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Fact Sheet: Dairy’s Impact on Athletic Performance

In the past few years, we have seen multiple major league athletes go dairy-free to lengthen their professional careers—from Tom Brady to Kyrie Irving to 6 top players on the LA Dodgers. But how does dropping dairy lengthen an athlete’s career? Here’s what we know:

• One 8 ounce glass of cows’ milk contains proteins and other foreign components, including sugars such as Neu5gc, that many people’s bodies do not recognize, initiating an immune response, which results in inflammation.(1,2) Additionally, cows’ milk is the main dietary source of the sugar molecule D-galactose which has been linked to inflammation and oxidative stress.(3,4) Chronic inflammation is associated with a host of diseases and health-related issues, but it is also the greatest inhibitor of recovery from intense training, which presents a huge problem for athletes.

• An athlete relies on endothelial cell function and increased blood flow to produce premium outputs, but dairy products contain high quantities of saturated fats, which can constrict blood vessels and impede blood flow to working muscles,(5) setting the stage for poor performance.(5, 6)

• Cows’ milk and other dairy foods are low in antioxidants, which are necessary for combating exercise-induced free radicals.(7) If not eliminated, these inflammatory free radicals can cause lasting damage to our cells, prolonging recovery and increasing the risk of chronic diseases.(8) Plant-based foods have 64 times more antioxidants compared to animal foods,(7) meaning a diet rich in plants will have more power to decrease inflammatory markers.(9)

• A plant-based diet, free of dairy foods, is high in omega-3 fatty acids which can help reduce inflammation and swelling due to their anti-inflammatory properties.(9) They may also positively influence muscle mass and function, plus enhance recovery in athletes.(10,11)

We are all born milk drinkers. As babies, our bodies produce the enzyme lactase, which breaks down lactose—a sugar in mammalian breast-milk—into the simpler sugars glucose and galactose. As we grow up and no longer have a need for breast milk, the production of lactase plummets for the majority of humans (estimated up to 68% of the global population)(12) leading to the development of lactose intolerance, the inability to properly digest the lactose sugar in cows’ milk. Symptoms of lactose intolerance include bloating, stomach cramping, diarrhea, and constipation, which are all going to be a serious detriment to an athlete trying to reach the top step.(13)

Fact Sheet: Dairy’s Effects on Children’s Health

• Cows’ milk allergies are most common in young children
  • Immediate symptoms may include: rash, hives, wheezing, vomiting and anaphylaxis.(1)
  • Delayed symptoms can wreak havoc on a child’s immune system, affecting their bodies, causing respiratory, gastrointestinal and skin problems.(1)
• Cows’ milk increases our circulating levels of IGF-1.(2) In children, this can lead to:
  • Chronic acne
    • When scientists from Harvard and other universities studied almost
      80,000 children, teens, and young adults, they found that drinking just 1 glass of milk per day increased their chances of having acne by 41%.(3)
  • Childhood obesity (4)
  • Accelerated linear growth: children growing at an abnormal rate (2)
  • Childhood type 2 diabetes
    • Research has found that 8-year-old boys who were given skim milk for just one week more than doubled their insulin production.(4)
• Cows’ Milk is a source of Environmental Toxins (5)
  • Lead: Can cause IQ loss, behavioral problems, aggression, learning disabilities, mental and cognitive dysfunction, seizures, and brain damage.
  • POPs: Persistent Organic Pollutants may cause early puberty and long-term health problems such as an increased risk of breast cancer and mental health problems.(6)
• Regular consumption of cows’ milk increases estrogen levels, which can affect sexual maturation in children.(7)
• Studies have shown that children who consume cows’ milk are at greater risk of developing iron-deficiency anemia. The earlier a child is introduced to cows’ milk, the greater the risk a child has of developing anemia.(8)
• Drinking cows’ milk at a young age can increase the risk of advanced prostate cancer later in life by threefold.(9)

Fact Sheet: Dairy and Dietary Racism

What is Dietary Racism:

Dietary racism is a social construct built by a racial majority that assumes the food the majority consumes affects other races and cultures in the same way. This mindset often leads to actions that are meant to enhance the health of the majority at the (often unintended) expense of the minority. Dietary racism is often an unconscious bias. At Switch4Good, we strive to educate the majority about how their actions affect others and empower the minority to take a stand for their health.

Dairy & Dietary Racism:

Sixty-five percent of the global population is lactose intolerant, but there is a discrepancy between races. People of Northern European descent tend to be lactose persistent—they have little to no trouble digesting lactose and, therefore, dairy products.

Blacks, Asians, Native Americans, Latinx, and Ashenazi Jews experience higher rates of lactose intolerance, ranging from 70-95 percent. When those who are lactose intolerant consume any kind of dairy, they can experience a range of mild to severe symptoms including gas, bloating, diarrhea, stomach pain, and other gastrointestinal distress.

In the United States—where Caucasians are not only in majority but hold a significant portion of the political power—dairy is considered a health food by both public and private agencies. In essence, the lactose-persistent white majority is making nutritional decisions for the entire population without taking into account the harmful effects dairy has on BIPOC communities. This is dietary racism.

