Dairy products don't just taste good, they can also help you combat many health issues. Vitamin D deficiencies and calcium deficiencies, which lead to osteoporosis, are both very common in the United States, and the nutrients found in milk are effective weapons against them.

Vitamin D is contained in milk and some fortified foods, but it requires ultraviolet rays of the sun to activate it to a form the body can use. It's an important nutrient for strong bones as it helps the intestines absorb calcium and phosphorous. Recent studies have suggested that vitamin D might have an effect in reducing breast, colon and prostate cancers.

Millions of people in the United States don't get enough vitamin D because the sun's rays are not intense enough. During the cooler months, vitamin D activity from the sun's rays is much less adequate than in the summer. Studies at Creighton University in Nebraska calculated the daily skin dose of vitamin D that 26 men who worked outdoors during the summer would have received. They brought the men back to assess how much vitamin D they lost over the winter. The team estimated that the amount of vitamin D that the group had received daily from the sun during the summer was very adequate, but when the men were reassessed during the late winter of the following year, vitamin D levels had fallen by two-thirds. While recommended daily doses of the vitamin are 200 IU per day for adults 19 to 50, 400 IU for those 51-70, and 600 IU for those over 70, the study recommended that during the winter 1,000 IUs a day are needed to keep vitamin D levels from dropping.

However, getting too much can be harmful, and no one should have more than 2,000 IU per day.

U.S. government blood tests suggest a surprising number of Americans do not get currently recommended amounts, especially those with dark-pigmented skin that does not produce as much of the vitamin from sunlight. The latest research shows that teens may be at an increased risk for vitamin D deficiency because they don't get enough milk on a daily basis or enough sunlight in winter.

When you can't take in enough vitamin D naturally from the sun, you should drink milk daily. A cup of milk contains one-fourth of the daily requirement. Fatty fish also provide a high percentage of the recommended allotment.

Calcium helps build bone density to prevent the disease osteoporosis. Osteoporosis is the steady, progressive loss of bone density. The “silent crippler” is a painful, bone-crippling disease that makes your bones grow brittle and more susceptible to fracture. In the United States today, 10 million individuals already have osteoporosis and 18 million more have low bone mass. Right now, 28 million Americans are affected by osteoporosis. One out of every two women and one out of every eight men over 50 will suffer an osteoporosis-related fracture in their lifetime.

Although most people suffering from osteoporosis are older, this is a disease you can help prevent when you're young. By getting plenty of calcium through low-fat dairy products and getting plenty of exercise, you can do a lot toward keeping yourself from getting all bent out of shape. It's especially important for teenagers to get plenty of calcium in their diets because 20 percent of bone growth happens during the teens. Bones reach their full mass density potential around age 35, so you must continue to maintain sufficient calcium levels.

To incorporate more calcium into your diet, try making the following small changes.

• Instead of black coffee, substitute a cafe latte made with fat-free milk, which contains 40 percent of the daily value of calcium.

• Replace some traditional desserts. Chocolate pudding contains 15 percent of the daily value of calcium, compared to 2 percent in chocolate cake. Custard contains 20 percent of the daily value of calcium, compared to 2 percent in cherry pie.

• Grab a carton of milk instead of soda - you'll be getting 30 percent of the daily value of calcium.

• Satisfy your craving for chocolate with a glass of chocolate milk instead of a candy bar - a milk chocolate candy bar has 8 percent of the daily value of calcium while chocolate milk has 30 percent.

• Try bran cereal with a 1/2 cup milk, which has 30 percent of the daily value of calcium, instead of a bran muffin.

Molly O'Hara is the Cayuga County Dairy Princess.