It’s hard to argue with science. While we avoid milk and dairy products primarily for animal rights reasons, there are slews of health benefits that come with giving up dairy as well as the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine points out. The health risks associated with milk are so great that PCRM’s Dr. Neal Barnard even suggests we eliminate it from our school lunch systems entirely! What do you think? Should kids drink milk or should healthy vegan options be available instead? Read on for more info and sign the petition, too.

The Dairy Product Industry Needs to Stop Milking School Lunches Dr. Neal Barnard, PCRM

The dairy product industry has been milking school lunches for profit since the National School Lunch Program was introduced more than a half century ago. The federal government spends more money on dairy products than any other food item in the school
The nutritional rationale for including milk in school meal programs was based primarily on its calcium content. Milk was presumed to promote bone health and integrity. Time and again, this has proven false. Milk-drinking children do not have stronger bones than children who get their calcium from other foods.lunch program. But it’s time to get milk out of school lunches. Abundant research shows milk does not improve bone health and is the biggest source of saturated (“bad”) fat in the diet—the very fat that Dietary Guidelines push us to avoid. So PCRM recently petitioned the USDA to stop requiring milk in school lunches.

A study published by the American Medical Association in the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine this year showed that active children who consume the largest quantities of milk have more bone fractures than those who consume less. This was not surprising. Prior studies show that milk consumption does not improve bone health or reduce the risk of osteoporosis and actually creates other health risks.

Milk is the number one source of saturated fat in children’s diets. One in eight Americans is lactose intolerant. More than 1 million U.S. children struggle with milk allergies, the second most common food allergy. And milk also contains sugar in the form of lactose, animal growth factors, and occasional drugs and contaminants.

Read the rest of the story here.
And sign the petition/take the poll, here!