Got milk? How about calcium?

• Position: On First Reading - Brief Article

U.S. dairy farmers have a real marketing coup in the ubiquitous Got Milk? ads. Numerous celebrities, rock and television stars tell us it's pretty cool to sport a milk moustache.

But Indiana Representative Bill Friend hopes more Americans--and state legislators--will become familiar with the not so catchy slogan "Got Calcium?" in the coming years.

Milk is indeed a great source of calcium, Friend says. But a lot of kids won't drink milk in schools. Other children, including up to 75 percent of African Americans and 90 percent of all Asians, are lactose intolerant. That means it's more difficult for their bodies to digest some milk products. And it also means many children will be prone to loss of bone density or osteoporosis later on in life.

Two years ago, Indiana enacted a Friend-crafted measure aimed at increasing calcium consumption in schools. The legislation is essentially a purchasing preference law that encourages school lunch providers to buy and serve more broccoli, calcium-fortified bread and juices. Even...