Journal of Pediatrics report finds that dairy labels are misleading.

A report in the Journal of Pediatrics confirms long-held suspicions that misleading labeling on dairy products and related marketing practices are driving consumers away from purchasing milk for their children and toward sweetened juice products that add to the obesity problem in the U.S.

"Milk is milk. The misleading marketing of certain dairy products as superior in health, nutrition or quality creates undue concerns for consumers and hurts farmers," said Alex Avery, research director for the Center for Global Food Issues in a CGFI press release. "These practices are contributing to reduced consumer demand for affordable, wholesome and nutritionally important dairy products; they are unethical and in many cases violate state and federal truthful and non-misleading advertising regulations."

The press release was tied to an advertising campaign in New England alerting consumers to the importance of understanding what information on a milk label means and does not mean, the release said. Research reveals that dairy labels, advertisements and marketing claims being made by certain New England and nationally known dairy brands mislead consumers about the safety, nutrition and quality of milk.

The study, in the June 2003 Journal of Pediatrics, was conducted by researchers at Cornell University and found that "children who drank more than 16 ounces of sweetened drinks a day drank less milk and gained more weight over two months than those who drank less than 16 ounces of sweetened drinks a day."