Vegans, why don't you eat dairy? Dairy is a good source of calcium?

Question

I grew up in Asia and traditionally Asian meals don't contain dairy, but once I moved to America I discovered the wonders of dairy!

Answer 1

So, you're saying that the majority of people in Asia are calcium deficient?

Most of the milk in America comes from cows that are treated like machines and are forced to live in their own urine and f***s.

Answer 2

one, because of the dairy industry. Dairy farms are just as cruel to their animals as meat farms (they are often run by the same business and on the same property).

two, because humans as mammals were not naturally designed to drink milk after they were weaned as babies, and even then it should be of our own species. (my opinion, but there really isn't a heck of a lot of argument to that.)

three, because personally i find it gross and always have. just the thought of where it came from and what it looks like. -_-

Answer 3

Actually, the very fact that dairy isn't consumed in other countries proves that it's not needed. In fact, the three countries with the highest osteoporosis rates are those where the largest amounts of dairy are consumed (U.S., Finland, Sweden, U.K.). And basically, when you don't need something to fulfill your nutritional needs, AND it hurts animals, AND it's bad for you, why would you eat it?

Here is part of a pasted article explaining the science behind it:

The absorption of calcium requires the activity of specialized cells: osteoblasts. These osteoblasts also compose pre-calcified bone-matrix, upon which the calcium can precipitate. Deportation of calcium from the bones requires the activity of osteoclasts.

If more calcium is absorbed into the bones, like due to a lack of estrogen (2), the production and activity of both osteoblasts and osteoclasts is increased (3) (as in hyperparathyroidism). If much calcium is absorbed, much calcium is deported. But 50 to 70% of the composing osteoblasts die in the composition of new matrix. (4) The more their activity is stimulated, the more they die (5). And since estrogen inhibits uptake of calcium, estrogen prevents the death of osteoblasts (6).



If you consume higher amounts of calcium all your life, the replacement of osteoblasts maybe increased all this time; many people succeed in increasing bone-mineral density by consuming more calcium. (7) That is why the average BMD is higher in residents of countries where much milk is consumed.

Answer 4

Many plant-based foods are excellent sources of calcium. Also, some researchers would argue that the recommended level of daily calcium is actually much higher than we need in order to prevent disease-hence the countries where people do no consume cows milk and still have healthy bones. There is much cruelty involved in the dairy industry as well. Plus, the stuff floating around in cows milk is actually quite nasty if you do a little research into the process.

From an evolutionary perspective, as babies, our bodies produce an enzyme that helps break down the lactose found in breast milk. For many, many people, once they reach age 2-3 the body stops producing this enzyme or only produces it in small amounts. This is because our bodies no longer NEED to drink milk. Cows milk is for baby cows, not humans.

Many of the research that is pro-dairy is conducted by the dairy association and is funded by such groups- do you really think they would allow research to be published that touts the negative effects of cows milk? The dairy industry is a HUGE lobbying force in the political world and spends millions of dollars funding political campaigns.

Basically, there are many other sources of calcium besides dairy foods and the level of calcium needed to build and sustain healthy bones is quite less than the dairy industry wants you to believe. Check out books by Marion Nestle for more info!

Answer 5

Because it make the cows udderly sore. And that dude above me is a tad extreme. Milk is good for you.

Answer 6

why do you care what  we eat? really, dont you have any hobbies or interests that you can talk about on yahoo answers? if this is your main interest: asking vegans stupid questions, thats pretty sad.

Answer 7

I originally became a vegetarian because of the cruelty issue, which I can see that others have already explained in great detail. I have been a lacto-vegetarian for a really long time, up until recently when I made an important discovery.

I am 29 years old, and I have suffered from fibromyalgia and inflammatory arthritis for four years. After reading an article about how a vegan diet has been proven to benefit people with rheumatoid arthritis, I decided to try (once and for all) eliminating dairy from my diet. Low and behold, my joint pain disappeared. It took me a couple days to connect it with eliminating dairy--I actually did not notice until the one day I had coffee with milk in it and my jaw started aching.

Milk, strange as it may sound, causes me to have joint aches and pains all over my entire body. It gives me gas and makes me feel really sick and achy. I was drinking lactose free milk, which *kind of* helped with the gas... but it did not help eliminate the joint pains.

Dairy products have been shown to increase inflammation in diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, crohns disease, endometriosis, lupus, and other inflammatory autoimmune conditions.

People with these diseases are advised to avoid dairy, meat, and eggs because of this. Soy should also be limited as well.

Answer 8

They find it udderly gross

Answer 9

Vegan do not consume dairy because of the cruelty involved. Milk cows are usually killed and processed into meat for consumption when they become too old to produce milk.

Answer 10

I'm not a vegan (yet...I can't go that far until I turn 18 and move out) but I can answer your question. Because it's an animal by product and vegans will have nothing to do with animals.

