Over time, cow’s milk has become a staple in a multitude of diets in different cultures around the world. It is revered to be a bone-strengthening solution and is advertised widely through campaigns such as “got milk?”. America is one of the highest milk consuming countries as well as one of the most heavily milk advertised. People often follow the ideas they see in the media, but what they don’t know is that those who advocate for milk are directly connected to the producers. This means that the people who make the product have a say in how it is presented, even though the advertising may be false. The public is told that milk provides an abundance of calcium, protein and other nutrients yet studies have shown that bone health is more often affected negatively by the process of digesting milk. The human body lives in a state of alkalinity and it must constantly work to stay at the right balance. Homeostasis within a person’s body is necessary, but when something with milk/dairy’s natural acidity enters the digestive system, your body expends its calcium in order to keep its internal stability. This means that in order to digest the calcium from milk, our bodies lose calcium in the bones, causing problems like increased chances of fractures and even osteoporosis.  Milk does, however, contain nutrients that may be beneficial to your body. It has vitamin D and phosphorous among other things, but these can be obtained in much healthier ways. Drinking milk for vitamin D is like drinking grape soda for the fruit. Drinking cow’s milk is also connected to getting things such as acid reflux, acne, or constipation. Overall, it is healthier to refrain from milk because of the problems it may cause within your body. 

Although it seems like most foods in the modern day are hard to find without dairy, there are a multitude of alternatives. Almond and soy milk are two of the most common substitutes for cow’s milk, yet are hardly accepted as viable options to people who are used to the taste of “normal” milk. 

Additionally, cow’s milk is a prevalent cause of animal suffering in the animal food industry. Not only are cows artificially inseminated against their will, but the baby calves that they do birth are then taken away from them. If the baby is female, she will enter the same process as her mother which is an ongoing cycle of becoming pregnant, having her babies taken away and giving away all of her milk until she can no longer physically continue and is brought to slaughter. If the calf is a boy, it is immediately brought away to be made into veal.  

Throughout your life, milk may have been presented to you as something healthy and pure, but in reality, it may affect your bones negatively and is therefore not an advantageous source of the nutrients within it. It has also been directly correlated to a lot of health problems. In conclusion, it is your decision whether or not you “got milk?”.