Dairy contains no necessary nutrient that cannot be found in adequate supply within the \t\t\tcontext of a balanced vegan diet. Furthermore, all dairy products contain high levels \t\t\tof fat and cholesterol. One 250 ml \/ 8 oz glass of whole milk contains nearly 10 grams \t\t\tof fat and 34 mg of cholesterol. Even so-called ‘skim’ milk gets over 25% of its calories \t\t\tfrom fat, most of this saturated. In short, dairy contains high levels of fat and cholesterol \t\t\t– two of the principal nutrients most national health authorities recommend reducing in \t\t\tthe typical Western diet.
\nCow’s milk is a topical food at the moment, mainly due to intensive ‘advertising \t\t\tcampaignsThe logic is thus:<\/p>\n
“Milk is high in calcium. We need calcium for strong, healthy bones. The antithesis of strong, \t\t\thealthy bones is osteoporosis. Therefore, milk consumption prevents osteoporosis.” <\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
This argument is clearly flawed. Firstly, there is absolutely no link between high calcium \t\t\tintake and the prevention of osteoporosis [PCRM<\/a>]. Osteoporosis is a disease of calcium loss, \t\t\tand is not due to a lack of calcium in the diet. Furthermore, because milk is also has a high \t\t\tprotein content, the calcium content of this food is negated. There is significant evidence \t\t\tthat milk, like other animal products, actually throws the body into negative calcium balance \t\t\tdue to its high protein content. In other words, rather than being the solution, milk is \t\t\tactually part of the problem.
\nPut simply, drinking milk will not prevent osteoporosis. This is supported by the \t\t\tconsistently-found link in worldwide populations between dairy intake and high \t\t\tlevels of osteoporosis.
\nFurthermore, milk as a food, may have other unwanted side effects including the following:<\/p>\n\n
- Cow\u2019s milk lacks essential fatty acids human infants need for neurological development. \t\t\tBabies drinking whole milk in their first two years develop allergies, colic, diabetes; \t\t\tmilk causes internal bleeding in children, which contributes to anemia.<\/li>\n
- Milk protein attacks the immune system. Cow\u2019s milk contains antibiotics, pesticides, \t\t\tchemicals, hormones, blood, white cells (pus), and bacteria from mastitis (udder infection) \t\t\twhich the USDA and FDA either do not test for, or which they allow to be present in \t\t\tunacceptably high levels.<\/li>\n
- Various studies found significant positive correlations between milk intake and \t\t\tlung and ovarian cancers, leukemia, and Crohn\u2019s disease. And the weight of evidence \t\t\tsuggests it\u2019s the animal fat in milk which triggers the growth of cancer cells. This \t\t\talso implies that meat may be equally damaging.<\/li>\n
- Cow\u2019s milk is the perfect food for calves, but was never intended for human consumption. \t\t\tThis is evidenced by the fact that at least half of human adults are lactose intolerant.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Milk consumption does not protect women from osteoporosis; in fact, \t\t\tit may be a factor in the development of osteoporosis. The body draws calcium from the \t\t\tbones to neutralize the proteins and lactic acids in milk.
\nMeeting the calcium RDI<\/strong>
\nHow, then, can one possibly be expected to reach the seemingly impossibly high Recommended \t\t\tDaily Allowances of calcium, set by such bodies as the American National Research Council?
\nThe truth of the matter, according to the Council itself, is that they \t\t\t“recommended the 800 mg\/day because of the excessively HIGH PROTEIN diet of most Americans” \t\t\t(see NRC, RECOMMENDED DIETARY ALLOWANCES, 9TH ed., 1990, p. 120-29). \t\t\tOn a plant-based, lower-protein diet, the calcium RDI set by most Western Countries is simply unnecessary.
\nIn other words, the RDIs in such countries as the United States, Australia and the \t\t\tUnited Kingdom are set incredibly high due to the overly proteinized diet of the typical \t\t\tinhabitant of those countries. Political lobbying by the powerful dairy industries in \t\t\tthese countries also plays a significant role in the RDIs set.
\nSimply put, increase your protein intake, and it becomes necessary to dramatically increase \t\t\tyour calcium intake. Unfortunately, such foods as dairy products are also very high in protein, \t\t\tnegating the positive effects of their own calcium content. Because of this, the westernized \t\t\tworld is trapped in a downward spiral of ever increasing incidence of such diseases as \t\t\tosteoporosis.
\nMilk is not the answer to the problem. To get to the crux of the issue, one must tackle \t\t\tthe causal root – the high protein, animal-product-based, typical Western diet.
\nMilk is not the solution – it is part of the problem.<\/em>
\nHowever, if you’re still concerned about calcium intake, try consuming plenty of leafy \t\t\tgreen vegetables, such as broccoli (94 mg per cup), turnip greens (103 mg per cup), \t\t\tand bok choy (85 mg per cup). Other great vegan sources of calcium include sesame seeds \t\t\t(58 mg per oz) and firm tofu (set with calcium 160 mg per cup) [SOURCE : \t\t\thttp:\/\/www.veggiepower.ca\/caltable.htm<\/a>]. \t\t\tMost soy milks \tare also calcium-enriched, as are many orange juice brands. \t\t\tAll of these foods are great ways to supplement your body with calcium<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dairy contains no necessary nutrient that cannot be found in adequate supply within the context of a balanced vegan diet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reasons-to-be-vegan","category-veganism"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/vegananimal.nl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/vegananimal.nl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/vegananimal.nl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/vegananimal.nl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/vegananimal.nl\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/vegananimal.nl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/vegananimal.nl\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/vegananimal.nl\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/vegananimal.nl\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}