New Book Milks People’s Fears

Health experts disagree with the title. Image from Bob Jones

We drink on average 20 gallons of milk a year, so if you believe the scare-mongers, a lot of us have been poisoned. Mom opens some random web-site that screams:

Did you know that…

* Milk is the foundation of heart disease, the reason that one out of six women will develop breast cancer.

* Milk causes allergies, colic, colitis, ear aches, colds and congestion in young children.

Hang in there, Mom! That book by Robert Cohen – who recently visited Honolulu – is another of those efforts to sell by frightening people.

A glass or two of milk a day – if you’ll take the word of most nutritionists – is not poison. Milk is one of the best muscle foods.

The protein in it is 80 percent whey and 20 percent casein.

Whey is a protein that breaks down into amino acid and is absorbed into the bloodstream. Gives your body a steady supply of smaller amounts of protein over a longer period of time – between meals and while you sleep.

How about milk from cows given hormones? Is that bad?

Not unless you’re injecting it. Your digestive system destroys the hormones.

The USDA suggests we drink two or three glasses of fat-free or low-fat milk a day because that is our prime source for calcium, potassium and vitamin D.

Dr. Connie Weaver of the highly rated nutrition department at Purdue University writes that “people who don’t drink milk tend to be deficient in those elements. So it makes good sense to encourage people to consume dairy products.

“Short of encouraging people to eat more vegetables, we think the best way to ensure adequate potassium is to recommend low-fat milk,” Weaver says.

So be assured that tomorrow’s glass of milk is not going to make your child keel over gasping “awk, I’ve been poisoned!”

Did you know that one out of every four of those testing for enlistment in our armed forces fails the simple exam with such questions as:

If 2 plus x equals 4, what is the value of x?

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