- [Narrator] There are 264 million dairy cows worldwide,
producing nearly 600 million tons of milk per year.
The United States is the largest milk producer in the world,
despite ranking 5th in the size of its cow population
with 9 million dairy cows.
In 2018, Americans consumed 68 liters
of fluid milk per person, and 24 pounds of cheese.
But is dairy healthy?
Here's what experts have to say.
Dr. Greger from NutritionFacts.org
explains dairy's cancer risk.
- [Dr. Greger] Here's the map of prostate cancer mortality.
Could dairy consumption have something to do with it
given Northern Europeans, Americans, Australians
drink a lot of milk?
Whereas most non-Caucasians in the world
are lactose intolerant.
- [Narrator] Dr T. Colin Campbell believes
that those who consume dairy
double or quadruple their risk
of developing prostate cancer.
- Cow's milk protein, casein,
is a chemical carcinogen that is more relevant
than any other carcinogen identified so far.
- [Narrator] Cohort studies have been conducted,
tracking millions of research subjects and their consumption
of dairy over time in relation to their health.
Increased calcium intake from cow's milk increased the risk
for prostate cancer, while calcium from non-dairy sources
were found to be protective against it.
- [Dr. Greger] So it wasn't a calcium effect,
it was a dairy effect.
This suggests that other components of dairy
may be to blame.
- [Narrator] According to the Physicians Committee
for Responsible Medicine, dairy intake also poses risks
for developing breast cancer,
ovarian cancer and lung cancer.
Drinking milk has also showed little
to no benefit for bone health.
If milk isn't healthy,
how did we come to be dairy drinkers in the first place?
In 10,000 B.C., nomadic tribes began to settle
as they learned to grow crops
and raise animals for their by-products.
From the days of the pharaohs to the days of the kings,
dairy was a delicacy reserved for the wealthy.
By the 1600s, cows were brought over to North America,
and farmers in cold climates used milk
as a survival food to get them through harsh winters.
The dairy industry began to ramp up
with the invention of pasteurization in the 1860s.
Milk lasted longer and became easier to distribute,
and the U.S. shipped milk to soldiers fighting in the war.
When the war ended, too much milk had been produced,
and the government began advertising it as nutritious
and necessary to sell off the financial burden,
converting it into cheese and milk powder
to keep it from expiring.
By the 1990s, the U.S. federal government
was doing what it could to help sell even more milk.
It backed Got Milk, a memorable ad campaign
that showed celebrities donning a milk mustache.
Edward Wasserman, the dean of UC Berkeley's
Graduate School of Journalism, told Fastcompany,
they start with a product with no personality,
which, if anything, was forced upon generations of children,
whose health benefits are questionable,
whose environmental impact is dubious,
and they turned it into something
that has a kind of panache.
Today, the U.S. government
continues to support the dairy industry.
It subsidizes 35 cents per liter of milk,
and provided $22.2 billion dollars worth of direct
and indirect subsidies in 2015.
Why is dairy cruel?
In order to make milk,
a mammal must have recently given birth.
Dairy cows are artificially inseminated at the age of two.
They are then separated from their baby
in order to collect the breast milk for human consumption.
The male calves are sold to the veal industry,
and the females often become dairy cows themselves.
According to a study
conducted by the University of Veterinary Studies, Vienna,
being separated from their families
presents a huge emotional toll for cows.
Dairy cows undergo further stress
as they are milked two to three times a day.
Though they are able to live to the age of 20,
most dairy cows do not live to see their 6th birthday.
While some argue that cow's need to be milked,
this is false.
Their milk is meant for their offspring
and contains a specific structure of protein and fat
meant to raise a baby calf.
- The purpose of cow's milk is to turn a 65-pound calf
into a 400-pound cow as rapidly as possible.
Cow's milk is baby calf growth fluid.
- [Narrator] In an excerpt on lactose in human breast milk,
Dr. Elson Haas notes that human milk
adapts to a baby's needs as it grows.
In fact, human milk also comes pre-equipped
with the lactase enzyme
to help the baby digest the lactose sugar molecule.
Since we aren't cows, consumption of dairy
triggers lactose intolerance in many adults.
Let's explore why this happens.
As we wean off our mother's milk supply,
the amount of lactase enzyme produced drops significantly.
It isn't needed anymore.
According to the U.S. National Library of Medicine,
approximately 65% of the world's population
is lactose intolerant,
and those who are able to stomach milk into adulthood,
mostly Caucasian populations,
actually have a gene mutation called lactase persistence.
Feel like it's impossible to stop consuming dairy products?
There may be a scientific reason for that.
Cheese, which is a concentrated form of milk,
contains a protein called casein
that has opioid properties that keep you hooked.
Casein protein exists to entice baby cows
to continue feeding from their mothers.
When humans consume casein,
they experience the same urge to come back for more.
And advertisers use cheese's addictive quality
by showcasing melty, gooey cheese pizzas
in ads and commercials.
Thankfully, there are many dairy alternatives these days.
Oat milk works well in coffee.
There's almond milk, cashew, hazelnut,
hemp, soy, coconut and peanut milk too.
Elmhurst Dairy was one of the largest milk producers
in the United States.
As dairy declined and was no longer
as profitable as it once was, the company switched gears
and became Elmhurst Milked in 2017.
- Today we're featuring some varieties like walnut,
both our unsweetened hazelnut and almond,
and our grain milk, it's the oat today.
- [Narrator] Offering a range of nut
and grain-based milk instead.
Vegan milk is now a staple
in over half of American households.
According to Alpro's research team,
one in three people in the UK
consume plant-based milk on the go.
The global plant-based milk market
is currently worth 11.16 billion USD
and is projected to reach 19.67 billion USD by 2023.
Big brand ice cream companies
are embracing dairy-free options as well.
Vegan cheese options are abundant, too.
Companies are making cheese shreds,
slices for the perfect grilled cheese,
cream cheese spreads to fulfill your bagel dreams.
Due to increasing demand, pizza companies have started
to offer dairy-free cheese, too.
The plant-based dairy industry
is expected to surpass $20 billion globally by 2020.
What surprised you most about the dairy industry?
What are your go-to plant-based dairy products?
That's it for today.
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