Milk

In an age of long commutes, late sports practices, endless workdays and 24/7 television programming, the image of Mom hanging up her dish towel at 7 p.m. and declaring "the kitchen is closed" seems a quaint relic of an earlier era. It also harks back to a thinner America. And that may be no coincidence. A new study, conducted on mice, hints at an unexpected contributor to the nation's epidemic of obesity - and, if later human studies bear it out, a possible way to have our cake and eat it too, with less risk of weight gain and the diseases that come with it. Just eat your cake - or better yet, an apple - earlier.

As cities and schools across California celebrated the 82nd birthday of slain gay rights activist Harvey Milk, Orange County elected leaders remained steadfastly silent. Activists, for the second year, asked Orange County supervisors Tuesday to recognize Milk's birthday with a proclamation, but the board declined the opportunity, as it did last year. One of the supervisors, Janet Nguyen, walked from the board room shortly after the activists began their presentation. Last year, Nguyen also left the meeting as the activists spoke.

It was evidently good enough for Gilligan and Robinson Crusoe. But is coconut water a healthy choice for people who aren't stranded on a deserted island? A longstanding treat in tropical regions across the globe, coconut water hit U.S. supermarkets a few years back and is now being marketed with a vengeance. Sometimes billed as nature's sports drink, the slightly sour beverage has also acquired a reputation for being able to improve circulation, slow aging, fight viruses, boost immunity, and reduce the risk of cancer, heart disease and stroke.

Fresh mango glistening the brilliant orange of a late-summer sun, glutinous rice balls glowing a radiant pandan green, tender taro cakes blooming the same piercing purple as a field of lilacs. Bhan Kanom Thai is a rainbow rush of colors. The Hollywood favorite is a den of overstimulation, its shelves stuffed with Thai desserts alive with vivid colors, focused flavors and foreign textures. To a particular set of Los Angeles diners, the sweet shop is an essential experience. Yet even as Southeast Asian flavors move from places like Thai Town and Little Saigon into the mainstream, the region's diverse desserts remain largely unknown, tropical curiosities far more complex than a simple batch of banana fritters.

Full-fat, low-fat or skim? Used to be, there weren't many choices to make over what to pour on your cereal. But the number of alternatives to cow's milk -- soy, goat's, hemp milk, more -- has steadily grown. Each has its fans: those who swear by goat's milk's creamy texture or who love almond milk's subtle, nutty flavor. But when it comes to nutrition, there's no clear winner. Cow's milk is a good source of protein but can be high in saturated fats. Hemp milk offers little protein but is rich in certain essential fatty acids.

Chinese authorities arrested 12 more people in connection with tainted baby formula, said Shi Guizhong, spokesman for the Hebei provincial police. The official said that brought the number detained to 18. Police also confiscated nearly 500 pounds of melamine, the chemical that was added to milk powder, igniting a widening food safety crisis. Health Minister Chen Zhu said he expected the number of affected babies to increase as "more and more parents take kids to the hospital." Three infants have died and more than 6,200 have fallen ill.

Can a single glass of milk cause gas, cramps and bloating? Millions of Americans think so, but a new study of lactose intolerance concludes that they are wrong. "The final result is, there is virtually nobody out there who cannot tolerate a glass of milk a day," said Dr. Michael D. Levitt of the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Minneapolis. Levitt's team recruited 30 volunteers who claimed that they were lactose intolerant and assigned them to drink an 8-ounce glass of milk with breakfast for two weeks.

Some good buys for your health and your pocketbook: Buy fresh fruits and vegetables in season. Buy frozen otherwise. Frozen is cheaper and may even be better for you than fresh. That's because produce is usually frozen at its ripest, which is usually when it maxes out in nutrient content too. Some nutrients do break down or leach out in the freezing process, but most make it through.

So how many omega-3 fatty acids are enough — and how should you get them? That likely depends on your age and your specific health concerns. The United States does not yet have guidelines for DHA or EPA, and consensus among nutrition experts is elusive. But specialty groups, some governmental agencies and individual experts have started to take a stand. For healthy adults without major medical issues, the European Food Safety Agency recommends a daily dose of 250 milligrams of combined EPA and DHA, while the National Heart Foundation of Australia suggests 500 milligrams.

The dairy industry recently rolled out an expensive media campaign in praise of chocolate milk, a classic school lunch drink that's under assault for its sugar content. As trade groups spend upward of $1 million to defend the drink, three fifth-graders have come to its rescue. A year after the school district in Barrington, Ill., banned flavored milk from its elementary- and middle-school lunch menus, students persuaded administrators to give it another chance. "Kids weren't drinking the white milk," said Haley Morris, 10. "It's better to have the chocolate milk than nothing."

