Why Are Teenage Girls Maturing Earlier? Don’t Blame Milk!

A recent Facebook posting from an old friend got me thinking; why do our daughters seem so much older than we did at that age? I mean, we can’t blame it all on Brittany Spears, Facebook and fashion trends.

“You know, it’s all the hormones they give cows these days; it’s crossing over into milk and that’s what’s making our girls mature so much faster and grow so much bigger,” my friend, Corinne wrote. I’ve heard that before.

There is a lot of misinformation out there on various websites and no shortage of opinions and food-purchase recommendations made by well-intentioned, but untrained (in the world of food science) fitness gurus, people like Jillian Michaels of “America’s Biggest Loser.” Jillian has managed to leverage her gig as a tough fitness trainer into a multi-million-dollar health and fitness empire. I think she’s credible when it comes to sculpting chiseled abs. I mean, look at that woman! (http://www.jillianmichaels.com), but offering nutrition advice?

Knowledge in one area doesn’t necessarily translate into credibility in another. So, just because Jillian Michaels writes, “Organic free-range dairy tastes better and has no antibiotics or hormones and more omega-3s,” it doesn’t mean it’s scientifically proven.

According to Stephanie Clark, PhD, a much-published food scientist who specializes in dairy production at Iowa State University, there is NO SUCH THING as ‘hormone free milk.’ She says all milk has hormones; organic, conventional, grass-fed or corn-fed, you name it. In fact, Dr. Clark says even plantshave hormones (http://www.iowafarmbureau.com/article.aspx?articleID=27032). Dr. Clark says well-intentioned marketers who are in the business of selling their product for a few pennies more are making a lot of health claims out there; we have to wade through the spin to find the science.

So, I asked, why are teenage girls today so much taller and maturing earlier than in “our day”? (“When dinosaurs roamed the Earth” as my 13-year-old likes to say!) Clark says that yes, we probably can, in some respect, look to food for that growth spurt; it’s because we have better nutrition than our ancestors and better access to improved vaccinations and health care.

It’s clear: milk has so many nutrients, protein and amino acids, that no matter what kind you pick at the grocery store, it’s important that you pick it, period. As the second-most-regulated and inspected food item in your grocery cart (next to seafood), you can rest assured that milk is a healthy choice for your family. I think we should all drink to that…..

Written by Laurie Johns
Laurie Johns is Public Relations Manager for the Iowa Farm Bureau.

Small-Town Grocery

When you live in a small, rural Iowa town, you learn to live without many of the conveniences that city folks take for granted. Since moving out of the city, I miss going to movie theaters on weeknights, ordering Chinese delivery and the all-hours access to gourmet coffee.

While I don’t live near a 10-minute oil change shop or a fitness club, I’m thankful that our small town still has a grocery store just a few blocks from my home.

Our neighborhood grocery store is open seven days a week, until 9 p.m. every night, which comes in handy when we run out of coffee or have unexpected guests for dinner.

Yet talking with my neighbors, I discovered that many people don’t shop at the local grocery store. Instead, they drive to the big-city stores, where the prices are often cheaper, the produce is more exotic and the ice cream cooler stretches a quarter-mile long.

Admittedly, I’m also guilty of driving out of town to shop for groceries. I typically shop at three to four different grocery stores in a given month, a luxury of living close to Des Moines.

I prefer the meat counter at one nearby grocery store and the fresh produce selection in another. In addition, my husband and I occasionally splurge at ethnic and gourmet food stores, since we prefer to cook at home rather than drive to a restaurant.

But a few weeks back, I heard on the radio about a study highlighting the importance of rural grocery stores. The study, conducted by the Center for Rural Affairs in Nebraska, found that rural grocery stores serve as economic drivers, community builders, employers and meeting places.

Unfortunately, Iowa has lost almost one-half of its rural grocery stores over the last decade, from 1,400 stores in 1995 to a little more than 700 stores in 2005, according to the study. (See the full report at http://www.cfra.org/renewrural/grocery.)

Without rural grocery stores, local residents don’t have a choice of where to shop. They are forced to drive long distances to buy food, which isn’t an economical or viable option for the elderly or financially insecure families.

Needless to say, this news made me re-evaluate my own out-of-town shopping habit. Now I’m making an effort to shop at my local grocery store at least once a week. I’m finding that shopping close to home frees up more of my time and saves an extra trip to the gas pump.

I even had a revelation on one recent shopping trip. I wanted to try a recipe for pomegranate cookies, but I didn’t want to drive 20 miles just to buy a pomegranate. So I stopped at our local grocery store, and sure enough, there were pomegranates in the produce aisle.

That’s when I noticed that the small-town store actually had a lot more to offer than just eggs and milk. I found gourmet olives, cheeses and breads. I also discovered that many of the prices were the same as those at the big-city grocery stores.

It’s good to know that next time I’m craving pomegranate cookies, or bananas for my morning bowl of cereal, the small-town grocery store will be there to serve my family’s needs.

Written by Teresa Bjork
Teresa is a features Writer for the Iowa Farm Bureau.