This June Dairy Month, Learn To Separate Milk Myths From The Honest Truth

Raise a Toast to Milk This Summer & Trust That You Can Always Count on Milk

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Jun 04, 2019, 11:12 ET

SAN CLEMENTE, Calif., June 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The California Milk Processor Board (CMPB), creators of the iconic got milk? campaign, is celebrating June Dairy Month by partnering with leading health expert and best-selling author Dr. Nina Shapiro in an effort to dispel milk myths in today's "mis" information era and help California consumers better understand the benefits of one of the original, farm-to-table super foods - real, wholesome dairy milk.

"This June, we want Californians to be armed with the right knowledge in order to make informed decisions about their health," said Steve James, executive director of the CMPB. "And that includes real wholesome dairy milk, the original farm-to-table food that comes from California cows."

The ongoing quest for a healthful lifestyle has many consumers chasing the latest trends found on social media, as well as overspending on costly processed beverages that simply didn't exist 10 years ago. Much of what's driving consumers choices today in the supermarket aisles is a growing fear factor driven by click-bait headlines instead of real nutritional facts. Take, for instance real wholesome dairy milk. All-natural dairy milk offers a range of healthful benefits including nine essential nutrients including high-quality protein to help build and maintain lean muscle, B vitamins for energy, vitamin A for a healthy immune system, potassium to regulate the balance of fluids in the body and bone building nutrients including calcium, phosphorus and vitamin D. Moreover, milk offers affordable great tasting natural hydration, never with any added sugar, hormones or antibiotics, and helps promotes a good night's sleep.

That's the advice of Harvard and Cornell-educated physician, and mom, Nina Shapiro, M.D. Separating the truth from the many myths and trends in today's "mis" information era is one of the concerns that Dr. Shapiro addresses in her practice, as well as from friends, acquaintances and parents. In her work as a surgeon and professor, Dr. Shapiro author of Hype, a Doctor's Guide to Medical Myths, Exaggerated Claims and Bad Advice – How to Tell What's Real and What's Not, strives to guide her patients and their families to make informed decisions about their health.

According to Dr. Shapiro, the many myths today that are upheld by popular public wisdom and perpetuated by today's culture of pseudo-news are doing more harm than good. "It's very important in today's internet-driven, informational culture that consumers learn to separate fact from fiction when it comes to understanding the benefits that comes from dairy milk versus plant-based alternative, processed varieties," said Dr. Shapiro. "What's needed is evidence-based common sense and a bit of expert guidance in order for consumers to become more empowered and more well-informed."

Dr. Shapiro's top six milk myths include:

Myth: Drinking milk leads to respiratory infections, including colds, coughs, and ear infections. Fact: No existing evidence supports this. The only time this may be even remotely related is if an infant or child were to drink a bottle of milk in the crib, in the middle of the night. But this would be the case for any food or drink being eaten, except for water.
Myth: Consuming milk or dairy products slows healing after tonsillectomy or during sore throats. Fact: This is absolutely not true. One of the fun side-benefits of kids getting their tonsils removed is that they get to eat ice cream, and drink milk smoothies during recovery. In fact, the more kids consume, especially liquids containing protein and vitamins, the faster they'll heal.
Myth: Milk causes weight gain and can cause cancer. Fact: Not true. Much of the rise of obesity is partly due to increased processed foods/fast foods/fried foods/convenience foods, and decreased exercise and activity, even beginning in childhood. Drinking milk is filling and has no direct correlation with weight gain (1,3). As far as cancers go, no diet study can show direct cause, only correlation. There is no consistent data from any study showing that dairy increases risks of any type of cancer.
Myth: Dairy is bad for your heart. Fact: Actually, the complete opposite is true. The PURE (Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiology) study, recently published in The Lancet, looked at nearly 150,000 adults from 21 countries and five continents with respect to dairy intake and heart disease over a nine-year period (2). They found that subjects who consumed greater than two servings per day of dairy products versus those who consumed no dairy products had lower risk of heart-related disease, as well as a lower risk of death overall. In particular, milk, of all dairy products resulted in the lowest risks in this study. Interestingly, subjects who consumed whole-fat milk were the healthiest.
Myth: Diabetics should avoid dairy products. Fact: A recent large meta-analysis study, looking at up to 500,000 adults ranging from ages 20 to 88 years, found that higher amounts of dairy consumption correlated to lower incidence of type 2 diabetes (4). This was most notable for total dairy product consumption, low-fat dairy consumption, and yogurt. Overall, the higher amount of dairy product consumed correlated to lower and lower risks of type 2 diabetes.
Myth: I have lactose intolerance, so it must be a milk allergy. Fact: Lactase is an enzyme that helps break down one of the sugars in milk (lactose) during digestion. Some people have lower amounts of this; often drinking a little less is the answer. There are also lactose-free milk products, or tablets to ingest which contain lactase, making milk digestion easier. But this is NOT an allergy. True milk allergies, with vomiting, rashes, and even anaphylaxis, affect less than one percent of the adult population (5).