Examples of Dairy and Dietary Racism:

• • The 2020-2025 US Dietary Guidelines recommends three servings of dairy for all Americans, despite the fact that it can make millions of people sick.
  • The United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee promotes milk and other dairy products to its athletes and the general public. It does this by placing an emphasis on dairy in Olympic training centers and capitalizing on its athletes success to market milk as a necessity for Olympic hopefuls. The organization does not explain to its athletes or the public that millions are negatively affected by these dairy products.
  • School children who participate in the National School Lunch program must provide a doctor’s note to exempt themselves from taking a carton of milk in the lunch line. This federal law does not take into account the diversity of the children within this program nor the fact that millions are lactose intolerant; therefore, the law encourages students to consume a product that will make them sick.
  • In an attempt to support its claim that chocolate milk is an optimal post-workout recovery beverage, the dairy industry heavily relies on a self-funded study that only included seven white male participants. The results from these seven white men are intended to represent the entire American population.

These are just four of the many examples of dietary racism within America. Dietary racism is not always intentional; in fact, it often occurs out of ignorance, but that does not make it an acceptable practice.

Switch4Good stands to abolish dietary racism when it comes to dairy. For our most recent work on the issue, visit our Impact page.

Fact Sheet: Dairy’s Impact on the Environment

Waste:

• Waste from a dairy farm of 2,500 cows is equivalent to waste from a city of 411,000 people.⁽¹⁾
• There are approximately 270 million dairy cows on the planet. Each cow produces about 120 pounds of waste per day. So: 120 x 270 million = 32.4 billion pounds of waste per day.^(2,3)
• Excess nutrients from agriculture, including chemical fertilizers and dairy manure, are a major source of water pollution across the US.⁽⁴⁾
• The USDA estimates that the manure from 200 milking cows produces as much nitrogen as sewage from a community of 5,000 to 10,000 people.⁽⁴⁾

Greenhouse Gas Emissions:

• The Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN estimates that the global dairy sector contributes 4% of total global anthropogenic greenhouse gases (GHG). Further, 52% of GHG produced by dairy is comprised of methane, which can trap 100 times more heat than CO2 and contribute to rapid climate change.⁽⁵⁾

Water Use:

• 1,000 gallons of water are required to produce 1 gallon of cows’ milk.⁽⁶⁾
• Animal agriculture makes up ¼ of the global water footprint, 19% of which is from dairy cattle.⁽⁷⁾
• It takes 605 gallons of water to make 1lb of cheese.⁽⁶⁾

How Ditching Dairy Can Save the Planet

• Researchers have calculated that going vegetarian can reduce an individual’s carbon emissions by on average 31%, land use by 51%. Ditching the dairy and going vegan, can reduce a person’s carbon emissions by on average 45%, land use by 55%.⁽⁸⁾
• Water-saving shower heads produce about 2 gallons of water per minute. Knowing that it takes 1,000 gallons of water to make 1 gallon of milk, a person can save the water equivalent to 50 10-minute showers for every gallon of milk they don’t drink.⁽⁹⁾
• If everyone in the US ate no meat or cheese just one day per week, it would have the environmental benefit of not driving 91 billion miles or taking 7.6 billion cars off the road.⁽¹⁰⁾
• Eating 60% less cheese and 4-6 more servings of beans will help keep the global temperature rise under 2 degrees Celsius by 2050.^(11,12)
• Eating 4 ounces of cheese contributes the same amount of carbon dioxide emissions as driving 3.5 miles. Americans eat an average of 35 pounds (560 ounces) of cheese every year—that’s 490 miles worth of extra carbon emissions per person!⁽¹⁰⁾

Fact Sheet: The Negative Health Implications of Consuming Dairy

Allergies and Intolerances:

• As many as 1 in 13 adults have an allergy to cows’ milk proteins, causing skin, respiratory, and gastrointestinal problems; and in some cases anaphylaxis. Cows’ milk allergies are even more common in children.(1)
  • Cows’ milk allergy is often the first food allergy to develop in a young infant and often precedes the development of other food allergies, especially to egg and peanut.(1)
  • Cows’ milk allergy affects as many as 20% of patients with symptoms suggestive of lactose intolerance.(1)
  • Symptoms can be immediate or delayed.(1)
  • Delayed allergic reactions can lead to chronic conditions such as atopic dermatitis, GERD, colic, allergic eosinophilic oesophagitis, asthma, and more.(1)
• 65% of the global population is lactose intolerant, with higher rates in non-white groups.(2)
  • Latinx: 50-70%
  • Black: 60-80%
  • Asian: 90-95%
  • Native American: 80-90%
  • Ashkenazi Jews: 60-80%(21)
• Lactose intolerance symptoms: abdominal pain, bloating, gas, nausea, and diarrhea. Symptoms occur within 30 minutes to 2 hours of consuming lactose-containing dairy products.
  • Lactose intolerance is often misdiagnosed as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO), Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, bowel polyp, diverticulosis, celiac disease, viral and bacterial infections, or parasitic diseases such as giardiasis.(3)

Cancer:

