got milk? article from newspaper

[Guest guest]

The following article came from one of the two " major "

newspapers in my area. I happen to work for this corporation, as

part of their weekly newspaper division.

 

I'm impressed that they did the article and recognized that milk

isn't as necessary as we have been told, but I'm disappointed

that it took two staff people to do an article that really says

nothing.

 

FYI-- Diane, the food editor, has said in her previous columns

that she is a vegetarian. Of course, most of her writing/product

reviews focus on processed food.

 

 

http://www.mcall.com/features/food/all-calciumledemar09,0,257

1126.story?coll=all-featuresfood-hed

 

From The Morning Call

 

 

 

Got milk?

 

 

By Diane Stoneback

And Ann Wlazelek Of The Morning Call

 

March 9, 2005

 

The American diet, under more scrutiny than ever, continues to

be debated, even as newly released federal nutrition guidelines

attempt to codify for the confused how much of what foods we

should eat.

 

There are low-carb and no-carb issues, concerns about

cholesterol and high-fat foods, reports on the glycemic index, a

renewed emphasis on whole grains and a return to recognizing

that calories do count.

 

One of the latest discussions to emerge, perhaps surprisingly,

centers around milk and dairy products as key sources of

calcium needed to build strong bones and prevent osteoporosis.

 

The government's guidelines, reviewed and formulated by

scientists and used by registered dietitians counseling

Americans on eating healthfully, suggest three servings of

low-fat or fat-free milk or the equivalent in low-fat or fat-free

yogurt

or cheese — each day.

 

But recently a vegetarian advocacy group and some independent

nutrition researchers have stirred controversy by suggesting that

Americans may be consuming more calcium than they need and

that milk may not be the magic bullet for bone strength.

 

Taken in context, their views could enable parents whose

children either won't or can't drink milk to breathe easier

because there are other ways, recognized by all nutritionists, to

obtain dietary calcium.

 

But Deanna Segrave-Daly, a spokesperson for the Mid-Atlantic

Dairy Association in Philadelphia and a registered dietitian,

says, ''This was a review paper that overlooks strong consensus

in the medical and nutritional community supporting the role of

low-fat dairy products in promoting bone health.''

 

Dr. Amy Lanou, nutrition director of the vegetarian

special-interest group Physicians Committee for Responsible

Medicine — whose president and founder is also president of

the Foundation for the Support of Animal Protection, associated

with the animal rights group PETA — suggests in her analysis

published in the March issue of Pediatrics, alternative calcium

sources including oats, almonds, soy milk, beans and

calcium-rich vegetables such as mustard greens, kale, cabbage

and Brussels sprouts, as well as turnip greens and tofu.

 

But if turning to vegetables isn't going to happen at your house,

registered dietitians, including Martine Scannavino, assistant

professor at the Allen Center for Nutrition at Cedar Crest

College; Elisa Zied, a registered dietitian and spokesperson for

the American Dietetic Association in private practice in New York

City, and Allentown Health Bureau dietitians Tina Amato and

Melissa Feather, say there's nothing to worry about.

 

Scannavino says the emphasis should be on switching to

low-fat or no-fat dairy products rather than whether or not dairy

products should be consumed.

 

All of the dietitians maintain that low-fat and no-fat milk, yogurt

and cheese remain some of the most easily accessible and

most palatable ways for children and adults to get the dietary

calcium needed for strong bones. They agree, however, that

dietary calcium can come from the other sources, as Lanou

suggests.

 

Allentown pediatrician Dr. William Phelan, who had not read the

study or heard of the Physicians Committee for Responsible

Medicine, also agrees that growing children should receive their

calcium from a variety of sources.

 

He adds, however, that it is possible for some children to drink

too much milk, which fills them up on liquid calories and

''messes up kids' hunger for their next meal.'' His advice:

Children should get most of their calories from solid foods and

drink water.

 

News of the Pediatrics article and its contentions did not derail

Jefferson Elementary School's ''Delicious Dairy Day'' yesterday,

which featured a parade with life-sized cardboard cutouts of

cows.

