Got Milk Might Not Be Doing You Much Good

Author(s): Aaron E Carroll, David Leonhardt
Publisher: ZZZ Unknown

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11/18/2014 Got Milk? Might Not Be Doing You Much Good - NYTimes.com Rather than acknowledge that they get along just fine without it, many seek out "milk" substitutes, like soy milk, around which whole industries have been built. Politics are certainly at play here. Organizations like Dairy Management Inc., a nonprofit organization created by the United States government in 1994, exist to "increase dairy consumption." Dairy Management created the popular "Got Milk?" campaign. Today, the vast majority of Dairy Management's funding for its marketing strategies comes from the producers themselves. The U.S.D.A.'s role in promoting dairy was firmly established in the 1983 Dairy Production and Stabilization Act, which made it the business of the government to carry out a "coordinated program of promotion designed to strengthen the dairy industry's position in the marketplace and to maintain and expand domestic and foreign markets and uses for fluid milk and dairy products." As I tell patients, almost everything is perfectly good in moderation, milk included. What else would you put on cereal? Cookies without milk would be unthinkable. There's nothing wrong with a periodic glass because you like it. But there's very little evidence that most adults need it. There's also very little evidence that it's doing them much good. Aaron E. Carroll is a professor of pediatrics at Indiana University School of Medicine. He blogs on health research and policy at The Incidental Economist, and you can follow him on Twitter at @aaronecarroll. The Upshot provides news, analysis and graphics about politics, policy and everyday life. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter. (c) 2014 The New York Times Company http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/18/upshot/got-milk-might-not-be-doing-you-much-good.html?action=click&contentCollection=Opinion&module=MostEmailed... 4/4