Next Tuesday, Aug 22nd 2023 is World Plant Milk Day, an international day that celebrates plant-based alternatives to dairy milk. Established in 2017 and as a partnership with ProVeg in 2018, the campaign has attracted the attention of millions of people around the world and helped accelerate the transition from dairy milk to the rich variety of plant-based alternatives. In 2020, Switch4Good joined to reach more people and further the idea that 'The Future Is Dairy-Free'. From soy to oat to cashew to hemp: the diversity of vegan milks continues to grow in tandem with the global shift towards plant-based eating - a market predicted to be worth $74.2 billion by 2027.
In celebration of World Plant Milk day here are some resources to encourage you to make the switch. Why not take the 7 day dairy free challenge?
Health
- Dairy is not necessary for a healthy diet. People often worry about bone health and dairy is indeed a source of calcium, but there is no scientific evidence that consuming dairy improves bone health or prevents osteoporosis. Some studies even suggest the opposite. Countries that consume the most dairy milk actually have some of the highest rates of bone fractures. What is more important for bone health is regular weight-bearing exercise, vitamin D and all the nutrients, including calcium, obtained from eating plenty of fruit and vegetables. In addition more than 70% of the world’s population are lactose intolerant after weaning and many of those people already get all their nutrition from a dairy free diet.
Environment
- By all metrics (CO2e, land use, water use, GHG emissions, eutrophication) dairy milk harms our planet. Any plant milk has a significantly decreased impact.
- People often worry about switching to soy milk, as growing demand for soy is a driver of Amazon deforestation. But it's important to remember that 95% of Brazilian soy is used for animal feed. Most soy milk available in the UK, is from Europe and the environmental impact of EU soy is also lower than in South America.
- Almond milk requires more water than other plant milks but still almost half of that for dairy milk.
Animals
- Cows in the dairy industry suffer their entire lives, treated like commodities. not sentient beings. Just like humans, cows only produce milk for their offspring. Therefore, they are forcefully impregnated every year. A female and her offspring are forced through a cycle of cruelty that ends with their slaughter. Sadly there is no cruelty free dairy.
Which plant milks have you tried? I'm a fan of oat and soya for coffee and tea and for sauces and baking. I have tried lots of others including rice, cashew, and almond but I've not tried potato milk yet which I hear is great!
Soy milk is my favourite in coffee. I don't mind pea protein milk, which is gaining popularity in Australia, as is Macadamia milk.
This is an interesting alternative to industrial (and often inhumane) milk production but I wonder if it is appropriate to replace milk at all. Milk is a fairly unstable product that was consumed in limited quantities outside of a pastoral environment until refrigeration became widespread, and when preserved as e.g. cheese becomes a high fat, high salt protein supplement (useful for societies needing stable calorie dense foods and living in some locations, but not all). If milk substitutes have similar nutritional properties then perhaps when they are as widely consumed as milk is at present then the health benefits will be minimal (or new issues will arise - see excess use of emulsifiers in some products). I find it troubling that dairy consumption continues to grow in China where so many people are lactose intolerant and have an issue with dietary suggestions that push people away from local traditions that might create unsustainable land and resource use choices. For example, almond growers (and industrial dairy units) in California use water that is taken from distant sources and leads to ongoing degradation of the habitats in the watersheds of the water sources. So I agree - less dairy consumption is good, and not necessary for getting sufficient calcium providing other natural sources of calcium and vitamin D are available. I am not convinced that substituting the high levels of dairy consumption with plant milks is the best solution.
We absolutely don’t need an alternative to cows milk but given society has normalized ‘milk’ as a source of calcium. Until we start supporting people to increase consumption of greens and beans, fortified plant based alternative are a useful source of certain nutrients. A plant milk like soya has been used for centuries and has been associated with great health outcomes in all age groups. Almond milk is the least sustainable plant-based milk but still greatly more sustainable on several measures than cows milk. So let’s promote the best ones like soya and oat? No need to promote almond milk. Although it really does depend where they are grown as not all farms use as much water, so perhaps don’t buy Californian almond milk. The issue around emulsifiers in the amounts used within some but not all plant based milks I think is overstated. However if you don’t want to consume these then choose an organic version. However most of our exposure to emulsifiers comes from processed foods. The small amounts you might get in tea and coffee made with soya and oat milk I doubt will have a major health impact unless you already have a gut disorder. In the context of a fibre rich plant based diet I don’t think this is a valid concern or certainly not a concern I personally have seen evidence for.
My go to is alpro unsweetened soya (no conflicts to declare !?
Nice meta analysis on health impacts of soya milk. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1756464621001481
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