Why do adult Americans drink so much milk?!

75%? Yeah, you pulled that number out of your ***. Try 7-11%, that number even includes people who aren't fully vegetarian.

And I KNOW that you guys over there eat shepherd's pie, roast dinners, liver and onions, even CHEESE ON TOAST. Ask me how I know.

Yikes- I must say all statistics should be taken with a grain of salt (not to say yours or anyone else who posted isn't relaible)
But milk in the grocery stores comes in skim, 1%, 2%, and whole milk. I personally like skim or 1%, which is very low in saturated fats that will cause clogged ateries. Milk is a good source of vitamins, calcium, and other nutrients like the other posts have pointed out.

Haha- I don't think Americans are downing massive volumes of milk a day (I hope and I can only speak for myself) so even if you do drink whole milk, moderation is the key.

Never though about the concept of breast to bovine milk but interesting point! And I can see why you think it's strange that Americans drink milk throughout their lives, but just because you or your culture doesnt practice it doesn't make it strange :)

If you are referring to the diluted white water that is sold in U.S. groceries as "milk", THAT IS NOT MILK.
But to answer your question, it is just the effect of years of marketing by the dairy associations.
I agree that milk is not a thing that should be consumed in great quantities but the denatured, diluted, colored water in our grocery stores is a far far cry from milk.
I grew up on a farm where we had milk cows so I know what milk tastes like and that cr@p in the grocer's stock isn't it.
Cow milk belongs in coffee, tea, babies, and cooking.
BTW, I agree on your questioning of the logic of moving to bovine milk.

the USDA brainwashes the population. Only 3% of Americans are vegetarian, let alone vegan. Most people think if you don't drink milk and eat cheese you will surely die from lack of protein.

Brainwashed. But then again, this IS the birthplace of the cult.

milk is a good source of many vitamins, minerals, and calcium. i usually have a glass a day with my dinner.

a lot of things are bad for you but still a big part of people's diets, like soda for example.

Are you stupid? I've been drinking 3-4 glasses a day my whole life, I'm a skinny motherf*cker, and I'm still a live.

I agree that it's clever brainwashing and advertising in the US. Currently, the milk industry has halted or suspended the "drink milk and be thin" campaign and it just saying that it contains many important nutrients. One yogurt brand commercial still says that if you eat their yogurt, you will be thin. One (maybe the same company, they blur together for me), says that their flavored yogurt (that's probably laden with sugars and artificial colors and flavors) is a better alternative to desserts and junk "food". One brand says that if you eat their yogurt your system will be regular. Well, unlike the people on those commercials, I eat whole, real foods and try and keep my life low of negetive stress. (Having a three-year-old and a three-month-old doesn't help with that.)

I'm six feet tall. I weigh either 147 or 48. I'm regular. I'm healthy. I've had two very healthy pregnancies. When my three-year-old weaned at two years, ten months, she was also drinking soy milk. As I type, my baby is nursing.

I also couldn't understand why mothers seem to think that at one year, cow's milk is suddenly better for their baby than the milk their body has producing specifically for their baby. For two years, ten months, my breast milk was the best food I will ever give my daughter.

My husband is not vegetarian or vegan and drinks milk. Even when he goes a few days without it, he makes comments about wanting some. We've had disicussions on it, but he seems to still want to drink it. (He even gave me the "If they're not milked, they'll die," comment [he might have said get sick]. I said, it woudn't be different if Marcus didn't eat for awhile. I would get very full and sore, but I wouldn't die [or get sick]." He didn't say anything.)

Anyway, I'm vegan I'm healthy and I'm thin and I'm regular. The only milk I drink is mine, on occasion when he bottle I was able to pump was not used by my son.

Speaking of which, I still remember the "Friends" episode in which they guys were daring each other to drink Rachael's pumped breastmilk. Funny, how they thought that was gross but probably didn't think twice about putting cow's milk in their coffee at one of their zillion trips to the coffee house, or in their cereal.....

ETA: Currently, the California Dairy organization is running TV ads with the families who own the dairys trying tomake it sound and look like Old McDonald's Farm or something. I saw one commercial in which the owner was feeding a calf a bottle of something. The cow milk they are advertising is supposed to be very great and wonderful, yet the calf wasn't even consuming it from his mother. I guess I was more attune to that becuse I was nursing my son when I saw the commercial. Even my husband saw the irony. I once read to my daughter an "On the Farm" type book in which the book mentioned that after the calf was born he was fed a special formula. I don't know what happened to that book, but it was the only time I read it to her. (The book was from the 70s and given to me from my mother who saved a bunch of books from my older brother, sister and me. My brother is almost 40, my sister is 35 and I'm 33 so it's pretty old for a book.) Even in other farm books, I read something different or skip the pages.

It is a bit ironic that in our church there is an older couple who owns a dairy farm. She has become our daughter's surrogate grandmother. She invited Elizabeth to come over when the time came for our son to be born. I would have been bummed to miss her first trip to a farm, but knew she would be distracted. However, I was induced and was able to make plans for her care.