There is no one single reason as to why a vegan refuses or avoids the consumption of all dairy products or other animal products.
But there are nutritional and health reasons as well as ethical ones.
There might be concern for the ethical rights of animals or concern for the environment and there could be deep and personal reasons that are more related to spirituality and religion.
Vegans with ethical concerns are strong in their objections to maltreatment of animals.
For example, there can be a concern for the poor treatment of cows in a dairy farm as the reason for not consuming dairy products.
A vegan can make a case that a dairy cow is forced to calf each year to keep the profits coming and that they might be subject to steroids to increase daily yields.
Other vegans could object that calves are taken away a bit too quickly from their mothers for the sake of future production of veal and beef.
They might object to the living conditions of these animals, their living quarters and what they are fed.
Of course a vegan will point to the numerous hygienic and long term health benefits that come from adopting a vegan diet.
This can include low amount of saturated fat, low cholesterol , higher levels of carbohydrates, fibre, magnesium, potassium, antioxidant vitamins C and E, etc.
Some vegans can have problems with digesting lactose.
Others can have a blood-iron or diabetic complication related to milk protein.
Vegans can also object to the fact that milk and cheese, etc. contain a bit of undesirable hormones that are fed to dairy cows to increase their production.
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Some people become vegans because of environmental reasons.
One of the biggest environmental concerns with meat production is pollution and the excessive use of fossil fuels, water, and land.
Vegans will of course argue that the production of meat by involving all these factors makes itself environmentally unsustainable.
While veganism has found new popularity in reason times it is, as a concept, not new at all.
In countries where everyday cuisine does not involve the use of dairy products, for example China, Japan, and Taiwan, veganism has become of the national tradition and is now centuries old.
Buddhism has been a big influence factor in this.
In every country there are dishes that are exclusively plant based, making them suitable for vegan consumption.
Vegans don’t need to have any fear of running short of recipes or running short of the number of vegetables that can be consumed.
According to Sturtivant’s Edible Plants of the World (published in 2016) there are 200,897 plants that can be consumed by humans.[1]
Prospective vegans should think a bit and ask themselves some pertinent questions relating to the decision that they are pondering.
The biggest question of course being as to why do you wish to become a vegan and after that, do you really think you can stick at it?