compensate for poor breeding conditions.
Milk: ethics and animal suffering
We tend to forget it, but to produce milk, a cow must give birth to a calf. Thus, dairy cows that are inseminated (too) regularly give birth to calves that are not entitled to their milk and are taken away from their mother very quickly after birth. A male will be considered waste and "destroyed", or at best, sent to the butcher. A female will end up as a dairy like her mother. The larger the farms, the faster the pace and the more exploited the animals are, to the point of exhaustion. This overwork develops oversized udders, sometimes infected udders, injured feet, which reduces the life expectancy of a cow from 20 years to 5 years. Some are even sent to the butcher while still pregnant if they do not produce enough milk. This would represent nearly 40% of "beef" meat. Many videos show the hell of these intensive farms.
Environmental impact of milk
Of course, to raise these cows, they need to be fed, which involves growing water-intensive cereals that sometimes come from far away. Not to mention animal waste that can pollute the soil and rivers. But be careful, it is this type of production that increases the carbon footprint of milk. Sustainable farming where cows are fed in pastures and not with cereals such as soy or oilseeds, drastically minimizes the environmental impact of milk. Indeed, this impact depends on the cultivation of the cattle's food, but also on the methane emissions they emit. And this impact can even be beneficial in some cases: pasture farming can store carbon and thus offset the greenhouse gas emissions of cattle. Pastures contribute to biodiversity, the water cycle, and store carbon thanks to animal droppings that introduce nearly 30% of the carbon ingested into the soil. However, precise processes must be put in place for turning the soil (which releases carbon), the length of time the animals spend there and the choice of resistant plant species to obtain a positive ecological result.
Alternatives: diversification, local, plant-based
Ecologically speaking, plant-based milks also have a footprint. In some cases, part of the soy grown for soy milk is sold to feed cows. But in this case, the chain of animal cruelty is avoided. We should therefore reduce industrial dairy products in favor of those from organic or independent farms, buy the least processed possible, in reasonable quantities.
We can also alternate with sheep or goat milk, but the pitfall of the cycle of inseminations and the separation of the young from their mother is the same, whatever the animal. We can also bet on plant-based desserts instead of dairy desserts and yogurts, or even make them ourselves. The right attitude would be to generally reduce our milk consumption, prefer a local and organic supply , but also to adopt a more diversified and plant-based diet to provide the body with healthy nutrients, including calcium, without knowing the disadvantages of milk.
The myth of milk is about to disappear. This milk, which was raised to the rank of perfect food by its symbolic force of purity and total hygiene, is today being put back in its rightful place, thanks to better information. It remains a food that should not be abused and whose origin and production method must be scrupulously monitored.
This change in production methods is the only way to help milk regain its former glory, while the plant-based diet remains the way forward to win in terms of health and ecology .