• 60-80% of our estrogen comes from dairy which can increase the risk of developing cancer, especially breast and prostate cancers.(4)
• Drinking cows’ milk can increase the risk of prostate cancer threefold.(5)
• Drinking cows’ milk can increase the risk of ovarian cancer threefold.(4)

Bones:

• Women drinking 3+ glasses per day had a 60% greater hip fracture rate than those drinking less than 1 glass a day.(6)
• A 2018 meta-analysis involving over 250,000 male and female subjects found no link between drinking cows’ milk and a reduced risk of bone fractures.(7)
• Researchers suggest the milk sugar D-galactose promotes oxidative stress and inflammation, which is linked to loss of muscle and bone.(6)
• The casein protein in milk causes a metabolic acidosis that results in calcium being leached from our bones to neutralize the body. Over a lifetime, this can result in severe calcium loss and osteoporosis.(8)
• Some researchers postulate that the high amounts of phosphorus in cows’ milk may actually lead to calcium resorption from the bones.(9)

Hormones:

• Cows’ milk contains 15 naturally occurring sex hormones, including estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone.(10)
• Dairy cows today are usually fed a combination of grass and concentrates, allowing them to lactate during the latter half of pregnancy. During this period, estrogen levels are highly elevated.(11)
  • Just 30-60 minutes after drinking milk, estrogen levels can increase by 26%.(11)
  • Excess estrogen can increase the risk of developing breast and prostate cancers and is associated with fatigue, and weight gain.(5,12)
• Cows’ milk increases our bodies’ circulating levels of insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1) which can lead to tumor promotion, acne, and type 2 diabetes.(13,14)
• Cows’ milk has high levels of cortisol,(15) which has been linked to stored body fat and lowered muscle mass.(16,17)
• Cows’ milk is a source of environmental toxins, known as POPs, which mimic our estrogen hormones, bind to the receptors and cause hormonal imbalances in men, women, and children.(18)

Misc:

• Cows’ milk is comprised of inflammatory components. Chronic inflammation has been shown to be at the root of many chronic diseases.
• Cows’ milk can exacerbate asthma symptoms and increases mucus production. (19,20)
• Cows’ milk has both saturated and trans fats which can increase the risk of cardiovascular disease.(21)

Fact Sheet: Dairy’s Effects on Women’s Health

Cancer:

• Research suggests that consumption of even just 1 glass of cows’ milk per day can increase the risk of ovarian cancer threefold.(1)
• Cows’ milk increases our levels of circulating IGF-1 and estrogen which can promote tumors and increase the risk for breast cancer.(1,2)
• Research has found the casein protein in cows’ milk, which makes up 80% of its protein content, to be a potent chemical carcinogen—meaning it can turn on our cancer-promoting genes.(3)

Hormones:

• 60-80% of the estrogen we consume comes from cows’ milk.(4) Research has found an association between excess estrogen and increased risk of breast cancer, fatigue, and weight gain.(1)
• In pregnant women, cows’ milk consumption increases serum levels of IGF-1, which can lead to higher birth weight, and neonatal size.(5)

Bones:

• Research has found that women consuming the US Dietary Guidelines recommended 3+ glasses per day of cows’ milk had a whopping 60% greater hip fracture rate than those consuming less than 1 glass per day.(6)

Environmental Toxins:

• Cows’ milk is a source of environmental toxins, known as POPs, which mimic our estrogen hormones.(7) In women, this can lead to estrogen dominance symptoms, including:
  • Weight issues
  • Endometriosis
  • PMS, fibroids
  • Breast tenderness
  • Acne
  • Fertility issues
  • Hormone-dependent cancers such as breast and endometrial cancers

FACT SHEET: The Plight of the Dairy Cow

Dairy Cows

• There are 9.34 million dairy cows in the United States and roughly 270 million in the world. The majority of these cows spend their entire lives indoors in unnatural and unhygienic conditions.(1)
• Due to yearly forced inseminations, dairy cows endure numerous health issues such as mastitis, infertility, and lameness. (2)
• Upon having their offspring ripped away from them immediately, or within 24-48 hours of giving birth, the agonizing cries from their mothers are known to persist for days.

Their Babies

• If they’re not shot and killed immediately, surviving male calves will be sent to feedlots to be fattened up before being slaughtered.
• One in five male calves will be confined in veal crates and slaughtered at 16 to 18 weeks old. (3)
• Female calves replace older dairy cows, thrust into the same suffering cycle as their mothers.

End-of-Life Plan for Dairy Cows

• While the natural lifespan of a cow can be 15 or even 20 years, once dairy cows no longer prove profitable – i.e., able to produce enough milk – they are sent to slaughter between four and seven years old, at which point they’re packaged into low-grade ground beef and pet food.(2)
• After undergoing the distressing journey to the slaughterhouse, they’re forced into a chute where they’re shot in the head by a bolt gun before being hung up by their hind legs and having their throats unceremoniously cut. Some cows reportedly live for several minutes after enduring this unspeakable horror.

Dairy cows live a life of suffering to produce a substance that is not only inessential for human nutrition, but, as science is revealing, harmful to both the human body and the environment. The dairy industry has proven to be an unmitigated disaster for the welfare of the human race and planetary well-being.