Got Milk?
|
Young adults are not drinking enough milk, according to a study published in the July/August issue of the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior by researchers from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.
Well, at least that's according to the press release about the study, along with a few press reports on the matter. But according to lead author Nicole Larson, the focus on the study was on calcium.
Once again, we see the words "milk" and "calcium" used interchangeably in the popular press. Milk is a calcium source, but by no standard other than that of the National Dairy Council is it the best calcium source.
Hard to swallow
This study, an important one, found that during the transition from middle adolescence to young adulthood, females and males reduced daily calcium intakes by an average of 153 milligrams and 194 milligrams, respectively.
This is indeed troublesome because peak bone mass isn't reached until the early 20s. Like a retirement fund, you have to start banking your calcium early because you will lose it slowly later in life.
How much calcium we need is an open-ended question. The recommended level is 1,300 milligrams for ages 9 through 18; 1,000 milligrams for ages 19 through 50; and 1,200 milligrams for ages over 51.
Yes, older kids stop drinking milk. That's to be expected. As delicious as dairy products can be, to suggest that we need to drink three glasses of the secretion of a cow's mammary glands in order to be healthy is a bit outrageous and doesn't fit our evolutionary profile. If fact, most of the world, aside from a group of minorities called white people, cannot easily digest cow milk.
We do need calcium, though, and there are plenty of ways to get enough.
June 30, 2009
Copyright © 2009 Live Science
