Here's to the cows! June is National Dairy Month. Grocer organizations started it all in 1937 as National Milk Month to distribute extra milk during the warm summer months. By 1939, June officially became dairy month.
Since then, there have been many imitators, but there's no denying that milk is a powerful source of nutrition. In fact, most milk alternatives have half the nutrients of real milk and often cost a lot more.
According to the Dairy Alliance, adding milk to your meal is an easy and delicious way to get 13 essential nutrients your body needs, including calcium, vitamin D, and potassium. The Alliance says dairy's unique combination of nutrients plays a role in the prevention of heart disease, obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes, and osteoporosis.
And if you've ever heard that dairy foods increase estrogen, here's a fact from Midwest Dairy: Both plant and animal foods contain hormones. Many hormones are proteins, so when they’re eaten as a part of foods, enzymes in the gastrointestinal tract digest them, which stops their biological activity in the body. Therefore, naturally occurring hormones in milk are not a health concern.
Here's yet another dairy myth debunked. Cheese is not full of fat and bad for you! Just look at this graphic from Midwest Dairy:
Let's toast June Dairy Month with a tall, cool glass of milk!