Google is counting on another high-profile Internet entrepreneur to boost its social networking aspirations: The Internet search giant is hiring Kevin Rose, the founder of Digg, according to technology blog All Things D. Rose announced yesterday that his company Milk would shut down its only product, Oink, less than six months after it launched. Rose did not respond to a request for comment. Google Ventures was an investor in Milk, which had raised $1.7 million in funding.

A sour note for the raw-milk fans out there: Unpasteurized milk is 150 times more likely to cause a disease outbreak than pasteurized milk, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Before it ever shows up in a carton, most milk is pasteurized -- heated to kill any harmful bacteria it contains. But there's a small but thriving market for unpasteurized "raw" milk. Some say they drink it because it has a richer, creamier taste, according to a 2009 article -- but more often the reason given is because, in this organic-conscious age, it's seen as more healthful.  Perhaps it depends on how you define "healthful.

Dear SOS: Milk has the best molasses cookies I've ever had. My entire family adores them, and I would love to be able to make them for my dad on his 66th birthday. Please help? These cookies are out of this world. I need the recipe, before I spend my last dime on them! Thank you! Selby Blum Los Angeles Dear Selby: Milk was happy to share its recipe for molasses cookies with us. These are thin and rich, so have a big glass of milk at the ready - it's all but impossible to eat just one. Milk's molasses cookies Total time: 1 hour Servings: 2 dozen cookies Note: Adapted from Milk on Beverly Boulevard.

Chocolate-chocolate cookies, compost cookies (made with potato chips, pretzels, butterscotch chips, graham cracker crumbs, etc.), blueberries and cream cookies, banana cream pie, brownie pie, hot fudge sauce, chocolate cake. I can't stop baking from "Momofuku Milk Bar," written by pastry chef Christina Tosi. The truth is, I think I take a lot more pleasure out of baking from the book than I ever did from stopping by the East Village bakery in New York. Maybe at least partly because these home-baked versions come with a dose of accomplishment, a testament to the recipes: The sweets turn out as good as the bakery's.

Corn dogs and chicken nuggets are out. Butternut squash tortellini and quinoa salad are in. After years of advocacy by the Healthy School Food Coalition, California Food Policy Advocates and other groups, the Los Angeles Unified School District has revolutionized the menus in its school cafeterias. The emphasis is on more healthful and sustainable food, and the backlash, predictably, has already begun. The changes have come about slowly. For most of a decade, a loose coalition of groups concerned about children's health and about environmental issues has pushed the district to offer more healthful choices.

Children may be coming up short when it comes to drinking low-fat milk, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report. A recent report from the National Center for Health Statistics finds that, although milk and milk products are recommended in the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans and by the American Academy of Pediatrics , kids may not be drinking enough of the lower-fat kind. Overall, 72.6% of teens and children drink milk daily. Boys drink more milk than girls -- 77.7%, compared with 67.4%.

A malfunctioning cleaning system in a Los Angeles milk production plant probably accelerated bacterial growth in a tank of nonfat milk, state officials said Friday, which caused about 100 people to fall ill and led to the voluntary recall of the milk. Officials of Vons Companies Inc., however, said there was no connection between the cleaning system and the spoiled milk.

A tangy, sour, fermented milk drink may not sound like a likely candidate to move from health food stores to mainstream supermarkets, but that's exactly what kefir has done. The beverage is steadily gaining fans convinced of the health benefits -- proponents tout its purported ability to help cure cancer, reduce high cholesterol and treat high blood pressure -- yet the scientific studies to support the claims are still few. Kefir's closest cousin is yogurt, also made by fermenting milk with bacteria.

Total time: 40 minutes, plus cooling times Servings: 6 Note: This recipe calls for making güllaç wafers (adapted from Sirvani's 15th century recipe). You can also use prepared güllaç wafers, available at Turkish and select Middle Eastern markets as well as online. Güllaç wafers 1/2 cup cornstarch 2 egg whites About ¾ cup water 1 hard-boiled egg yolk 1. In a medium bowl, beat the cornstarch gradually into the egg whites, then whisk in the water bit by bit until you have about 1½ cups of batter.

Students in the Santa Monica-Malibu school district have grown accustomed to whole wheat pasta and lunchtime salad bars, with vegetables delivered fresh every day from a farmers market. But to the chagrin of some healthful food advocates and parents, chocolate milk will continue to be served too. The school board debated late into the night Wednesday before deciding to keep it on the menu. But parents can request that their children not receive chocolate milk. Like many districts across the country, the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District had joined the debate about whether the calcium that is valuable for growing children is worth the trade-off of sugar and calories that come with the flavored milk.