Whether it’s out of concern for one’s health, the environment, or animal welfare, it seems that everyone nowadays is switching to plant-based milk.
Recent reports from around the world show that animal milk consumption is on the decline. Since 1970, cow’s milk consumption in the U.S. has fallen a whopping 40 percent. While this decline has been happening for decades, it has accelerated over the past few years. This move away from cow’s milk, however, isn’t all that’s new. While cow’s milk consumption has fallen, U.S. sales of dairy-free milk alternatives have soared by 30 percent since 2011.
Americans aren’t the only ones making the switch. According to a press release by Innova Market Insights, the market for plant-based milk is expected to reach $16.3 billion globally by 2018. This is up from $7.4 billion in 2010. According to the food trend research group, the global number of new launches of dairy alternatives more than doubled over a five-year period, with nearly 40 percent of launches positioned as vegan.
But why is everyone ditching dairy? Let’s look at the facts.
For starters, dairy isn’t all that good for you. For years, the dairy industry has claimed that milk is vital for strong, healthy bones, but musculoskeletal epidemiologist Tania Winzenberg and her colleagues found the exact opposite to be true. In fact, populations that consume the most cow’s milk and other dairy products have some of the highest rates of osteoporosis and hip fractures. Furthermore, cow’s milk has been linked to various cancers, obesity, and acne.
And if the negative health effects of cow’s milk aren’t horrifying enough, dairy is also killing our planet. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, carbon dioxide emissions from raising farmed animals make up about 15 percent of global human-induced emissions, with beef and milk production as the leading culprits. What’s more, dairy production is incredibly water-intensive. According to an article in Mother Jones, it takes 30 gallons of water to make one glass of milk, 50 gallons of water to make two slices of cheese, and a whopping 109 gallons of water to make one stick of butter.
The last and quite possibly the most important reason so many people are moving away from dairy is that it’s unimaginably cruel. At dairy factory farms, cows are roughly handled, forcibly inseminated, and kept in terrible conditions. Their calves are torn away from them shortly after birth. Male calves are killed for veal. Females are raised to produce more milk, trapped in a cycle of abuse for years until they are considered “spent and sent to slaughter.
Don’t believe us? Watch this undercover video from a Mercy For Animals investigation in Colorado.
Join the growing number of people who are taking a stand for animals, the environment, and their own health by transitioning to a plant-based diet.
Click here to get started!
Which plant-based milk should you try? Click here to find out.
