“Lattes are a good way to add extra calcium to your diet,” says Susan Bowerman, MS, RD, Assistant Director, UCLA Center for Human Nutrition. “They’re better than drinking coffee alone. The calcium and other nutrients in milk, protect bones to guard against osteoporosis, and with nonfat milk, you get the nutrition with few calories.”

Doesn’t that sound great? And coming from a college nutritionist even. Of course it only makes sense. Milk is good for you. Now they’re saying coffee is good for you (has antioxidents). So why wouldn’t a latte be even better?

The California Milk Processor Board also has this interesting information. “According to the National Coffee Association, coffee drinkers consume, on average, three cups of coffee per day. Seventy five percent of those cups are served with milk, which weighs in at about a quarter cup per coffee drink. That adds up to an average of 3/4 cup of milk per day, per coffee-drinking Californian, or 225 mg of calcium — which is nearly 25% of the calcium RDA for adults.”

It’s interesting to note that according to a survey done by the CMPB only 6 percent of coffee drinkers think they get calcium when drinking coffee with milk. We know better though.