Pinkberry is the New Black

Photo courtesy of Pinkberry

As someone who has recently become more aware of what exactly we do to milk in this country, I was thrilled that my friend took me to a frozen yogurt company yesterday that is as concerned as I am.

Cows in the U.S., besides being seriously mistreated in many cases, are injected with a growth hormone called rBGH. This hormone is used to help the cows produce more milk by stimulating IGF-1, a hormone directly responsible for milk production. It's genetically engineered, aka unnatural, and is not destroyed by the pasteurization process or human digestion. RBGH has been linked to cancer, including breast, prostate, and colon cancers.

Pinkberry uses dairy products from cows not treated with rBGH. While Pinkberry faced a class action lawsuit to disclose their ingredients (hey, it's a dessert, it needs sugars), it has never used milk products containing rBGH. And it's low cal, too! They also disclose all of their calories very clearly in the store (for everything from the yogurt to the toppings), so you are always able to make healthy choices. My Pinkberry choice yesterday? A small chocolate yogurt with brownie pieces, yogurt chips, and strawberries.

Pinkberry began in West Hollywood, but is now all over the US and the world (but not Pennsylvania yet, sadly).

That being said, it's often difficult to know if the milk products you are consuming are actually free of hormone additives. But I buy organic! you say. Well, yes, but to call itself organic, a milk product must only be free of synthetic hormones. RBGH is synthetic, but cows naturally produce hormones, especially estrogen. So any milk will contain some hormones.

But as a socially conscious consumer, I much prefer milk that comes from cows not injected with synthetic hormones. The only truly hormone free milk isn't real milk. So stock up on that soy milk if you can't stomach any hormones in your dairy products.

Oh, and by the way, that hormone appears in cheeses produced in America as well. To avoid hormones in your cheese, buy European produced cheeses, since rBGH is banned across the pond.