North Texas Daily

We don’t need milk, and like many other things in America, we were conned into believing otherwise.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), an organization largely in charge of our country’s nutritional guidelines, recommends consuming three servings of dairy every day. Americans everyday are encouraged to consume milk, by lobbying groups of the American Dairy Association, doctors, teachers, parents and peers, all in the name of health.

This is occurring in a country where 30 to 50 million people are lactose intolerant, or unable to digest the natural sugar found in milk and other dairy products. This includes 90 percent of all Asian Americans and 75 percent of all African Americans and Native Americans.

More often than not, we are told dairy is our best source of calcium. I’d assume that marketing and lobbying groups had no trouble convincing us of this as our bones mostly consist of calcium. More calcium means stronger, healthier bones, right?

Studies have also shown that consuming large amounts of dairy products gives you a higher risk of bone fracture and mortality. Osteoporosis, or the weakening of bones, is the cause of about two million fractures every year. High milk consumption also contributes to heart disease, prostate cancer, cholesterol and high saturated fat.

There are many other sources of calcium that we can intake from leafy greens, fruits, beans and peas, nuts, whole grains and sunlight. In countries with low calcium intake, such as India, Japan and Peru, the number of bone fractures is low. Consuming less than a third of what the U.S. recommends for adults, important factors such as physical activity and amount of sunlight make up for keeping their bones healthy and strong.

We don’t need milk after infancy. During infancy, we depend on milk to nourish our bodies until our digestive system strengthens and allows us to eat solid foods. We are the only mammals that drink from other mammals, such as cows and goats, way past the infancy.

Despite all the evidence that points towards our unnecessary milk intake, we continue to do so. From its proof of negative health outcomes and the commonality of active body rejection, lobbying groups have done their job in enforcing the consumption of milk. This all goes to show that money is power.

During World War I, our government created a huge demand for canned and powdered milk to send to soldiers overseas. This demand decreased with the amount of time left of war. At its end, farmers invested much of their time and money on dairy production, leaving America with a surplus of unwanted milk. The U.S. government was left with the need to buy back this unwanted milk and begin ridding it by pushing it to the public.

The dairy industry thus began infiltrating our daily life. Dairy products began infiltrating schools, the medical field and the government’s dietary guidelines. “Got Milk?” and other advertising campaigns spread rapidly. The amount of money put toward this movement successfully bought our influence. We have been blindly bought out.

The dairy industry’s influence on our daily lives and food choices have demonstrated how easily we have been led to being pawns of just another capitalistic endeavor for the government and industries. USDA is not only in charge of our country’s nutrient recommendations, but they are also in charge of a multimillion-dollar campaign for the promotion of milk. Milk lobbying has infiltrated the influence of politicians and organizations in order to protect the interest of dairy farmers and dairy-generated wealth.

We continue to sustain the production of milk as we have come to believe in its necessity. The dairy industry has snuck its way into a multitude of our everyday products and our favorite food places such as McDonald’s or Pizza Hut. We can’t have cookies without it. We can’t eat pizza without it. We can’t live without it, even though we should. Dairy is everywhere and non-dairy alternatives are difficult to find or want.

The interests of the federal government, the dairy industry, paid off politicians and our overwhelming dairy surplus run our beliefs and conceptions on milk. Milk propaganda is not pushing for our health, they are pushing to sustain profit. Confronting and reevaluating the intentions of our government and industries have proved to be too frequently corrupt.

We must reevaluate our commitment to the dairy industry. We are drowning in milk propaganda and we must take control of what is truly better for us.