Got milk? Many people grow up drinking milk, whether it be in a glass or in a cereal bowl. Companies have even gone as far as to create cereal flavored milk, but is milk really good for you? Recent studies are suggesting that the calcium rich drink is actually doing more damage to people than good. Studies have found that milk increases the likelihood of getting prostate cancer, for men, and ovarian cancer, for women.

 Among the negatives, milk does offer some positives. Milk is one of the most nutrient-rich beverages a human can consume. It contains a little bit of everything we need: calcium, vitamin D, riboflavin, vitamin B12, potassium, phosphorus, vitamin A, vitamins B1 and B6, selenium, zinc and magnesium. Among this, the complex set of fatty acids in milk are shown to be beneficial to our health. Some studies have even shown that drinking milk had a lowered risk of hypertension, certain cancers, and coronary heart disease.

   Yet, milk is shown to have more harmful effects. The consumption of milk, in some cases, has proven to be the cause of weaker bones, acne, eczema, and weight gain. Kelly Carroll, a Pennridge student, stated, “I am giving up milk for three weeks to clear up my skin.” While acne can prove to be a short-term problem, the other issues are a bit harder to deal with. Weight gain can be a difficult issue to deal with for some people, and milk’s added cholesterol and saturated fats makes the issue no easier. Milk has 20 percent of our recommended daily allowance of saturated fats and cholesterol. Because milk contributes to the overall saturated fat, calorie, and cholesterol content of a diet, they also contribute to increased risk of obesity, heart disease, and type 2 diabetes. Drinking milk has also been shown to trigger eczema attacks in some people with dairy sensitivities and allergies. The major issue researchers have found with drinking milk is the weakening of bones. It has been shown that the calcium found in cow’s milk actually robs our bones of their calcium and causes them to weaken. Adam Rabuck, a Pennridge science teacher revealed, “I don’t drink milk because a lot of hormones are used in cows and I don’t want to ingest those hormones.”  Overall, milk has its positives and negatives, but to most it proves to be more harmful than beneficial.