Got Milk? You Don't Need It / by Grey Gallinger

Mark Bittman, writing for the New York Times:

Osteoporosis? You don’t need milk, or large amounts of calcium, for bone integrity. In fact, the rate of fractures is highest in milk-drinking countries, and it turns out that the keys to bone strength are lifelong exercise and vitamin D, which you can get from sunshine. Most humans never tasted fresh milk from any source other than their mother for almost all of human history, and fresh cow’s milk could not be routinely available to urbanites without industrial production. The federal government not only supports the milk industry by spending more money on dairy than any other item in the school lunch program, but by contributing free propaganda as well as subsidies amounting to well over $4 billion in the last 10 years.

I can't stand seeing deceptive milk ads everywhere. I'm especially annoyed when I see milk ads at hockey rinks and other sports venues where they attempt to reinforce the (factually incorrect) idea that milk is a healthy and necessary part of human nutrition.