Answer 11

I don't consume dairy because I'm lactose intolerant. Dairy isn't wonderful if you're allergic to it.

Answer 12

There are 5 main reasons people become vegan:

The Environment

Human Health

Human Rights

Animal Welfare

Animal Rights

Each one of these on their own is more than enough reason for a person to stop consuming animal products.

In this case you have singled out dairy products, which is OK, but you've also restricted your argument to the subject of human health, so unless you clearly understand the subject of calcium absorbtion this conversation is going nowhere fast, and if you do then previous answers should've been sufficient.

I'm guessing, however, your not medically trained in teeth and bone density comparison and analysis. So here's the simple truth:

The composition of animal milk is designed by mother nature to fuel the rapid growth of young, and each type of animal milk is tailor made for that type of animal. Cows milk, for example, is designed to grow cows that have a lot of fat on them, and also a lot of low density muscle. This means the milk is loaded with proteins and fats that the young cows can use to grow big, fat and strong.

Once each cow has grown sufficiently its mother intuitively weans its young off milk, and within a few months it will stop consuming milk and never have a drop again in its life. This is not because the younger cow is too big to get at the t***s, but because it'ss not in either cows best interest for health and well being.

You may notice this pattern is similar (if not identical) for most (if not all) mammalian species on this planet, except humans. Adult humans were never meant to continue drinking milk after our initial growth period of about a year from birth, which is precisely why female b*****s do not create milk in any significant quantity under normal circumstances (meaning no newborns).

The human consumption of animal milk is one of the driving forces of the western world's obesity epidemic, because of its composition. Also, because of the hugh protein content, coupled with the high protein diet of westerners, the increased consumption of calcium (which can improve bone density) is cancelled out by excessive protein consumption which carries calcium and other essential minerals with it when the excess protein is leached out. The average western diet is shown to contain 800% of the recommended dietary intake of protein, which is not a good sign.

Leafy green vegetables have been shown to contain more than sufficient quantities of calcium, but have no protein content, so up to 100% of the calcium is absorbed by the bones, nails, hair folicles and teeth, compared with as little as 1% from animal milk.

Perhaps you've forgotten by now, but I'm only covering dairy from a human health point of view. Each of the other reasons has a valid point to put forward, if you give it a chance. I don't have time to type it all out for you here, but if you look at my sources, you can really get a feel for the warped ethics of this industry, and how serious they take the business of pulling the proverbial wool over your eyes, to blind of from the truth. What truth? That you are a slave, born into bondage that you cannot see or hear or touch. A prison for your mind. FEAR!

Fear is a powerful motivator, that has been used for millenia by the powerful and ruthless to manipulate others to their bidding. Turn on the news, right now, and watch any 10 articles of western world news, be it on any subject, regarding any region of your country or internationally, and I can guarantee 80% or more will be depressing, manipulative, consumerist, gruesome, brutal, vindictive, critical, condemnative, repressive, or just plain shocking, and most will be a combination of many of those combined. Now look for an article dealing with food, diet, human health, or any related subject. What you might notice is that it purports to be scientifically based, but doesn't mention where the scientific information comes from, because they know if they mention a name, that person will be googled, and the science will be peer reveiwed, and almost always be proven as a load of B.S., whereas if you read articles from medical jounals, the doctor who writes the article is putting their reputation (and practitioners licence) on the line, and must be prepared to stand in court and defend his scientific findings. These jounals are not perfect, but it's certainly better than your TV or newspaper or radio presenter. But then, who's got time to read thousands of medical jounals and cross reference articles of similar subject matter (veg*nism) to get to some glimmer of truth? Here's who ...

Answer 13

I don't consume dairy products because of the cruelty involved.

The dairy cows are artificially impregnated every year (not a nice experience). Then when the the baby cows are born, if they are female then in about 6 months they will be impregnated, or if they are male then they will either be sold to someone who will kill it, become a "beef cattle", or the most common thing that will happen is that the male calf will be slaughtered for veal when it is about 5 days old. And the stomach of the calf will be split open, and an enzyme will be taken out and used for cheese (this is what rennet is). The baby cow will never be able to have the milk that it needs (think about it, cows milk is for cows, not for humans). The mother cow will be very upset because it will have lost its child. Then the mother cow will be hooked up to milking machines 1-3 times a day (occasionally the udder will be cut by these machines. ouch). After about 5 years of this (cows usually live for 20 years) the exhausted cow will be slaughtered for low-grade beef because its body is to "used" for tender meat. Sometimes the cow will be so exhausted at age 5 that it can't even walk off the truck and into the slaughterhouse "killing floor".

They're are other good sources of calcium. Soy milk, broccoli, leafy vegetable etc. The soy milk I drink has more calcium than the dairy milk I used to drink.

