Buying milk can be a challenge, Sun story says
Sun reporter Laura Vozella took a look at all the different kind of milk on the market in an effort to make sense of the health claims in a story in today's paper. There's organic, grass fed, hormone free, soy, you name it.
It all costs more than regular old milk. And some experts say the difference has more to do with marketing. But others insist that there are benefits.
Laura reports another view from a reader who said this:
I've just read your interesting Page 1 piece on milk. It give a fairly balanced picture of the nutritional issues but overlooks another important health issue -- effect on the environment of the various methods of producing milk. It's well known that levels of antibiotics and various hormones in the streams, rivers and lakes of the USA are rising concurrently with reports of increasing discovery of genertic mutations in the wildlife (fish and amphibians) that inhabit these bodies of water. To the extent that these hormones and antibiotics reach the ater that we drink, the may represent serious long-term health hazards even to non-drinkers of milk. Or they may not, representing an equally important controversial issue that must be explored.
tell us your take on the milk debate and continue reading for some definitions.
Baltimore Sun photo/Algerina Perna
deciphering the dairy case
Milk: Conventional milk comes from cows that may have been treated with antibiotics and injected with synthetic growth hormone. The animals also may eat feed treated with chemical pesticides.No added hormones: Milk from cows not treated with synthetic bovine growth hormones (called rBGH and BST on some labels). Sometimes billed as "hormone-free," but that's a misnomer, since all milk has naturally occurring hormones.
Organic: From cows not treated with antibiotics or artificial growth hormones. The animals also eat feed raised without chemical fertilizers or pesticides and must have "access to pasture." How often do the cows have grass under hoof? No telling. The government has not defined "access to pasture."
Grass-fed: Milk from cows that spend at least some of their time grazing. How much of their diet is grass? Another undefined term, another unknown.
Plus DHA: Milk supplemented with a supposedly brain-boosting omega-3 fatty acid derived from algae.
Homogenized: Milk that has been pressurized to evenly distribute the fat, so the cream doesn't rise to the top. Almost all of the milk on the market fits this description.
Nonhomogenized: The fat is not blasted into tiny bits in this variety, produced by some niche dairies. Before pouring, shake the bottle to mix in the cream or scoop it off for your coffee.
Pasteurized: Milk heated to 161 degrees to kill off potentially harmful bacteria.
Ultra-pasteurized: Milk heated to 280 degrees, a temperature higher than what's needed for pasteurization, to extend its shelf life.
Raw or unpasteurized: From the cow's udder to your lips. Because the milk's not heated, no nutrients are lost, devotees claim. But drinkers risk illness - and arrest if they buy it in Maryland, where sales are illegal.
Comments
Having had raw milk on occasion, I like it much better than the other types. I hear the so-called warnings about "illness", but frankly the taste is cleaner, somewhat sweeter, and in my view, healthier. And no, I didn't buy it, it was given. By the way, it can be purchased in Pennsylvania.
Posted by: Norris | June 8, 2009 2:13 PM
I must admit, when I began reading this article I thought, now what?, what is the latest trend in milk that all the "cool people" are now going to demand just to be different. As I then read the terms & definitions I started to panic a bit at what was being passed off as my "healthy" got milk? drink. I've been a regular, if not avid, regular old milk drinker for 40 years. I haven't grown horns...yet. But
this makes me want to switch to putting pepsi in my cereal. At least I know what ingredients are in there.
Posted by: Lori | June 8, 2009 3:35 PM
Lori, you might want to give soymilk a try. It's got all necessary vitamins etc. and does not taste like the grayish soybean pulp so many imagine. I like it just fine in my coffee and my cereal.
Posted by: Shannon | June 9, 2009 8:54 AM
growing up in Holland I drank milk, and lots of it, my whole life. When I moved to the US some years ago, drinking regular milk all of the sudden did not agree with me. On a friends advice I tried organic and have never had any problems since.
It made me wonder about the vast amount of lactose intolerant people in the US though. I never saw that being a big problem in the Netherlands and can't think of one friend, family member or even aquintance who was lactose intolerant over there.
Since the Dutch do not inject their cows with growth hormones, it makes me wonder if hormones in milk and the high occorunce of lactose intolerance in the States is not somehow connected...I realize it's not a scientific observation, but a personal one, but I wonder if anybody ever studied the relation between the two...
Posted by: K | June 11, 2009 11:29 AM