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7 min read

Dear Dairy

Heather Bedard, C.H.E.


For many of us, we grew up on dairy, and are firm believers in its health properties. For others of us, maybe we don’t have dairy as often but still consume various versions of it from time to time. When I was a kid, we didn’t drink milk much, but many of my friends drank it like it was water. There was this belief that if you didn’t drink milk, you weren’t healthy or you could easily break a bone. If you’re a member, then you know that our food pyramid does not include dairy at all and there are some really good reasons for it. I hope that by the end of this video, and the next, you will have a good idea of the role that dairy should or should not play in the diet, so that you’re able to communicate that to your children, if you have them, and friends who may ask about it.


So, let’s start out by talking about what dairy is. Dairy is the term used to refer to milk, or products made from milk, like cheese, yogurt, butter, and ice cream. Milk comes from many different mammals and humans typically drink milk from a variety of different sources including cows and goats. So, when we talk about dairy here, although we are primarily referring to cow’s milk, this also applies in many respects to milk from any animal, as well as all of these other products made with that milk.


Milk is produced by the mother mammal typically right before or right after the baby is born and she continues to produce that milk for a segment of time depending on the mammal. Once the baby is a certain size it doesn’t need to drink milk anymore and moves on to more substantial foods. For human babies, that time is anywhere from 1-3 years and sometimes longer. For calves the time is much shorter – from 4-10 weeks and for baby goats it is 6-8 weeks. After this time the baby’s stomach changes and nutrient needs change along with growth cycles.


Each mammal’s milk is specially designed for their baby and their size and nutritional needs in the first few months of life. A baby cow is 65-90lbs at birth and the cow’s milk is specifically formulated for the nutrients a nearly 100lb baby will need. A goat mother’s milk will be formulated for her 4-12lb baby at birth. Needless to say, baby human stomachs, calf stomachs, and goat kid stomachs are different, and their baby’s weights are different at birth. What a 100lb calf needs to grow and what a 7lb human needs to grow is going to be completely different. A calf is considered fully grown at 6-7 years while a baby human isn’t considered fully grown until between 18-21 years. We’re going to get into this more in the following sections, but this is part of the reason many people have trouble digesting cow’s milk. They weren’t meant to, and their stomachs are not the same as a calf’s.


A human is the only mammal I know of that continues to drink another mammal’s milk after the age it technically should need it!

Your body does not need that chemistry of nutrients in order to reach its full potential. Speaking of nutrients, let’s look at some of the differences between human, cow, and goat milk because those are the most popular in America.


The Nutrient Value of Milk

*Nutrient Human Milk Cow’s Milk Goat’s Milk

Calories 176 150 168

Protein (g) 2.4 8.0 8.7

Fat (g) 11.2 8.1 10.1

Saturated fat (g) 4.8 5.1 6.5

Monounsaturated fat 4.0 2.4 2.7

Polyunsaturated fat (g) 1.6 0.3 0.4

Carbohydrate (g) 16.8 11.4 10.9

Folic acid (mcg) 16 12 1

Vitamin C (mg) 16 2 3

Sodium (mg) 40 120 122

Iron (mg) 0.08 0.12 0.12

Calcium (mg) 80 291 326


*Nutrient Human Milk Soy Formula (ProSobee) Cow’s Milk Formula (Enfamil)

Calories 176 160 160

Protein (g) 2.4 4.8 3.2

Fat (g) 11.2 8.8 8.8

Saturated fat (g) 4.8 4.0 4.0

Monounsaturated fat 4.0 1.6 1.6

Polyunsaturated fat (g) 1.6 2.4 2.4

Carbohydrate (g) 16.8 16.0 16.8

Folic acid (mcg) 16 24 24

Vitamin C (mg) 16 16 16

Sodium (mg) 40 56 40

Iron (mg) 0.08 3.0 3.0

Calcium (mg) 80 152 112


We can see from this, that although there are some similarities in the makeup of the milk, there are enough significant differences that it doesn’t make a good replacement or even supplement passed the time that a human baby will need milk.