Answer 14

while discovering the "wonders of dairy", did you also discover these facts:

Artificial incemination every year

Cows would naturally calve every 2-3 years. Dairy farms artificially inceminate them every 11 months. This causes excessive stress on the cows body, increses the chance of prolapse and generally "wears them out" in a few years, rather than a natural 20 years.

Protein enriched feed

The feed they are given is enriched with artificial growth foods. these are generally made with cattle meat protiens.

In the USA and some parts of Australiasia they use a hormone growth agent called recombinant bovine somatotropin. Its brand name is POSILAC® and its made by Monsanto. This increases milk yield and beef growth. This is a synthetic hormone. Its banned in the EU since 1988

The main mechanism these hormones work is by re-directing dietry nutrients from peripheral body tissue to mammary glands. effectively, they are slowly killing the cow.

70% of US cattle are injected with this growth hormone ( 2007 stats ) that the majority of the world will not entertain because they believe its too dangerous.

Bribe/feed caged carousels

These suck. They are large rotating carousels where the cows are caged in a space where they cannot move. They have "black boxes" on thier legs which communicate with the main operating computer. They are fed just the right amount of food depending on how much milk they gave yesterday. They have added growth food if thier production drops

One person can milk about 400 cattle on a carousel so there is no time for checking the animals health - they just milk them dry and kick them out.

killing bulls, excess calves and free martins at 1 week old

All bulls are killed at 1 week old, although some farms iin the UK started ( in 2006 ) shipping them to Continental Europe for veal again. They do not keep any back for breeding as they bring in new blood lines. In the UK we don't use dairy bull calves for veal anymore in country. They are either killed, or shipped out. Bull calves go to make low quality leather products such as cheap sofas.

They kill all free martins as there is a good chance they will be barren.

Strangly, they feed these animals with colostrum at birth to keep them alive, but then kill them a week later.

excess feeding to produce 60 lites of milk per day

The growth food is all designed to produce excess milk. Cows are naturally designed to produce about 15 litres. The european targets for 2009 are set at 90 litres, i don't think it need me to tell you if this is heading the right or wrong direction.

intensive rearing means low husbandry checks

As mentioned above, most automatic dairies have one milkmaid per session, thats it. I know a dairy farm with 1200 cattle and 3 employees. Tell me how they can ever check the cattle....

removing calves from mothers after colostrum feed

This is stressful, cows bawl for weeks for thier young, calling them to be fed. Obviously the calf cannot "run to mom" because its in dog food by now.

killing the cow at 7 years old

Cows can naturally live to 20 years old. Production dairy cows are killed after 4-6 births so are never kept after 7 years old.

Answer 15

I don't consume dairy in part because I don't agree with how dairy cows are treated (it's pretty horrific.)

Also, dairy my contain a lot of calcium, but it's not necessarily the best source of calcium.  Excessive protein, especially of animal origin, causes the body to leach calcium from the bones.  So, while dairy is a net positive calcium gain, it's not the end-all-be-all of calcium sources, and there are sources available in the plant world.

You are correct that many Asian nations have very low dairy consumption.  The same nations also have very low osteoporosis rates.  The highest rates of osteoporosis happen to occur in the nations with the highest dairy consumption.

There is also scientific evidence that links dairy consumption to the development of certain disease (check out The China Study by T Colin Campbell.)

Answer 16

1) You are wrong Dairy contains very little usable calcium, many other foods have more. That is totally paid for propaganda.

2) The big Dairy industry abuses the cows in ways that make consumption of that product very unhealthy.

3) The basic stand as a Vegan is to use nothing that is animal related. Animal milk is for that creatures baby, not humans.

You were better off eating your traditional Asian diet than one that USA, UK or Canadians eat.

Answer 17

eat steak

Answer 18

supporting the meat industry would mean supporting veal, and cows that are treated like machines

Answer 19

there is no real need fr having dairy products .u can still get enough calcium more than u get from dairy .but the thing is r u eating right foods having calcium or not (other than dairy,meat ). all green leafy vegetables are loaded with calcium in it and take couple of table spoons of sesame seeds,u get enough calcium for whole day. if u eat sprouts , whole grains etc etc u should be more than just fine  .acually u dont need any dairy products after u pass the phase of drinking mom's milk. ppl who does nt follow eating the list of food i mentioned above they need dairy .

if u look at other animals  cows ,buffalo's u name it no animal rely on milk or whatever after its done  having her mom's milk ,when she is small.after that they eat what they should eat ,unlike us .thats y they get everything 100% nuitrition in right amounts what their body needs . they never get any diseases ,no need to go to hospitals. again look at ur pets ,u spoil them with all wrong /processed foods n they fall ill like us :-)

Answer 20

I am vegan. The cruelty used in the dairy industry is horrific.. I just could not feel right eating something that came from so much pain.

Sorry if i sound weird..

look up dairy farms or something on youtube. they have under cover documentaries of it.

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