When it comes to which milk is better for the planet – dairy or plant-based – environmentalists will tell you there’s no doubt: plant-based milk always wins.
Advances in major dairy-producing countries such as China, Italy, New Zealand and the United States have dramatically increased modern milk production per cow – a US cow now produces four times as much milk as an Indian cow – while reducing the impact animal’s environment.
+ Preservation of the Amazon is a priority for the government elected at COP27
However, the world’s demands on natural resources to feed and water dairy cows remain enormous, according to a widely cited 2018 meta-analysis of studies on the subject.
The dairy industry uses approximately 10 times more land and two to 20 times more water than soy, oat, almond or rice milk production, according to a 2018 study analysis by nonprofit Global Change Data Lab. and the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom.
Dairy products also generate about three times more greenhouse gas emissions, according to the analysis. Belching and feces from ruminant animals such as cattle, sheep and goats generate methane, a greenhouse gas 80 times more powerful than carbon dioxide in warming the planet in 20 years, the UN Environment Program said.
Still, people drink milk for nutritional reasons and it is a critical source of protein and nutrients in some parts of the world. This can make the answer to which milk is best for the planet and you and your children more complicated. Here’s what the science says.
Do I have milk?
The ad with a pearly white cow’s milk mustache on a smiley face sends an oft-repeated message at home: milk is good for you. It has calcium, protein and other nutrients that help people grow tall and strong.
“Milk is nutritionally amazing because a young mammal can live on nothing but milk for many months and grow,” said nutrition researcher Dr. Walter Willett. “But that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s an ideal food for our whole life.”
Willett, professor of epidemiology and nutrition at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health and professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, and his Harvard colleague, endocrinologist and pediatrician Dr. David Ludwig, addressed the topic of milk and human health in a 2020 review for the New England Journal of Medicine.
#Drink #type #milk #planet #healthy