Milk should make way for water in US dietary guidelines

Canada is helping its citizens avoid the dangers of dairy products by urging them to make water their “drink of choice” in its new food guide and dietary guidelines that were released earlier this week. The U.S. government should do the same by ditching dairy in the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

While Canada’s guidelines haven’t eliminated milk and other dairy products, one of the key recommendations in its dietary guidelines is to drink water “to support health and promote hydration without adding calories to the diet.” In fact, its food guide is an image of a plate featuring mostly plant-based foods and a glass of water.

{mosads}Compare that to MyPlate — the U.S. equivalent of Canada’s Food Guide — which features “dairy,” aka a glass of milk, next to the plate. The current U.S. Dietary Guidelines are no better, recommending that “most individuals in the United States would benefit by increasing dairy intake,” while acknowledging that “major sources of calories from beverages are milk and milk drinks.”Animal derived products, like dairy, are also the number one source of saturated fat in the American diet.

So instead of supporting the health of Americans, U.S. recommendations actually sabotage health by promoting milk and other dairy products that can increase the risk of breast, ovarian, and prostate cancers, cardiovascular disease, cognitive decline and early death. Scientific evidence also shows that milk offers little if any protection for bone health.

The Canadian Dietary Guidelines also say that water is essential for “digestive processes.” Milk, on the other hand, is a digestive disaster for tens of millions of Americans who are forced to suffer from lactose intolerance, which causes bloating, diarrhea, and gas.

The National Institutes of Health estimates that 30 million to 50 million American adults are lactose intolerant, including 95 percent of Asians Americans, 60-80 percent of African Americans and Ashkenazi Jews, 80-100 percent of Native Americans, and 50-80 percent of Hispanics.

Doctors agree that Americans don’t need dairy. This past July, the American Medical Association, the nation’s largest physician organization, passed a resolution calling on the U.S.

Department of Agriculture and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to recognize that lactose intolerance is common among many Americans, especially African Americans, Asian Americans, and Native Americans, and to clearly indicate in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans and other federal nutrition guidelines that dairy products are optional.

Consumers are done with dairy, too. The United States has a 1.4 billion-pound cheese surplus and Americans drink 100 pounds less milk today than they did in 1975.

Dairy is, in fact, completely disposable in the American diet. Calcium is plentiful in beans, leafy green vegetables, tofu, breads, and cereals. Oranges, bananas, potatoes, and other fruits, vegetables, and beans are rich sources of potassium. Legumes and green leafy vegetables are excellent sources of magnesium. The natural source of vitamin D is sunlight, and fortified cereals, grains, bread, orange juice, and plant milks are dietary options.

The other main takeaway from Canada’s Food Guide and Dietary Guidelines is that Canadians should eat a more plant-based diet, because it’s good for both human and environmental health. Moving away from milk makes sense for the environment, according to a new study from researchers at the University of Michigan and Tulane University.

“People whose diets had a lower carbon footprint were eating less red meat and dairy — which contribute to a larger share of greenhouse gas emissions,” says Diego Rose, the study’s lead author.

When the federal government reopens and the USDA finally announces the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, its members must advise the federal government to tell Americans that dairy is unnecessary.

Susan Levin, M.S., R.D., C.S.S.D., is director of nutrition education for the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.