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                             based on     http://www.cyberparent.com/nutrition/calciumandmilk.htm

 

DO WE NEED A MILK

How about cows' milk and the food pyramid?

The recommendation that all individuals over two years of age consume cows' milk products daily began with the 1916 food guide and has remained essentially unchanged despite later research.


Cows' milk is at the center of a major food fight.


In this battle over milk's place on the new food pyramid, you have a branch of the US government (USDA--given the dual and sometimes conflicting role of protecting the nation's health and promoting its agricultural products) and the dairy industry on one side, and various physicians, nutritionists, and nutritional researchers on the other side.
First, A Little History

According to M. Nestle writing in The International Journal of Health Serv., the present US dietary policies evolved from food guides from the early part of the 20th century, in the context of the US Department of Agriculture's (USDA) dual and sometimes conflicting legislative mandates to promote the health of Americans and to encourage the sales of American agricultural products.

The recommendation that all individuals over two years of age consume cows' milk products daily began with the 1916 food guide and has remained essentially unchanged despite later research.

Today

The Dietary Guidelines for Americans is the basis for all federal nutrition programs. It  incorporates the Food Guide Pyramid, a tool to educate consumers. The Pyramid recommends two to three daily servings of dairy products.

Americans consuming dairy is good business for the dairy industry and promotes American agricultural products. The dairy industry, obviously,  wants the dairy guidelines to remain the same. This industry has the support of the USDA.

The "other" side would like to see milk downgraded as a requirement and more choices of calcium included in these nutritional guidelines.
 

Confusion

Consumers are, understandably, confused.

Do we need cows' milk? Will our bones break or our children's teeth fall out if we don't consume dairy products? What's a parent to believe here?

In any discussion about the value of milk in nutrition, it is inevitable that the connection between calcium, osteoporosis , and bone health is broached.

Dr. Walter C. Willett, professor and chairman of the department of nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health, has completed a study showing no evidence to support claims that milk and other calcium-rich foods significantly reduce osteoporosis-related bone fractures.

Dr. Willett told the New York Times,
"There's an ongoing campaign to get every adult to drink three glasses of milk a day."

He continued, "That's obviously about increasing sales and profits."

Regarding the same ad campaign, Willett told the Boston Globe, "If we do that, we'll increase saturated fat consumption in adults. That inevitably will increase heart attack rates."

Mark Hegsted, retired Harvard professor of nutrition also doubts dairy is a preventative for osteoporosis.  In an article in the Journal of Nutrition he writes, "Hip fractures are more frequent in populations where dairy products are commonly consumed and calcium intakes are relatively high. Is there any possibility that this is a causal relationship?"

Hegsted sums it up,"It will be embarrassing enough if the current calcium hype is simply useless; it will be immeasurably worse if the recommendations are actually detrimental to health."