Eau Claire (WQOW)- Milk sales as a beverage are at their lowest in almost 30 years.
Dietitians call it a double whammy because as kids give up milk many are turning to soda or sport drinks.
"The health issues of not drinking milk is a real big concern, especially in our youth," says Diane Dressel, registered dietitian at Mayo Clinic Health Systems.
That's when we are putting calcium into our bones.
"You start to pull calcium out of the bones at age thirty, thirty-five, somewhere in there," says Dressel.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, beverage milk sales in 2011 are less than half of what they were in the early 1980s.
"We really need calcium through our whole life span from babies to end of life," says Dressel.
You can get calcium by taking supplements.
"You can get the calcium but you have to be very careful because you have to make sure to get the vitamin D in also. You have to get the appropriate vitamin D supplements and space it throughout the day," says Dressel.
Trying to supplement other dairy products can also be tricky. Plain non-fat yogurt can be a good alternative for calcium but lacks in other vitamins.
"Many of the yogurts don't have the vitamin D. So milk is still our very, very best source to get our calcium in," says Dressel.
According to the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board the decline in beverage milk sales is somewhat offset by the consumption of other dairy products such as cheese, which has almost doubled in sales since 1975.
