Dairy is Scary, Fact or Dodge?

That harmless-looking butter on bread, that habitual ghee on rotis, those ice cream scoops on a hot day are today at the butt of inquiry because the world knows much more – dairy is scary!

Let’s start at the very beginning.

How humans started drinking milk has been a matter of much debate. Several thousand years ago, humans were known to be hunter-gatherers. A lot more of gatherers than hunters though. Their days were spent searching for edible plants. Over time, they started to cross-breed plants for better yield. They also began the practice of isolating wild animals and keeping them in captivity, primarily to save their crops. This gave way to the taming and domestication of animals.

It was conditional evolution that humans made for their welfare in that era. Like with most things, convenient practices are passed on from generation to generation. Come to think of it, all of these medieval practices should have stopped with the advancement in technology, the rapid development in surface and air transportation, and the easy availability of alternatives. But the culture of dairy continues to date.

Some cultures forbid the eating of meat but remain silent over the prevalent use of dairy or even attempt to justify it. Truth be told, the dairy industry is equally dangerous and has far-reaching consequences for the animals, the planet, and the people who consume it.
Therefore, consuming dairy is a topic that absolutely needs to be scrutinized, to say the least.

I am going to address the matter of how dairy is scary on four counts. It is important that our choices are informed.

1: How dairy is scary from the ‘health’ standpoint

It is widely known and I’ll reiterate, humans are the only unique species who continue to consume ‘milk’ way beyond their childhood by ‘stealing’ it from various sources other than their mother.

Humans have developed a special liking for cow’s milk because cows can be made to deliver humongous quantities of milk via artificial methods. A cow weighs 10 times more than an adult human, therefore the protein content in cow’s milk is optimized for her calf. The human body is smart and the excess is flushed out by the kidneys. But why does it need to? And for how long?

Evolution has made most of the human population lactose intolerant, whether we like it or not. This means after being weaned in childhood, we lose the ability to process lactose. Many dairy-consuming cultures suffer from bloating, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), diarrhoea, inflammation, and general toxicity. The issue is further compounded by the dairy industry practice of adding toxins, pesticides, and hormones for increased yield.

Furthermore, casein present in the milk requires the enzyme rennin to break down, but rennin isn’t present in humans after the age of four which explains why it affects the digestive system the way it does. A cow’s milk contains 300 times more casein than a human mothers’ milk, which causes malabsorption and/or constipation, leaky gut syndrome, an overall weakened immune system, and toxic build up in the blood along with a crowd of other health problems.

India is a dairy obsessed nation, has become a hotbed of diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular illness and arthritis. These are pretty much the same set of diseases one can likely get from consuming meat; therefore it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that dairy is liquid meat and dairy is scary.

2: How dairy is scary from the ‘ethical’ standpoint

Most religions stress the need to live an authentic compassionate life while spiritual traditions ruminate on the interconnectedness of all lives. Those who are searching for conscious growth realize at some point that spiritual awakening happens when we refuse to be the reason for the misery and suffering of others.

Why continue to be a reason for the murder, enslavement and torture of other beings when it is totally avoidable?

Many sceptics brush aside the idea of veganism on the ground of health and convenience. In doing so, they choose to remain slaves to the prevalent societal constructs, addictions, habits, taste, and conditioned beliefs. We share this planet with millions of other animals. Like us, they rely on plants to thrive. Every single species on earth knows how to feed themselves when left to their own devices except humans of course, who have significantly deviated from their own guiding voice.

It is said, we are what we eat. Plants cleanse. Plants heal. We can’t say either about animal flesh or animal secretions. Far from cleansing, dairy is scary. To make matters worse, dairy cows are treated as mere milk-producing machines operating in sick conditions, only to make us unhealthy and sick in return, plain and simple. And if that’s not reason enough, consider this – A cow’s life is prematurely curtailed when her function as a “milk machine” is over and sadly every shred of the cow’s body is sold as byproducts.

3. How climate change is impacted by the dairy industry

Studies after studies have brought to the fore the startling impact that animal agriculture, especially dairy farming, has on the environment. The water and land abuse, forest destruction, floods, greenhouse effect – all have been making headlines regularly.
The demand for dairy has multiplied in the last few decades putting pressure on an already fragile ecosystem.
Did you know… animal products and byproducts need an enormous amount of water?

A lactating cow needs to drink 150-200 litres of water every day along with a lot of plant calories in order to produce the milk she does only to be turned into a burger, a shoe, a bag, or abandoned when she is out of her milking cycle.

As per the FAO report, Livestock Long Shadow: Environmental Issues and options, animal agriculture is responsible for 18 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions, more than the combined exhaust from all transportation. That’s all planes, trains, and cars in the whole world.
Take a second to process that.

Cows are massive animals who eat, poop, burp and fart a lot. These farts release methane into the air. Considering there are a billion cows doing it at the same time – this is a catastrophe of gigantic proportions.

According to a report published in Science Daily, methane is roughly 30 times more potent as a heat-trapping gas than carbon dioxide. This simply means that methane is one of the big culprits for global warming. Three of the key sources of methane that arise from human activity are – the digestive systems of “livestock” animals, the decomposition of waste in landfills, and the burning of biomass.
It has become fairly clear at this point of time that to combat global warming, we need to fix the global dietary patterns.

4: When alternatives are available…

Since the fact that dairy is scary is now supported by science, today, more than ever, alternatives to cow’s milk are available. Yes, in India. Frequently, a new product is hitting the market, proving that it is not only possible to produce milk from plants but there is a growing demand for it.

Goodmylk was started from a home backyard by a young entrepreneur and is already supplying plant milk, curd, and butter to Bangalore. Chetan's Foods is redefining “dairy” in Pune. plant Veda, with their peanut buttermilk and almond milk, aim to have a pan India presence. Besides, many cities can find soy milk from brands such as States and Sofia in their stores.
What’s more, the “how-to”-make-various-plant-milk-videos are easily available now.

A time we need to keep convenience aside and think of the whole. The whole can prosper if the speck that makes it up is alert. Alert enough to comprehend the present and foresee the future. As a speck, how alert are we and what are we doing with the information available to us?