Is Dairy The Problem Or The Solution?

When did milk consumption begin? Evidence of human milk consumption has been found in both the continents of Europe and Africa. While estimates vary, it's clear that people have been drinking milk for at least a few thousand years. It’s been suggested that people in Kenya and Sudan were consuming milk at least 6,000 years ago.^[1] Meanwhile, Smithsonian journalist Danny Lewis explains Europeans' ability to digest milk only began around 4,000 years ago.^[2]

Over in Egypt, there's artwork on the tomb walls of Methethi that depicts an ancient Egyptian milking a cow, estimated around 2350 BC. Some research has led scientists to believe that humans were drinking milk long before their bodies could properly digest it, and there’s one common denominator that could be a determining factor–animal domestication. People who domesticated milk-producing animals were the groups who first began drinking animal milk. Still, there are a handful of theories that attempt to explain why humans started consuming cow milk in the first place.

With the domestication of livestock, farmers had a reliable source of food as opposed to hunting. Milk became a readily available ingredient, and more than likely naturally progressed into a common food item. Cow milk may have also been used when water wasn't clean enough to drink or to feed babies in the event the mother passed away. While there isn't one pinnacle explanation that exists, it's clear that milk has been a part of our history for generations.

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Because these milks are usually made by blending the main ingredient with water, there is concern about how much water is used in production. Almond milk, in particular, has the worst reputation when it comes to its water requirements. It's reported that it takes 1.1 gallons of water to grow a single almond. This is quite a contrast from the 144 gallons of water needed to produce a gallon of milk. Per liter, almond milk needs 17 times the amount of water in comparison to cow milk.

Nut milks and other substitutes appear to be a trend that's here to stay, and many companies have jumped on board. Profits are the main priority, and it comes at the expense of the environment. The demand for coconut milk has led to the expansion of palm forests, causing deforestation of the naturally growing trees and plants in Indonesia, India, and the Philippines. Because palm trees grow best in tropical locations, coconuts are mainly produced in these three countries and shipped across the world, and carbon emissions from these exports are unsurprisingly high.

Then there is rice milk, which produces the most greenhouse gasses of any non-dairy milk. Almond milk production also requires the work of bees to pollinate almond trees. Most almonds are grown in California, an already drought-ridden state and the need for pollination led to the death of 50 billion bees in just one winter alone. With that said, the most eco-friendly non-dairy milks are hazelnut, hemp, oat, and soy milk. Hazelnut trees can thrive off rainfall alone, hemp isolates carbon, and both soybeans and oats use little water.