When it comes to white-collar workers, people often think of those who work in offices, engaged in mental labor, such as managers, technical personnel, and government civil servants. They have tidy office environments, higher income levels, a fast-paced work rhythm, and significant work pressure. The seemingly glamorous appearance of white-collar workers can no longer hide their underlying health problems. Fatty liver, hypertriglyceridemia, and hypercholesterolemia are the three most common diseases among them.
Milk: An Essential Nutrient for White-Collar Workers
Currently, there is a wealth of information about the nutrition and health of white-collar workers, but much of it comes from unknown sources and lacks a reliable research foundation, which largely confuses people's perceptions. What to eat and how to eat to promote health and maintain a figure is a major concern for many white-collar workers in their spare time. For a long time, milk has been regarded as a highly nutritious food. The recent debate about milk in society has truly puzzled health-conscious white-collar workers. Some say milk is a dangerous product that causes various diseases, while others claim it is a beauty product with many benefits. So, is milk a nutrient, a danger, or a beauty product?
This confusion is caused by recent improper reports combined with a widespread lack of nutritional knowledge. On the market, some claim that "milk can lead to osteoporosis and childhood asthma; eggs can trigger allergies and too much protein; red meat can cause colorectal cancer; and fish should also be eaten less." For a time, it seemed that no animal foods could be eaten, as eating them would lead to all sorts of diseases. An American scholar once argued that animal foods are the main culprits behind obesity, diabetes, cancer, autoimmune diseases, and even bone, kidney, eye, and brain diseases. Especially claims like "dairy products can trigger cancer and osteoporosis" or "milk is for cows, not for humans," attract people's attention while also confusing many.
So, is the "milk panic" just a sensationalized work by some books, or is it really true? 1. Milk is the best nutrient
First, let's look at the nutritional value of milk. Dairy products are a type of food with complete nutrients, a suitable composition ratio, easy digestion and absorption, and high nutritional value. They mainly provide rich high-quality protein, calcium, vitamin A, riboflavin, and other nutrients. They can help relieve fatigue and improve work efficiency, making them an excellent nutritional food for maintaining physical and mental activities. White-collar workers have a tense work life and irregular diets, often leading to micronutrient deficiencies due to an unbalanced dietary structure. Especially some white-collar women, in order to shape their figures, often resort to dieting, which seriously affects their health. Therefore, white-collar workers need to increase their intake of high-quality protein, vitamins, and minerals to balance their diet. The rich and comprehensive nutritional value of milk can well meet this need of white-collar workers. The dietary guidelines of many countries around the world recommend consuming dairy products in moderation. In view of the low intake of dairy foods and insufficient dietary calcium intake in China, the Chinese Dietary Guidelines for Residents recommend eating dairy products regularly, and the Chinese Balanced Diet Pagoda suggests consuming 100 grams of dairy products daily. Data from the "Chinese Health and Nutrition Survey," a longitudinal tracking project conducted by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the University of North Carolina, suggests that from 1989 to 2004, the intake of dairy products among urban women aged 20-35 (the age group of most white-collar women) has increased, but it is still less than half of the recommended amount in the Balanced Diet Pagoda. Therefore, under the current dietary situation, white-collar workers should not only reduce their consumption of dairy products but should appropriately increase their intake. 2. Milk ≠ Dangerous Product
The so-called "milk is harmful" theory is proposed from the perspective of Western economically developed societies, where the over-consumption of animal foods and the serious impact of chronic diseases on social development are considered. They overlook the reality that Chinese society is in a transition period, where both nutritional excess and deficiency coexist. It should be pointed out that any food in excess is harmful. Simply singling out one food and labeling it as dangerous and inedible is undoubtedly one-sided and untrue. We should base our views on China's nutritional status and face the fact that the consumption of dairy foods among Chinese people is still very low. Exaggerating the dangers of animal foods and completely rejecting them, especially dairy, eggs, poultry, and fish and shrimp which have reasonable nutritional value, will inevitably increase the risk of malnutrition and certain nutrient deficiencies in China, and is therefore very harmful. 3. Milk ≠ All-Powerful Beauty Product
Regarding the role of milk in the lives of white-collar workers, some even call it a rare and excellent beauty product. A "doctor" who promotes a detox diet also takes the opportunity to promote the theory of milk for beauty, claiming that the rich nutrients in milk are more suitable for external use to prevent dry skin, repair wrinkles, create fair skin, and reduce eye puffiness. This argument is undoubtedly aimed at catching the eye of beauty and fashion-conscious people and confusing the public. However, in China, where work pressure is increasing, health is the top concern for white-collar workers. Treating nutrient-rich milk as an all-powerful beauty product may be just this "doctor's" wishful thinking. His one-sided promotion of milk's beauty effects while denying its nutritional function will undoubtedly mislead people into underestimating chronic internal diseases, which is also unacceptable.
Establishing a Correct View on Milk
A reasonable diet and scientific nutritional matching are the guarantees of health, as well as the premise for improving work efficiency and competitiveness. Chinese nutrition experts believe that no food should be consumed in excess, and a dietary environment with a variety of foods and reasonable combinations should be created in accordance with the Chinese Dietary Guidelines for Residents. Especially for white-collar workers, regularly drinking dairy products is an effective way to enhance physical fitness and supplement calcium and vitamins. The level of dairy food intake in China is very low. In this situation, instead of considering how to solve China's nutritional deficiencies, worrying about cancer and almost all other diseases caused by "excessive" milk seems to make milk the number one poison in the world, which is absurd! Therefore, we recommend that white-collar workers learn more about nutrition to establish a correct nutritional concept and enhance their ability to identify and judge against the dazzling array of false reports.