Since childhood, milk has been an important part of my nutritional life. I drink milk with almost every meal. Whether it's milk and cereal for breakfast or a glass of milk for dinner, I always drink milk. For this reason, I chose to research some of the benefits and, in particular, some of the possible health risks that people may be overlooking. This article will discuss Alberta milk, the nutritional aspects of milk, some environmental factors, and possible health risks, especially how milk affects diabetes. All milk purchased in Alberta stores is produced by Alberta farmers. There are approximately 570 producers in Alberta, along with approximately 80,000 cows on farms. Up to 95% of the cows are Holstein breeds. They produce 650,000,000 liters of milk each year, making it the fourth largest milk production industry in Canada. Additionally, milk is transported over 8 million kilometers throughout Alberta each year because each herd is milked at least twice a day, seven days a week, every day of the year. Finally, the milk is processed in one of 22 factories in Alberta. This allows approximately 10,000 Albertans to rely on their dairy industry for their own specific uses, such as use by vegetarians, researchers, nutritionists and milk haulers. For these reasons, Alberta's dairy industry is considered necessary due to the fact that a lot of milk is consumed (Alberta Milk, 2013). Milk is considered a very nutritious food source containing proteins, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins and minerals, in particular calcium and phosphorus; therefore, it can be considered a complete energy source. Compared to other animals, whole cow's milk is considered the richest in calcium and vitamin D. Historically, cow's milk... middle of paper... insulin and glucose (Lacroix & Li-Chan, 2013, p.412). Milk, in most cases, has been seen as a nutritional food source. However, due to the increase in many health risks, people are wondering if there are any negative outcomes from this nutritional source. Many cases suggest not giving milk to newborns before the 12th month to allow further maturation of the body and defense system. Although research has been conducted, more research needs to be done to find out the sole cause of the risks. You might wonder that perhaps with the increasing population in Alberta due to the oil industry, many shortcuts could be taken to produce our food sources faster. Specifically, in this case, changing livestock nutrition can alter the effects and nutrients of the milk produced, thus creating a domino effect down the food chain..