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Dennis Murphy

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Increased Dairy Recommendation
By Marie Findley, Corner Post staff

The 2005 Food Pyramid of dietary guidelines will have a slightly different look as the recommended consumption of milk has went from 2 servings to 3 services per day. This recommendation was mainly triggered by the increase in osteoporosis which is caused by low bone mass. Calcium, the main nutrient in dairy products, has been proven to strengthen bones which will result in less cases of osteoporosis. Osteoporosis most often occurs in women over the age of 50 and by that time, strengthening bones takes a longer amount of time.

There has been much debate as to whether dairy products are the best source of calcium. Dr. Walter Willet, a physician a Harvard University's School of Public Health, has gathered research linking dairy consumption to prostate cancer in at least six major studies.

When Mary Thompson, the Missouri Information Coordinator for the St. Louis District Dairy Council, was asked about this topic she said, "Dairy has also been proven to prevent colon cancer, so which way do you go. Nutrition is an evolving science and there has been research conducted to state the need for dairy consumption."

Dairy is a different source of calcium because of its unique combination of several vitamins. The combination actually allows for the body to retain more of the calcium consumed than other sources of calcium.

Another argument against the need for dairy consumption is the worldwide requirement for dairy consumption.

"Huge parts of the world do not even consume dairy." Willet said.

" The American diet is much different than other parts of the world," Thompson said "Most parts of the world exercise more and eat healthier."

Thompson said that since Americans have less healthy diets, they must have more calcium to keep up the percentage of nutrients the body processes.

The dairy industry has developed a new "3 a day" logo to put on dairy products to educate them about the changed daily requirement of dairy products. Thompson says that while obviously not everyone will follow the recommendation, the logo is a simple way of telling people about the health benefits of dairy products.

"If the recommendation is accepted by consumers, there will definitely be a positive impact on the dairy industry." said Joe Horner, Extension Associate of Dairy and Beef at the University of Missouri.

Horner said that there is currently a surplus of milk so cows are killed and used for hamburgers when they could be producing milk. So he believes this is a win-win situation: drink more milk in order to have stronger bones to prevent you from breaking bones and developing bone diseases. At the same time, more dairy cows will be used for producing milk.

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