My family drinks a lot of milk. We average about 6 gallons of skim milk every 7 days. Yep, my family drinks a lot of milk. For the most part, milk is the only liquid that I put into my mouth that contains calories. I’ve often said here calories shouldn’t be drunk–unless those calories come from milk.
But what type of milk should you be drinking? There are lots of different varieties–cow, goat, soy, almond, rice, and hemp. The LA Times recently published an article that listed all the pros and cons of each type. If you click on the graphic itself, it will take you to the LA Times page with a much better version of the same graphic. If you’re at all interested in the health benefits of the different types of milk, you should check out the article. The following is a brief summary of what the article said.
Even though the article compared and contrasted 6 different kinds of milk, to me it really came down to whether or not the milk came from an animal or a plant. Yes, there are subtle differences between goat and cow milk, just as there are subtle differences between the four plant based milks. But, your first decision regarding milk type should probably be based on the health benefits (or detriments) associated with these milk types.
Animal Milk
As with most animal products, cow and goat milk contain higher amounts of calories, cholesterol, and saturated fats than their plant counterparts. People are also more likely to be allergic to or intolerant of milk than they are to one of the plant based milks. Approximately 2% of all newborns are allergic to milk while an even higher percentage of people are lactose intolerant. But animal milks do contain higher amounts of Calcium, vitamin D (if they’re fortified), and protein.
Plant Based Milks
Plant based milks are less allergenic than animal milks. They also contain smaller amounts of saturated fats, are usually cholesterol free, and contain fewer calories per cup. Based on these stats, it seems as if plant based milks are the way to go, right? Unfortunately, it’s not such a cut and dry decision. Plant based milks usually require more processing than their animal based counterparts. Either they’re not sweet enough, they don’t contain enough vitamins and minerals, or they have a weird color or texture.
There are lots of reasons to choose one type of milk over another. The best way for you to decide which type is right for you is to do your own research and then perform some taste tests of your own. Whichever type of milk you decide on, one thing is for sure. The calories found in any given milk type are higher quality calories than almost any other liquid calories you may consume.
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
I drank cow’s milk for the first 40+ years of my life. I also had pretty bad hayfever type allergies and asthma during all that time. Doctors gave me shots and/or put me on antihistamines & inhalers for most of my life.
A few years ago I went to a holistic healer who told me to stop eating dairy. I gave up milk completely but occasionally still have cheese. I can’t believe the difference in my allergies. What allergies? Even my asthma is 95% better and I’m pretty much off the inhalers. I’ve switched to plain soy milk for my morning cereal. Yes, it tastes a little different but I’ve adjusted to it. Now if I try to drink cow’s milk, I immediately get that drippy feeling in the back of my throat and the allergies kick back in.
My advice to anyone with any type of allergies/post nasal drip/sinus issues, give up cow’s milk and cut way down on dairy in your diet. It’s made a HUGE difference in my quality of life. I only wish I’d known about this sooner.
Are you turning vegetarian on us? First you told us that we can get all of our protein needs met with plant-based foods, and now you seem to be telling us that plant-based “milks” are better than animal milks.
The cholesterol content of foods seems to have much less of an effect on one’s cholesterol count than was previously thought. Humans, being animals ourselves, naturally produce cholesterol. How much we produce depends on several factors, of course, but activity level is a big one. So, people who exercise regularly are less likely to have high cholesterol. Also keep in mind that cholesterol in the diet is necessary for the development of the brain and nervous system
Saturated fats are necessary, but Americans and other westerners often eat too much of some kinds of fats compared to others. For example, we tend to get plenty of Omega 6 fats and not enough Omega 3. It’s the proper ratio that seems to be more important than the raw amount of either. And saturated fats are good for you when consumed in the right proportion to other fats! Saturated fats help you to produce testosterone, for one thing.
Soy products contain phytoestrogens, which may limit the ability to produce testosterone. Animal and human studies suggest that soy phytoestrogens can behave like estrogen and potentially increase breast cancer risk.
To learn more about the possible risks of excessive soy consumption, read this:
http://www.soyonlineservice.co.nz/03soymyths.htm
Actually, cow’s milk has been show to potentially increase prostate, breast, and testicular cancer.
http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/id/QAA400175
From T. Colin Campbell:
“… extensive findings, published in the top scientific journals, show that cows’ milk protein, for example, rather vigorously promotes tumor development in experimental animal studies at consumption levels equivalent to that of human consumption. And, when considering the remaining nutrient composition of cows’ milk, this observation on protein is made even more disturbing.”
(http://www.alkalizeforhealth.net/Lnotmilk.htm)
In his book “The China Study” Dr. Campbell found dramatically higher cancer rates in countries that consume high levels of dairy products as compared to those that do not. Of course, I imagine we may find that, if eaten in sufficient quantities, ANY food will be dangerous. However, it seems that when we compare the dangers of soy milk to cow’s milk, soy is to be preferred.
If you have trouble digesting cows milk, try Raw milk. Raw just means it’s unpasteurized, it’s much more expensive than regular milk, but it tastes delicious. One 1/2 gallon runs about $10.
The pasteurization process removes the bacterial cultures which actually aid in digestion of milk, so the Raw milk is easier to digest. I could never drink milk before, but I drink 1/2 gallon of this a week.
Sometimes it can be hard to find, Whole Foods carries it and I know people in Northern California that buy it straight from the farm.