About Dr. Nina Shapiro
Dr. Nina Shapiro is one of America's leading physicians and has more than two decades of experience in clinical and academic medicine and her recent book, Hype: A Doctor's Guide to Medical Myths, tackles the latest health fads and misconceptions. Dr. Shapiro is a graduate of Harvard Medical School and Cornell University, she completed her surgical residency at Harvard and finished additional subspecialty training in pediatric otolaryngology at the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children in London and the Children's Hospital of San Diego. She is the "go-to physician" in Los Angeles and around the world, as many international patients seek her out for treatment of challenging cases that can't be resolved in their own countries. She works with patients and families to guide them in making decisions every day about their health. Dr. Shapiro has regularly provided professional insight and commentary for CBS's "The Early Show," "Extra," and "The Doctors," when there's a controversial health study or a medical story in the news. Her work has also been featured and published in the Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Prevention, and many other print and online publications. (http://drninashapiro.com/curriculum-vitae).

About the CMPB
Since 1993, the California Milk Processor Board (CMPB), creator of the famous got milk? campaign, remains dedicated to increasing milk consumption throughout California. Its latest multi-platform multicultural campaign, You Can Always Count on Milk, captures today's children facing daily challenges and powering through it all with milk as their trusted drink of choice before, during and after a long day. As of July 2018, the CMPB features a newly revamped website offering millennial families with the fun takes on how they can rely on milk, nutritional advice for a healthier lifestyle, and a variety of ways to incorporate milk into easy-to-make recipes they can try at home. The CMPB is funded by all California milk processors and administered by the California Department of Food and Agriculture. The got milk? trademark is a federally registered trademark and service mark. For more information, visit www.gotmilk.com.

Sources:

1: Food Nutr Res. 2016 Nov 22;60:32527. doi: 10.3402/fnrv60.32527. eCollection 2016, Milk and dairy products: good or bad for human health? An assessment of the totality of scientific evidence, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27882862

2. Lancet. 2018 Nov 24;392(10161):2288-2297. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(18)31812-9. Epub 2018 Sep 11. Association of dairy intake with cardiovascular disease and mortality in 21 countries from five continents (PURE): a prospective cohort study. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30217460

3. Adv Nutr. 2019 May 1;10(suppl_2):S67-S73. doi: 10.1093/advances/nmz020. Introduction and Executive Summary of the Supplement, Role of Milk and Dairy Products in Health and Prevention of Noncommunicable Chronic Diseases: A Series of Systematic Reviews. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31089742

4. Adv Nutr. 2019 May 1;10(suppl_2):S154-S163. doi: 10.1093/advances/nmy107, Effects of Milk and Dairy Product Consumption on Type 2 Diabetes: Overview of Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31089734

5. American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. 2017. Prevalence of food allergies and intolerance documented in electronic health records. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28577971

SOURCE California Milk Processor Board