New York Times Op-ed: The Great White Way

This op-ed by Nina Planck was published in the New York Times on February 12, 2006.

Health officials in New York City are right. The typical bodega in the city's poorer neighborhoods is not brimming with healthy foods, and the residents who rely on these stores suffer for it. The unhappy results are higher rates of obesity, diabetes and heart disease among poor New Yorkers.

Thus the city is enlisting bodegas in central Brooklyn, the South Bronx and Harlem (where obesity rates exceed the city average) to encourage the sale of low fat milk. Participating bodegas offer discounts on low-fat milk and tout its benefits. "Moooove to 1 percent milk," say the T-shirts worn by workers at El Barrio Superette in Harlem.

And it doesn't stop there. Earlier this month, city education officials announced that they had decided to remove whole milk from public school cafeterias. Unfortunately, city officials have identified the wrong culprit in our health woes. Whole milk is one of the best foods in the average corner shop — and a vital part of a nutritious diet for public school children, who may not eat well at home. Whole milk is what is called a complete food, because each ingredient plays its part. Without the fat, you can't digest the protein or absorb the calcium...

The all-important vitamins A and D are found in the fat... What about recommendations that we should drink low-fat milk to prevent heart disease? A federal study released last week, the largest study of its kind, found that low-fat diets do not prevent heart disease. Instead, scientists are increasingly finding that whole milk and saturated fats have been given an undeserved bad rap… Whole milk doesn't make you fat. The main dietary causes of obesity are white flour and sugar...

The health commissioner is right to discourage New York City restaurateurs from using trans fats… What New Yorkers need is a citywide campaign to shun foods loaded with white flour, sugar, corn syrup, corn oil and trans fats…

Meanwhile, if a bodega is your only option and you want to eat well, buy canned fish, beans, eggs and whole milk. That's what the health commissioner should encourage New Yorkers — rich and poor — to take home for dinner.