Milk Consumption: Select Analyses of Trends & Variables

Most Americans do not consume enough dairy products. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2010 recommends 2 cup-equivalents per day for children aged 2 to 3 years, 2.5 for those aged 4 to 8 years, and 3 for Americans older than age 8. However, per capita dairy consumption has long held steady at about 1.5 cup-equivalents, despite rising cheese consumption. This stasis in per capita dairy consumption results directly from the fact that Americans are drinking progressively less fluid milk. Since 1970 alone, per capita fluid milk consumption has fallen from 0.96 cup-equivalents to about 0.61 cup-equivalents per day. The Federal Government encourages dairy consumption, including fluid milk, cheese, and yogurt, among other foods, through the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2010. Special emphasis is placed on fat-free and low-fat products. USDA further supports this message through programs like the National School Lunch Program (NSLP). The NSLP stipulates that schools must provide fluid milk and it must be low-fat or skim, rather than whole. Dairy farmers and fluid milk processors are also working to promote dairy products. The popular Got Milk? campaign, for one, encourages drinking fluid milk. This book examines trends in Americans’ fluid milk consumption including average portion sizes and generational differences in the frequency of milk drinking, to investigate possible explanations for the continued decreases.