[Advanced] Where Has All the Milk Gone? (2) 2014/08/19

Changing diets and ideas
While Bryant said her 5-year-old is “crazy for milk,” her older daughter barely drinks any. She might be lactose intolerant, a condition Americans have become increasingly aware of, and one that is a brake on milk sales.

To a growing number of consumers, milk isn’t the nutritional touchstone it once was, even though it fulfills key nourishment needs.

“It’s really one of our best sources of vitamin D and calcium,” said Deb Sheats, a nutrition and dietetics professor at St. Catherine University in St. Paul. Vitamin D and calcium are important nutrients that often get shorted in the American diet.

Cheese is also an excellent source of calcium. But cheese is often more fattening than milk, and doesn’t pack the same vitamin D punch.

A new kind of drink
Enter the “plant” milks — soy, almond and so on. They’re not really milk, but they are marketed that way. Through fortification, plant milks have just as much if not more calcium and vitamin D as dairy milk, and sometimes fewer calories — though they are more expensive.

“They are riding the coattails of milk’s nutritional profile,” said Marin Bozic, a professor of dairy marketing economics at the University of Minnesota. “They try to place themselves as a substitute for dairy milk.”

Plant milk is indeed a health play for packaged food makers. “Soy and almond milk manufacturers will benefit as more Americans become health conscious and are more willing to spend money on healthy beverages,” according to a report by market researcher IBISWorld.

Some consumers have been concerned about growth hormones used in dairy cows, IBISWorld found. Others have questioned the premise of drinking cows’ milk altogether, Antal Neville, an IBISWorld analyst, said in an e-mail interview.

“Some consumers have definitely questioned the health halo of milk in recent years,” he wrote.


Vocabulary Focus
lactose intolerant adj.
/ˈlækˌtoʊs/
unable to digest lactose
a type of sugar that is present in milk

touchstone n.
something that is used to make judgments about the quality of other things
- Good service is one touchstone of a first-class restaurant.

short v.
to provide less of something that is expected or desired

pack a punch idiom
to be very forceful or effective;
to have a great effect or influence
- Careful—these hot peppers really pack a punch. [=they are very hot and spicy]

fortification n.
/ˌfoɚtəfəˈkeɪʃən/
a structure (such as a wall or tower) that is built to protect a place — usually plural

ride one's coattails (idiom)
/ˈkoʊtˌteɪl/
to be successful by capitalizing on the strength of someone else's success
- They were elected to Congress by riding (on) the coattails of the President.
= They were swept into office on the coattails of the President.
[=they were elected because they belong to the same political party as the President, who is very popular]

halo n.
a circle of light that is shown in a religious painting, drawing, etc., around the head of a holy figure (such as an angel, saint, or god) — often used figuratively
- The scandal has tarnished the candidate's halo. [=has damaged his reputation as a morally good person]