In terms of taste, I’m not a huge fan of rice or plain soy. I’ve had the chocolate soy and that wasn’t bad. I’ve never tried goat or almond and didn’t know about hemp milk, might have to try them out to just see the differences.
Anne, from what it looks like they drink plenty of non plant based milk. 6 gallons a week, that’s more than a bit. Bad decisions are often from lack of knowledge, it’s good to know that soy products could pose a health risk. I’ve cut back myself on soy products, especially if they aren’t fermented.
You also have to consider that the Japanese who eat a variety of soy products, even in smaller amounts at times have the highest life expectancy of any industrialized nation. Yet every time I read those anti-soy sites it just seems to exaggerate things beyond belief, and every site has the same cries of death. It looks like your anti-soy site says that the Japanese don’t even consume more than a third of a bowl of miso in a day in terms of isoflavines (http://www.soyonlineservice.co.nz/06guidance.htm).
Pa Mom–That’s good information on allergies. Fortunately, no one in my family has shown any hints of food allergies in the past.
Anne–There’s no way I’m “turning vegetarian” on you, but thanks so much for caring
I knew this post was going to come off like I’m anti animal milk when in reality I’m not. I mentioned in the post that we drink 6 gallons per week for my family of four. We only drink skim milk because we don’t want the extra fat, cholesterol, or calories–we get those in plenty of other places. Also, thanks for the information regarding omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids. The article briefly touched on those aspects as well. My family gets its omega-3 fatty acids in the form of seafood so I think we’re ok in that department. And while we do eat some soy products, the majority of our vegetarian protein isn’t soy based, it’s Quorn! And yes, I know the jury is still out on that case.
John–As with any article I write, I really try not to be too one sided. This article wasn’t intended to defile animal milk in favor of plant milk, or vice versa for that matter. If you’re worried about POSSIBLE increased risks for certain types of cancer and or cholesterol, then by all means stick to the plant based milks. As I stressed at the end of the article, it’s very important to perform your own research on topics that are important to you and to make sure that the research you read is credible and unbiased. That’s the hard part, I know!
Bekka–Every year my kids go on a field trip to a local dairy. We get the full on spiel about how good cow’s milk is for you, how they don’t use any hormones, yada yada yada. Often, the topic of whole, unpasteurized milk comes up and the dairy man’s take on it is that it’s just not worth the risk (business wise) to sell the stuff. According to him, there are many more chances for bacterial introduction and growth to occur in raw milk from the time it leaves the dairy to the time it gets to the store. That’s why it’s so expensive and hard to find. But for people who love the taste and are willing to pay for it, it’s a great alternative. Maybe you could get a cow. It would probably be cheaper than $10 for a half gallon. Yikes!
Clint–good point about the Japanese life span and soy consumption. I’ve never consumed a full glass of a plant based milk. My running partner swears by theSoy Dream Vanilla Soy Beverage.
She says it tastes like a vanilla milk shake. Her kids love it too, but she does complain about the added sugar to make it sweeter and taste better.
Animal milk is one of the worst things you can drink. Not only is it full of hormones, pesticides, and antibiotics, it also contains significant amounts of blood and pus because of the way milk cows are mistreated. Dairy cows are also the source of the million or so veal calves slaughtered annually. Cow’s milk consumption actually INCREASES your risk of osteoporosis because the protein in milk leaches more calcium from the body than the milk itself replaces (Asian countries that do not use dairy products as heavily have a drastically lower rate of osteoporosis than milk-consuming countries). Milk also increases children’s risk of developing diabetes and a host of other diseases. It’s also terrible for the environment – a dairy cow produces 120 pounds of waste per day and this industry is one of the leading causes of greenhouse gas emisisons – significantly more than the transportation industry.
Check out http://www.milksucks.com/more.asp for more information.
Cow Milk, urgh. Haven’t had it for almost 20 years and like PA Mom I noticed immediate improvement. My eczema cleared up almost overnight (ok it took about a week) and I stopped with the runny nose/ post nasal drip thing I had goin on. I have Trader Joes organic soy milk (unsweetened ) and I like it very much, but I only use it on cereal or for cooking (rarely).
Like Honey I also don’t like how the dairy industry is run so I stopped for ethical reasons. Occassionally I will have cheese, again usually organic, grass fed, and that’s just a sprinkle on pasta etc. I always know if I overdo it as my allergies flare up.
Milk is not good for us especially in the quantities that the US drinks it in, for all the reasons Honey states above. Milk is not the health food the US thinks it is, despite what the milk councilwould have you believe.
The idea of drinking cow’s milk is off-putting to me, for this reason: If you think about it, the purpose of cow’s milk is to grow a young calf from zero to like 900 pounds in very little time at all. Humans have only existed for a blink (a few tens of thousands of years) and we’ve yet to become very good at digesting animal milks that aren’t our own. Even moreso than with meat, I notice that milk has a tendency to just sorta hang out in my stomach, much longer than anything else I eat.
I’ve become a big almond milk fan. I go with unsweetened vanilla almond milk from Trader Joes. I don’t really drink glasses of it, though, I use it exclusively for cereal or pouring over frozen berries. In either case, the cereal (Kashi Go Lean Crunch) and the berries (blueberries, strawberries) are already sweetened, so I don’t need to buy sweetened milk. It’s like 1.99 a carton and 40 calories.