3 ms·

The conclusion is sort of weak - that milk isn't strictly necessary and doesn't do much good for you because most Americans aren't vitamin- or calorie- deficien

by guyzero 12y ago

The conclusion is sort of weak - that milk isn't strictly necessary and doesn't do much good for you because most Americans aren't vitamin- or calorie- deficient. That logic could be applied to literally anything. Is beef good for you? Most Americans aren't protein deficient and beef has a lot of saturated fat in it. Is chicken good for you? Most Americans aren't protein deficient. Are carrots good for you? Most Americans aren't Vitamin A-deficient. etc. Milk is fine. Not everyone can tolerate it. You don't need to drink a gallon a day to stay alive. But it's a perfectly fine part of a normal diet. And for kids who are sometimes fussy eaters, yeah, milk can actually make the difference between getting enough calories or not.

imanaccount247 12y ago
The difference is what happens if you take them away. Most Americans aren't vitamin A deficient because of carrots. If you removed carrots, you would end up with a huge explosion of vitamin A deficiency. If you removed milk, nothing would happen. And the notion that meat is simply protein is not accurate. Meat is a primary source of a few vitamins and minerals for many people (b12, zinc, iron, etc). The protein is not what makes it good, pretty much anything that a reasonable person would classify as "real food" contains plenty enough protein.
- guyzero 12y ago
  Vitamin D is added to milk because before they did that there were a lot of people with Vitamin D deficiency. The same thing is true of iodine in salt. Most people can remove any one or two things from their diet and they won't suddenly get scurvy or pellagra.
  - imanaccount247 12y ago
    That shows that vitamin D supplements are useful, not that milk is. Vitamin D can be added to anything (it is already in lots of orange juice for example). Coke with vitamin D in it isn't suddenly "a healthy part of a complete breakfast!". If most people removed carrots or beef from their diet without replacing it with some other source of the vitamins those provide, they would become deficient. If most people removed milk from their diet, nothing would happen. That's the point.
    - HeyLaughingBoy 12y ago
      I have to agree. When I was into bodybuiding and gaining, I drank milk (and protein shakes) at about a gallon a day. I'm naturally lactose intolerant, but drinking lots of it seemed to make me produce enough lactase that I could digest it without much trouble. But when I stopped working out, I soon stopped drinking milk and now I hardly touch the stuff except for a little in coffee or the occasional milkshake. As far as I can tell, it made no difference in my health. I'm becoming a fat fuck, but that's lack of exercise, not lack of milk ;-)
- tiglionabbit 12y ago
  Exactly! Vegans have no choice but to take supplements for these vitamins.
  - imanaccount247 12y ago
    Vegans only need to supplement b12. The rest they can get just fine. But they do not have an average american's diet. Simply removing meat from an average americans diet would be a huge problem, they don't eat nearly enough vegetables to make up the lost zinc and iron.

by guyzero 12y ago

imanaccount247 12y ago

The difference is what happens if you take them away. Most Americans aren't vitamin A deficient because of carrots. If you removed carrots, you would end up with a huge explosion of vitamin A deficiency. If you removed milk, nothing would happen. And the notion that meat is simply protein is not accurate. Meat is a primary source of a few vitamins and minerals for many people (b12, zinc, iron, etc). The protein is not what makes it good, pretty much anything that a reasonable person would classify as "real food" contains plenty enough protein.

guyzero 12y ago
Vitamin D is added to milk because before they did that there were a lot of people with Vitamin D deficiency. The same thing is true of iodine in salt. Most people can remove any one or two things from their diet and they won't suddenly get scurvy or pellagra.
- imanaccount247 12y ago
  That shows that vitamin D supplements are useful, not that milk is. Vitamin D can be added to anything (it is already in lots of orange juice for example). Coke with vitamin D in it isn't suddenly "a healthy part of a complete breakfast!". If most people removed carrots or beef from their diet without replacing it with some other source of the vitamins those provide, they would become deficient. If most people removed milk from their diet, nothing would happen. That's the point.
  - HeyLaughingBoy 12y ago
    I have to agree. When I was into bodybuiding and gaining, I drank milk (and protein shakes) at about a gallon a day. I'm naturally lactose intolerant, but drinking lots of it seemed to make me produce enough lactase that I could digest it without much trouble. But when I stopped working out, I soon stopped drinking milk and now I hardly touch the stuff except for a little in coffee or the occasional milkshake. As far as I can tell, it made no difference in my health. I'm becoming a fat fuck, but that's lack of exercise, not lack of milk ;-)
tiglionabbit 12y ago
Exactly! Vegans have no choice but to take supplements for these vitamins.
- imanaccount247 12y ago
  Vegans only need to supplement b12. The rest they can get just fine. But they do not have an average american's diet. Simply removing meat from an average americans diet would be a huge problem, they don't eat nearly enough vegetables to make up the lost zinc and iron.