Firstly, cow’s milk (and goat for that matter) is considerably higher in protein than human milk. The proteins found in animal products increase the acid load in the body while plant-based proteins do not have this effect. Casein is the name of the protein found in the milk of most breeds of cows and it is very difficult for the human body to digest. One particular type of protein called A-1 can cause some people GI discomfort. Some cows such as Holstein, do not have this protein in very high amounts, but the nutrient value still not negate the acidic effect of any animal protein and the higher level of protein than humans need and the effect this can have on their bones and kidneys for instance.


The animal milks that are shown here also are not nearly high enough in carbohydrates which is the fuel source for the human body based on how WE are designed. Not to mention the higher mineral and vitamin content which increases the load on the human body’s organs.


Alongside this, cow’s milk is high in branched-chain amino acids which increases IGF-1 levels in the blood. Actually, to increase milk production they are bred in ways that increase IGF-1. IGF-1 stands for Insulin-like Growth Factor and it promotes cell replication and apoptosis or death. It also is part of the human tissue and cell-building hormones known together as growth factor. This means that it regulates the effects of human growth hormone. When there is too much IGF-1 in the body, it can increase human growth as well as the risk of many different cancers such as breast and endometrial cancer, and hip fractures. The risk of cancer is particularly of concern in post-menopausal women who are not taking hormone replacement therapy. The studies are mixed on the association of dairy when it comes to aggressive forms of prostate cancer. This is because the risk of cancer begins in childhood and early adulthood due to diet and lifestyle practices and many of the studies are done on middle aged or older participants.


Cows are often pregnant during the time they are milked and this leads to higher levels of hormones including estrogen and progestins. This is linked to many health issues including increased risk of breast cancer. Breast cancer prevention should start by age 2! [1]


So this begs the question, why do we drink milk or other animal milks? People groups all over the world drink milk and seem to be perfectly healthy. Yes, animal milk has been drunk for centuries but how we would know the deleterious effects remains to be seen because we don’t have a way to track that. People didn’t do studies and track things like that. Their main interest was survival and animal products were an easy edible option that didn’t take months to grow. Their lives were also completely different and didn’t include high fat, high sugar, processed products. What we can do is look at what we know now. There is nothing in milk that you can’t get from a health-promoting whole food and plant-based diet.


Did you know that a serving size for cheese is 1.5oz?[2] Most people in America don’t just have a one and a half ounce serving of dairy. They have a cup of milk, cream in their coffee, double cheeseburgers, a yogurt snack, grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner, and a piece of cheesecake. This type of diet, along with all of the other processed foods and high fat diets, puts people in a dangerous position. Rather than keeping 1.5 ounce of dairy, there is more benefit to be seen from eliminating it entirely.


This leads us to another question we should ask. Why do we feel so strongly about dairy? When you ask people to stop eating dairy altogether you are often met with a blank stare. What?! I love cheese! People have been drinking milk for centuries! I can’t give up the cream in my coffee!


Well, let’s take a look. Part of the reason we feel so strongly about this is because we have been bombarded by these messages our whole lives. Our moms were taught this and so were their mothers. Often, if you’ll look at the studies that support the consumption of milk, they are funded by grants from the dairy industry and many other financial conflicts of interest. Dairy is a powerful $628 billion dollar industry.


Just as an example let’s check out this paragraph on the website of the National Dairy Council. “The National Dairy Council was founded by dairy farmers in 1915 as a way to promote the benefits of dairy and is funded by the national dairy check off program. This program is for dairy product promotion, research, and nutrition education. Dairy farmers in the US fund the program by paying a 15-cents- per hundred-weight assessment on their milk. Importers pay 7.5 cents per hundred-weight on dairy products brought into the U.S.”[3] Studies funded by organizations whose sole priority is promoting dairy consumption is a massive conflict of interest.[4],[5]


The United States also supports the dairy industry financially. For their nutrition recommendations to carry more weight, they should not be conflicted in this way in my opinion.



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