Dairy products can cause health issues for individuals who have lactose intolerance or a milk allergy. Some dairy products such as blue cheese may become contaminated with the fungus Aspergillus fumigatus during ripening, which can trigger asthma and other respiratory problems in susceptible individuals. Dairy products if consumed after the expiry date can cause serious heart problems.
Vegan advocates, such as John A. McDougall, Caldwell Esselstyn, Neal D. Barnard, Dean Ornish, Michael Greger, and T. Colin Campbell, have argued that high animal fat and protein diets, such as the standard American diet, are detrimental to health, and that a low-fat vegan diet may both prevent and reverse degenerative diseases such as coronary artery disease and diabetes.
Avoidance of Dairy Products
Some groups avoid dairy products for non-health related reasons:
Religious - Some religions restrict or do not allow for the consumption of dairy products. For example, some scholars of Jainism advocate not consuming any dairy products because dairy is perceived to involve violence against cows. Strict Judism requires that meat and dairy products are not served at the same meal, served or cooked in the same utensils, or stored together as prescribed in Deuteronomy 14:21.
Ethical - Veganism is the avoidance of all animal products, including dairy products, most often due to the ethics regarding how dairy products are produced. The ethical reasons for avoiding dairy include how dairy is produced, how the animals are handled, and the environmental effect of dairy production.
