The evidence is now in! Those Americans consuming cheese and ice cream have higher rates of death from cancer, heart disease, and diabetes.

Shame on the government of the United States. The Census Bureau, Bureau of Health Statistics, and the United States Department of Agriculture all are in possession of the following data. Thousands of government employees with million dollar budgets have ignored the milk link to diseases including death from cancer, heart disease, and diabetes.

NOW REVEALED: DEATH BY DAIRY

One wonders why the United States government does not compare food consumption to illness by collecting and correlating data. After all, you are what you eat, and the food one eats affects the body. The lack of state-by-state food consumption data is troubling.

In an effort to perform a task that the government has ignored, I have spent the past week carefully examining data compiled by various government agencies, including the United States Agricultural Research Service and the United States Census Bureau.

The United States Department of Agriculture has a branch called the Agricultural Research Service whose function it is to conduct food research. Kay Tipped (301-504-0344) was kind enough to supply me with USDA's Continuing Survey of Food Intakes by Individuals (CSFII), popularly known as the "What We Eat in America" survey.

Unfortunately, the USDA does not itemize that information by state. Instead, USDA separates the United States into four distinct regions, the Northeast, Midwest, South, and West.

I have obtained data published by the US Census Bureau, which includes the number of deaths from heart disease, cancer, and diabetes.

These data, by state, are contained on Table 141, which is published by the US National Center for Health Statistics, and is a part of the National Vital Statistics Report (NVSR).

I compared death data to food consumption data by region.

What I learned is astonishing. People living in cold weather states (the Northeast and Midwest) consume more food and calories per capita than people living in the South and West. While there are slight differences in most of the food groups, there are enormous differences in milk and dairy consumption.

The average American living in the Northeast/Midwest corridor consumes 6% more milk, 19% more ice cream, and 34% more cheese than people living the Southern/Western corridor. Meat consumption was 3% higher in the Northeast/Midwest corridor and vegetarian choices (fruit, vegetables, grains, and beans) were 6% higher.

Deaths from heart disease, cancer, and diabetes were also much higher in the Northeast/Midwest corridor. Here is a chart of the death rates per 100,000 of population:

                    Heart Disease  Cancer  Diabetes

Northeast/Midwest     307.51       218.81    24.10

South/West            252.78       191.3     22.13

Here are the daily food consumption rates:

                     Milk & Dairy
                        Ice              DAIRY
                Milk   Cream   Cheese    Factor     Meat   Vegetarian

Northeast/
 Midwest     219.95gr  29.64gr  18.10gr  756.63  218.12gr  708.45gr

South/West   205.01gr  25.00gr  13.54gr  586.53  211.62gr  666.16gr

BOTTOM LINE

Cheese consumption is a whopping 34% higher in the Northeast/Midwest than the South/West. Ice cream consumption is a whopping 19% higher in the Northeast/Midwest than the South/West. What else is greater in the high dairy consuming states?

Diabetes deaths are 9% higher.
Cancer rates are 14% higher.
Heart disease rates are 22% higher.

THE SCIENCE BEHIND THE MILK/DIABETES CONNECTION: http://www.notmilk.com/deb/011099.html

THE SCIENCE BEHIND THE MILK/HEART DISEASE CONNECTION: http://www.notmilk.com/deb/090599.html