 

''The whole idea is to promote eating breakfast,'' says Ann

Johnson, school nurse for Jefferson and Lincoln Schools in the

East Penn School District. She explained that students have

planned activities around foods in a particular group. In October,

it was ''fabulous fruits,'' and in late April, the subject will be

''wholesome whole grains.''

 

Johnson, repeating the common-sense message, says, ''No

one source will provide you with all necessary nutrients. Just as

you can't rely on just fruits and vegetables, you can't rely on just

milk to supply you with everything you need.''

 

Lanou contends, ''If a child doesn't like milk, is lactose-intolerant

or allergic to milk, parents should know that milk is not

necessary for bone health.''

 

But the Dietetic Association's Zied takes exception to Lanou's

conclusion that there is ''scant evidence'' found in the scientific

studies she surveyed that increasing dairy intake is the right way

to promote bone health in children.

 

''I really dislike recommendations that suggest eliminating an

entire food group. Healthy eating is about balancing the total diet,

rather than looking at one food or food group. Calcium from both

dairy and plant sources is nutritious, and it is good to encourage

children and adults to consume a variety of foods containing

calcium,'' Zied says.

 

She adds, ''If a teenager should decide to stop drinking milk and

turns to soda or sugary drinks instead, it would be a very serious

mistake at a time when he needs to develop peak bone mass.''

 

Both Lanou and the independent dietitians agree that parents

who are concerned about their children's bone health should get

them off the couch and away from computer screens. They need

to do weight-bearing exercise because it stimulates bones to

produce new bone cells.

 

Parents also should make sure their children are getting enough

Vitamin D, either from fortified foods like milk or multivitamins or

from being outdoors. ''All it takes is 15 minutes a day of sunlight

on the face and hands,'' says Lanou. Vitamin D is produced by

sunlight on the skin and controls the body's use of calcium,

which makes it an important factor in bone health.

 

Judging from the shoppers in the aisles at Wegmans Food

Market in South Whitehall Township, parents have gotten the

message about the importance of calcium in the diet.

 

Lydia Lucente of South Whitehall Township had just pulled a

half-gallon of fat-free milk from the dairy case and commented

she will continue to drink milk and give it to her children ages 18,

13 and 12 because of what she knows. ''My husband is a

gynecologist and he sees many women who are so frail'' from

osteoporosis, she says.

 

Although Lucente's is a commonly held view, it also recently has

been challenged by some researchers. ''There's no solid

evidence that merely increasing the amount of milk in your diet

will protect you from breaking a hip or wrist or crushing a

backbone in later years,'' says Walter C. Willett, chairman of the

Department of Nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health.

 

When Willett and his colleagues investigated the milk-drinking

habits of 72,000 women in the landmark Nurses' Health Study,

they found that milk consumption was not associated with a

lower risk of hip fracture, a measure of bone strength. In fact,

women who drank milk twice a day were as likely to suffer a

bone break as women who drank it once a week.

 

Some local consumers, including Kathy Mauthe of Upper

Saucon Township, who is the mother of teens 16 and 14, and

Allentonian Gina Leibert question whether their children would

switch from milk to other sources for their calcium.

 

Leibert, a pharmacist who was pushing her 14-month-old

daughter, Abbey, in a grocery cart containing a quart of

antibiotic-free milk and two packages of her daughter's favorite

Cheddar cheese, contemplated recommendations about turning

to alternative calcium-rich sources. She commented, ''Do you

mean the leafy vegetables which my kid spits out?''

 

She figures she probably could entice Abbey to eat some

calcium-rich food alternatives like broccoli, but not in the

amounts suggested, such as the 12/3 cups necessary to deliver

100 mg. of calcium, the same amount Abbey could get by

drinking about half a glass of milk or eating a mere half an

ounce of the Cheddar cheese she loves.

 

Diane Stoneback is food editor of The Morning Call. Reporter

Wendy Solomon and The Los Angeles Times contributed to this

story.

 

2005, The Morning Call