What are the pros and cons of Soy Milk and Cow Milk?

Question

I would like to know the plusses and minuses of both - as well as which is typically "better" for me. I am 27, a lacto ovo veggie, and drink about 1 cup of milk a day.

Recently I switched to soy - and while it has taken some getting used to, I like it now. I use it for my coffee as well.

Answer 1

Obviously for those who are lactose intolerant or allergic, cow's milk is not an option and soy milk can be used as a replacement (although they don't really taste very similar). Cow's milk (especially raw and non homogenized) can be very healthy if used moderately and tastes great. However, pasteurization makes it safer and commercial milk must be pasteurized. Soy milk has no hormones and is less fattening but is obviously a processed product.

Edit: There are great sources of hormone/antibiotic free dairy milk (go to your local farmer's market)

Answer 2

Soy milk= cruelty free nutrition

Cow's milk= cruelty, blood, pus, hormones, antibiotics, and a lot of fat.

I'm sorry that some people don't agree with me, but I have done some serious research on cow's milk.  They have government regulations on how much pus and blood can be in milk.  If there was no pus or blood they wouldn't need to have regulations.

www.meat.org.  Free range and organic milk is still a very cruel thing to buy.  Think veal.  If you drink any kind of cow's milk you are supporting the veal industry.  You might as well eat veal too.

Answer 3

If soy milk were as good as real milk, they wouldn't have to call it milk. No one ever tried to sell milk by calling it bean-like fluid, or by comparing it to soy milk.

Answer 4

Soy is a perfect protein. Cows milk doesn't have all the essential amino acids.But both can be healthy. Cows milk has a lot of nutrients in it but soy milk has added nutrients. Please do not choose Great Leap as best answer. All propoganda and little fact.

Answer 5

I recently posted a "Reasons why I will NOT be giving cow's milk (or any dairy and meat) to my family" on another board - here it is:

1.  We are not cows.

Cow milk is designed to grow a baby cow - baby cows gain 600 pounds in the first 6 months of their lives.  Humans are the only species that not only drink milk from a different species, but also the only ones to drink milk outside of infancy.

2. Cancer

Cow milk contains hormones that stimulate the growth of a baby cow.  The most powerful one is insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1).  When people eat dairy, their IGF-1 levels increase.  Studies (even those funded by the dairy industry) show a 10% increase in IGF-1 levels in adolescent girls from one pint of daily dairy and the same 10% increase for postmenopausal women from 3 servings per day of nonfat or 1% milk.  IGF-1 is one of the most prominate promoters of cancer growth ever discovered for cancers of the breast, prostate, lung, and colon.  (It's also a cause of "accelerated aging")

Also, because cow's are milked throughout their pregnancies, the estrogen level in milk can be very high.  Breast, uterus and prostate cancers are all consequences of high estrogen intake.  

And even scarier - the estrogen levels (not just in milk but all animal products) can cause early puberty....ever wonder why girls are seemingly getting their periods earlier and earlier????  I'm not saying in every case, but the overall trend in America has gone from 14.0 years old in 1900, to 12.7 years old in 1960....to about 12.4 in the late 90s.  Earlier menstruation can be tied to riskier sexual behavior, higher rates of breast cancer and increased heart disease occurances.  I hesitate to even mention the "earlier puberty", because I think it people will vehemently disagree with me (genetics does play a role, so if your mom had an early period then it makes sense that you would to), but I wanted to mention it.  I wanted to mention it because to me, personally, I do not want to take the risk of possibly speeding up my DD's puberty.  Something as simple as the foods I choose to give her can "delay" her menstruation, thus improving her life not only in childhood but also as an adult.

3.  Bone health and calcium requirements

It is definitely true that the IGF-1 and estrogen in milk can build bones (remember, it's designed to provide extraordinary growth for a baby cow).  But, this growth is offset by high dietary acid and protein (not to mention the increased growth in cancer cells you gain).  This dietary acid and protein are found in all animal products, not just milk.

The countries in the world with the highest animal protein intake (including dairy products) also have the highest incidents of osteoporosis related hip fractures.  The acid in animal protein makes bones dissolve to let off carbonate, sodium and citrates to neutralize the acid.   That is pretty scary!  Considering all the "high protein" diet fads out there - what are the long term effects going to be?  I'm afraid the fads have taken a huge toll on peoples bones (not to mention arteries).

Now, consider the following chart of daily calcium requirement amounts (from http://www.nealhendrickson.com/mcdougall...

Minimum Requirement Based on Research

150-200 mg



Calcium Intake for Underdeveloped Countries

300-500 mg



Calcium Intake for Average American

500-600 mg



World Health Organization Recommendation

400-500 mg



USA Food and Nutrition Board

1000- 1300 mg



A National Institutes of Health

1000-1500 mg



It's clear to see that the American recommended requirements are very high.  I turn to the World Health Organization (WHO) for my daily requirements.  I believe the WHO is a lot less influenced by food industries so their recommendations are more for "optimal health".  

