The Harvard School of Public Health sent a strong message to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and nutrition experts everywhere with the recent release of its “Healthy Eating Plate” food guide.  The university was responding to the USDA’s new MyPlate guide for healthy eating, which replaced the outdated and misguided food pyramid.

Harvard’s nutrition experts did not pull punches, declaring that the university’s food guide was based on sound nutrition research. The greatest evidence of its research focus is the absence of dairy products from the “Healthy Eating Plate” based on Harvard’s assessment that “…high intake can increase the risk of prostate cancer and possibly ovarian cancer.”  The Harvard experts also referred to the high levels of saturated fat in most dairy products and suggested that collards, bok choy, fortified soy milk, and baked beans are safer choices than dairy for obtaining calcium, as are high quality supplements.

In my practice, I try to emphasize to people how “duped” we’ve been by the dairy industry, and that dairy products aren’t indeed the most nutritious source of calcium, as we’ve been brainwashed to believe in our society. Of course, this report doesn’t mean that you should avoid dairy entirely, especially when you can acquire local or non-commercial organic sources. Mainly, the take-away message here is that both past and present food recommendations from the government have emphasized dairy as a requirement, and this is clearly not the case!