Got milk?

By BOB BATZ JR.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Thursday, May 03, 2007

Got milk?

Oh, we got milk all right.

In addition to whole, two-percent and one-percent fat, skim and super skim, we now also can choose to have organic milk, hormone-free milk, lactose-free milk, soy milks in a rainbow of flavors, rice milk, even almond milk.

Add to the list of nondairy alternatives, with an emphasis on alternative, "hemp milk."

The "milk," which just began to be sold this year, is made from the "nuts" or seeds of the industrial hemp plant, which is illegal for U.S. farmers to grow.

That hasn't been allowed, except for an experimental stint in Hawaii, since the late 1950s. This is law, even though the seeds and fibers from the industrial plant contain only trace amounts of the psychoactive tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, which is what makes the leaves and flowering tops of regular Cannabis sativa marijuana.

A growing number of makers of hemp milk _ they use seeds from Canada, where hemp grows legally _ tout the health benefits of other substances in the THC-free drink, which is selling legally and briskly across the country.

Cartons for Living Harvest Hempmilk (www.livingharvest.com) brag about it as a "balanced source of omega-3 and -6" _ essential fatty acids _ as well as "naturally rich in essential nutrients" and quality protein.

Indeed, the nutrition facts breakdown for one cup (8 ounces) can make you feel as if you're hallucinating: 46 percent of your daily calcium and 43 percent of your phosphorus?

The beverage is fortified with other vitamins and minerals, including D2 (25 percent), B12 (25 percent) and riboflavin (31).

What it doesn't present is any allergic reactions for those who can't consume dairy, tree nuts or soy, and no cholesterol or cane sugar. The manufacturer says unlike soy protein, hemp protein doesn't contain high levels of enzyme inhibitors, phytates ("which can interfere with the proper assimilation of essential minerals") or oligosaccharides ("which cause flatulence and stomach distress").

Nor does it contain any THC, as the company guarantees that it contains "0.00 percent" THC.

Plus, it comes in chocolate.

It's also available in vanilla and plain, in boxes that don't need refrigeration before opening. That's the case with another brand, Manitoba Harvest Hemp Bliss (www.manitobaharvest.com), which is organic.

A 32-ounce carton costs about $4.

Other edible hemp products you can buy include hemp oil, hemp protein powder and shelled hemp seeds, which can be found in everything from salad dressing to frozen dessert _ hemp "ice cream."

But it's the milk that's moving more hemp into shopping carts.

"The hemp milk is selling like crazy," says Kara Holsopple, member services coordinator for East End Food Co-op in Point Breeze, Pa.. When the store started offering samples last month, about half of customers were tentative, but now, "People are buying it by the case."

One is the Co-op's point-of-sale coordinator, Erin Myers. As a vegan (someone who eats no animal products), she was interested in it as a source of omega fatty acids. As a woman, she liked its high iron and calcium content. But as a person who likes to make fruit shakes for breakfast, she loves the taste. "I compare it to the best soy milk I've had, and not as grainy _ smoother."

Leslie Bonci tried chocolate hemp milk and likes it. The director of sports medicine nutrition at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center says she has several vegan patients who consume the milk and other hemp products as a source of protein. She likes it as a vegetable source of calcium and of omega fatty acids, too, now that many people getting more concerned about pollutants in fish. She says hemp "is a foodstuff that actually does work very, very well."

Maybe not always as well as it's hyped. Some of the marketing makes it sound like hemp will bring you eternal life and offers to be a skin-care model.

But with hemp milk, you can think of it as something with which to wet your Wheaties.

(Bob Batz Jr. can be reached at bbatz(at)post-gazette.com. For more stories visit scrippsnews.com)

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.shns.com.)