You can see that the average American is already getting the WHO's recommended amount.  So why do we have higher osteoporsis???? It's the animal protein's acidic effect on our bones.  In truth, higher USA recommended amounts are needed due to our high intake of animal product, thus hurting our bones....so then yes, we would need more calcium to combat the bone loss from animal protein (it's a vicious cycle).  Vegetarians by nature need less calcium because they are not eating animal protein that is in turn attacking their bones.

4.  Cow's milk is not necessary for calcium

Cow's milk is far from the only source of calcium and is certainly not the healthiest.  Consider this:  Cow's do not "make" calcium - they get it from the same source that we can be getting it from....from the ground.  From plant materials.

Along these lines, I have compared the calcium level in cow's milk compared to human breastmilk (whether or not you breastfeed, you can agree that the content of breastmilk is "ideal" for human baby growth.  This is why formulas are made to mimic the nutritional values in breastmilk).

Anyway, the calcium content in cow milk is 194 mg/100 Cal and the content in Human breast milk is 45 mg/100 Cal.  Now at first glance, I would think the higher the calcium the better....right?  Unfortunately, with the higher calcium comes along the higher animal protein, which we now know attacks and weakens our bones.

5.  The milk industry lies to us

The milk industry is lying to us on many different things, but lately they are telling us that drinking milk will help us lose weight.  There is one study that shows a weight loss, but the fine print is the people went from drinking "full fat" dairy to skim dairy.  So of course there would be weight loss.

Okay - enough for now!  If you read this far, thank you!  Even if you do not agree,  I hope that I've at least raised made you think about a few things.

Answer 6

I read bad and good things about both.  I am inclined to tell you that soy milk is better because of the perfect protein, the vitamins, and of course because it isn't an animal product.  Cow milk also contains lactose, which has many bad effects on your body even if you aren't lactose intolerant.

however, I have also read a lot recently about the adverse effects of soy.  If your family has a history of bad thyroids, I would re think your soy consumption.  I ate soy a lot before I heard about this.  My great grandma, grandma, and mom all have had to take thyroid medication since they were in their upper thirties.  

I don't know how much truth there is in these claims about soy, but I don't want to take the chance.  I get most of my protein from other beans anyway.  I would at least read up on soy.  There are lots of books about it at the library.

Answer 7

It's unnatural for humans to drink the milk of another species.  Dairy cows are the most abused animals in the factory farming industry.  Most dairy cows are fed antibiotics because they are kept in such close quarters (unnatural since they are supposed to roam as herds) with each other that they frequently get sick and get each other sick.  Recently there has been an outbreak of bovine tuberculosis and they have to slaughter thousands of dairy cows to contain the outbreak.

Those antibiotic and hormone residues go into the milk and you end up taking it into your tissues.  

Soy milk, for all that it takes some getting used to, is better from an ethical perspective.  But it's not a good idea to eat too much soy.  It acts like estrogen in the body.  But there is conflicting evidence about how good or bad it is for you.

I hope this helps.

Answer 8

You took the words out of my mouth, Great Leap!

Answer 9

Well, I recently did alot of research on soy milk and soy products.

Soy milk has all the benefits of milk and more. It not only has the calcium and Vit D milk does, but also has other added and natural vitamins and minerals that milk doesnt have.

However, the unfortunate thing about soy products is that they contain a large amount of phyto-estregens (plant esregens) in them, which can be great for helping out menopausal women but bad for nursing mothers. The added estrogen in soymilk may stop the production of milk in humans, which was the case for me, and it didnt take long to do so...about 24 hours.  Plant estregens have been shown to increase estregen levels in women and men alike, so for women who already have high estrogen levels, soy may not be a good idea and may lead to heath problem.

B=ut the benefits of soy definally outweight the risks, which are slim to none, and very few studies on these risks have been performed, so really it is inconclusive and varies from person to person.

Milk However...clinical studies (that have not been payed for by the dairy industry) have proven milk to increase flem production, reduce voice clarity and contains high levels of antibiotics, hormones and steroids and other chemicals that humans do not need to add to their already unhealthy fast food diets.  The hormones in milk and meat for that matter is the top suspision of children developing earilier in life and growing heavier.

Another thing about soy milk is that some people that drink a cup a day have, some happily, have increased their bust size by a cupsize in 1 year, so that may be good for some people, bad for others.

My opinion is that if you need milk, get organic, but I recommend sticking with soymilk instead, peopel in asia have been using soy products for hundreds of years and they are the country with the highest lifespans, so who knows. But humans are the only creatures on the earth that consume milk after infancy, let alone the milk from another species.