Inside the new Dietary Guidelines: Dairy

[alp227]

If you were inventing a perfect food, it might look something like skim milk. Packed with calcium, protein, potassium, magnesium and vitamins A and D, it has no saturated fat and contains just 90 calories per cup.

That neat package of nutrients is the reason the federal government, through its 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, suggests you add more milk and milk products, particularly reduced-fat varieties, to your diet. Just as Mom always told you, the stuff is good for your bones. Turns out it’s good for the rest of your body, too.

Greg Miller, executive vice president of science and research for the National Dairy Council, says milk is “the number one food source” of three of the four nutrients that the guidelines say Americans need more of: calcium, potassium and Vitamin D (fiber’s the fourth; alas, milk has none). Milk comes by the first two naturally; almost all milk sold in the U.S. is fortified with Vitamin D.

More: Washington Post and Dietary Guidelines

[damntexdem]

1. Can't stand skim milk, but my family drinks 1/2-percent.

Now, even 2-percent milk tastes wrong, too creamy.

[Ratty]

13. Couldn't stand skim milk either

But then someone suggested organic skim milk. Tried Clover Organic and could not believe my tongue. I've been on skim milk for a couple of years now and will never go back. I NEVER thought I'd be able to make the switch because I love milk too much. It's really 'spensive though.

[trotsky]

15. I grew up on 2%, weaned myself to skim as an adult.

Now I drink 1% as the slight fat content may help with vitamin D absorption.

[jwirr]

2. I do not disagree but this study was not unbiased. It was done by

the National Dairy Council. I would not expect them to say anything else.

[trotsky]

5. Where would the bias come in?

Either milk contains the nutrients claimed, or it does not.

[jwirr]

7. You are correct but they would not be the first corporate lobbyists

to screw around with the truth. To be absolutely sure all scientific evidence should be replicated by an independent study. Someone who has nothing to gain. I am not saying that they lied in this study just that they need an independent source to replicate it.

[trotsky]

8. We need "an independent source" to confirm that milk has calcium?

Still not sure what you're getting at. The evil dairy lobby isn't telling us that milk will cure cancer or help you communicate with your dead relatives, they're stating the nutritional content of it and noting why those nutrients are needed by our bodies.

[jwirr]

9. I am defending the scientific methodology. It is how science is done.

I said at the beginning that I do not disagree with the statement just the scientific methods. Put it this way should we accept everything that a self promoting study says? How about studies on the safety of nukes? How about the safety of genetically engineered plants?

This group that did this study is a lobbyist group for this product like most products have their own groups. My father was a dairy farmer. They want to sell milk - that is the aim of this study. Do you think they would have told us if the results would have been negative? No, we would have never heard of the study.

[trotsky]

11. The point is, the nutritional content of milk has been tested...

probably millions of times. Ongoing, as part of quality control and FDA requirements. I do not dispute that an industry funding a study has a vested interest in getting positive results. But there are no outlandish claims being made here; just stating scientific fact (milk contains calcium, vitamin D, etc.) and that those nutrients are important to our bodies.

Seriously, I really don't know how the bias of the dairy industry comes into this particular news item.

[supernova]

3. Lactose intolerant

I quit drinking milk about 12 or so. I use cream or 1/2 and 1/2 in my coffee. Otherwise, I take a Vit D supplement and get several servings of green leafies each week.

[no_hypocrisy]

4. Packed with bovine growth hormones, antibiotics . . . Yum!

[astral]

17. "Packed with bovine growth hormones, antibiotics . . . Yum!"

LOL!

+1.

[trotsky]

6. Love, love, love milk and dairy products.

Great news.

[Abq_Sarah]

10. Ewwww

Y'all can keep the skim milk and I'll take the heavy cream.

[flamingdem]

12. The radiation from Fukushima is good for you as well

if you don't mind knocking off a few years of your life.

It's dropping slightly, and don't worry the government has determined it is "safe for human health".

[trotsky]

14. And red herrings are an excellent source of Omega 3s! n/t

[flamingdem]

16. It's in there. Opinions are mixed on the danger, especially to young children nt

[WolverineDG]

18. and what if you're allergic to milk?

Screwed, I guess.

dg

[Philippine expat]

19. Try soy or almond milk n/t