Thursday, September 15, 2011

Cow juice, not malt extract.


Its going to be a challenge, but I think it's worth a try!

One of the biggest worries that parents have about their teenage offspring is about them drinking alcohol. I do not subscribe to the prohibition idea, but I am passionate about responsible drinking: but like most things with young people, if you take something away from them, then you have to offer an alternative.

Now we all know that alcohol and teenagers can be like putting a match to petrol, but we should also remember that the long term implications of alcohol also include cancer as well as the many other social disasters that accompany its abuse.

So here's the challenge: how to make milk more attractive to teenagers, especially young women,  because a recent Harvard University Study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that milk-drinking teenage women, were also likely to be milk-drinking adults, and they have a 43 percent lower risk for type 2 diabetes compared to non-milk drinkers.

Just by making the choice to have three servings of low fat milk a day instead of alcohol will reduce your risk of cancer and type II diabetes: now that seems to be a pretty good choice to me.

Now lets get smart and work on convincing the teenagers that it was their idea in the first place!
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3 comments:

Amanda Kendle said...

Interesting point! Now help me out - we just heard our child health nurse say that 2 x 200ml cups of milk per day is too much for an 18-month-old - that (something along the lines of) that much calcium inhibits their intake of iron. Do you know any stats on that? (I'm disinclined to believe her but I'm no expert).

Unknown said...

Lot fat milk is a good alternative source of protein for those who don't like eating cows, but it's true that Calcium can have an impact on Iron absorption. This can be overcome by drinking the milk between meals, and not with food.
I tend to follow the mantra that if the food is healthy and good for Mum, then it's probably healthy and good for the child - they just need smaller portions.

Amanda Kendle said...

Ooh excellent, thanks for that. My little boy gets milk a long time apart from his meals so perhaps this is not so tragic. He certainly does his fair share of eating lots of good food, too. I'm not sure I could persuade him not to have his milk - he loves it!