This Health Care Researcher Says Milk Isn’t Actually That Good For You

On Healthcare Triage, a show produced by YouTube’s John Green, health services researcher Aaron Carroll talks about why milk is encouraged as a beverage, even when people are advised to lower their caloric intake.

Milk is full of both fat and sugar, Carroll says, and doesn’t actually help makes bones stronger as per research from 2007. Uh oh. “The calcium did nothing significant,” he said.

“Is it because you need the calcium? Is it because it makes your bones stronger? Watch, and learn why the milk emperor has no clothes,” Carroll writes.

Why are we the only mammals who drink milk beyond our infant years? “After age 2,” Carroll says, “there’s really no good reason for us to keep drinking the stuff.”