Dairy CEO: Vegan trend causes childhood osteoporosis

Dairy executive blames veganism for rising cases of childhood osteoporosis

"This vegan fad is starting to cause serious cases of osteoporosis in 10-year-olds. If they don't drink milk, they aren't getting calcium." This is the warning from the president of Industrias Lácteas Asturianas, who also notes in the same interview that there have been "unconceivable" cases of rickets and that children need animal-based proteins. These blunt statements summarize the clash between those who defend animal milk as a nutritional foundation and those who, as one forum user argues, believe a vegan diet is complete for all life stages.

Cheese consumption has remained flat at 8kg per person for three decades

Eight kilograms per inhabitant per year. The figure hasn't moved in thirty years, and the interviewee admits it remains anchored. The reason cited is economic: borders have been open for over three decades, and much of the cheese consumed in Spain is imported. Awards alone are not enough to sell. Without advertising support, the market barely knows the product, and this company does not advertise.

A striking theory circulates regarding taste: children like bananas, but any cheese has a much stronger flavor, so if they aren't educated about it from a young age, they won't get used to it. Proof of this can be seen when opening the luggage compartments of a plane arriving in Barajas from Paris. The smell of cheese fills everything. It is pleasant. Whether people buy it is another matter.

Why has lactose become a problem?

Because lactose-free milk has higher added value than regular milk and has become a commercial selling point. The accusation doesn't come from a critical consumer, but from the dairy president himself: the industry bears "much of the blame" for projecting a negative image of a carbohydrate he describes as magnificent, composed of glucose and galactose, which pediatricians recommend for children over other sugars.

The phenomenon relies on two ingredients of relatively recent scientific knowledge: gluten and lactose. Many people scrutinize labels to see if products contain them. The warning is that if you stop consuming lactose, your body stops secreting lactase and ceases to assimilate it. Against this, several forum users note that those with true clinical intolerance experience different symptoms: heaviness after drinking milk is often attributed to fat, while enzyme deficiency manifests as diarrhea. It is also pointed out that some intolerances are acquired after years without consuming dairy.

How much cabbage is needed to match the calcium in a glass of milk?

Far more than anyone serves in a single meal. That is the argument used to downplay plant-based calcium: it would take 1.1kg of cauliflower, 780g of soy sprouts, 580g of cabbage, 500g of hazelnuts, 420g of leeks, raw spinach or lentils, or 310g of walnuts or pine nuts. Additionally, plant-based calcium has lower bioavailability.

The counter-argument comes from another angle: according to another user, kale has more calcium than milk and is better absorbed. At the heart of the disagreement are technical issues rarely mentioned, such as the relationship between calcium needs and sodium and animal protein consumption, or that collagen, not calcium, is the most abundant component of bone. Hence, the advice to drink milk for bone health is debated.

Raw milk, pasteurization, and brucellosis

Raw milk divides opinion just like the rest. Some recall drinking it freshly squeezed without consequences, while others argue the problem isn't the product but its treatment: pasteurization destroys enzymes that help digest it. Countering this thesis is an uncomfortable fact. Before pasteurization, milk was a source of infections, and the debate itself mentions a case of brucellosis resulting in months of sick leave and crutches. The thread asserts that direct sales to consumers are restricted and that the most accessible option is raw milk cheese with protected designation of origin.

Plant-based drinks: 2% of the market and a forbidden word

Soy or almond drinks account for between 2% and 3% of the market, according to the interviewee. He considers them a commercial fraud for exploiting the name "milk," noting that European legislation already prohibits this denomination. As consolation, the industry looks to China: it was said that milk wasn't drunk there due to intolerance, but factory workers didn't touch plain milk yet did consume cocoa and sugar versions, and the government now promotes consumption among new generations.

The underlying battle repeats, in his narrative, with margarine versus butter. For nearly a hundred years, he says, margarine was believed to be healthier, but now consumption is shifting toward butter. His description of the former is hard to forget: a fat missing one molecule to be plastic.

No one has the final word. With cheese stuck at 8kg and plant-based drinks at 2%, shelf balance doesn't seem likely to break soon. But knowledge about nutritional effects remains, in the interviewee's words, "still very limited," and with that limitation, each side will continue selling its certainty.