SOURED MILK. The contention by some readers is that, once pasteurized, milk that becomes sour is no longer safe to consume. According to these readers, baking with sour milk should be considered only when it's raw milk that has soured. This was news to me, so I set out to confirm this information. I could find no credible resource to support the idea that pasteurized milk cannot be used in its sour state and that only soured raw milk should be considered in baking. True, souring happens more slowly in pasteurized milk, but there is no problem with using sour pasteurized milk. The University of Maine Cooperative Extension recommends that soured milk be used in baking, while spoiled milk should be thrown out. Spoiled to me means it's reached the chunky stage. As for the safety issue, the heat in the oven or skillet will kill off any harmful bacteria that have formed in the sour milk.

MANUAL UNDERWRITING. These days, more often than not, lenders look to people's credit scores (or in the case of a married couple, the average of their two scores) to determine whether they are creditworthy and to determine the terms of payback. In the case of the letter in question, you will recall that the husband had a poor credit score, which was preventing them from getting a mortgage. In my response to them, I did not suggest they ask for "manual underwriting," in which the lender sets the credit history aside and looks instead to the loan seeker's job, income, the fact that there is a huge down payment, etc. to qualify him for the loan. So my apologies for overlooking one option this couple might have. I hope they're reading. In the meantime, I willingly submit to 10 lashes with a semi-tarnished credit score.

FLUORIDE IN TAP WATER. Clearly, there is a segment of the U.S. population that questions the safety and effectiveness of fluoride, and I believe I heard from every member. These are passionate people. Even so, there is little evidence to support their claims. They say that fluoride is toxic to all humans, but I just do not believe that.

Scientific research continues to support the benefits of fluoride when it comes to preventing tooth decay and its safety at current recommended levels of 0.7 to 1.2 parts per million. Dramatic reductions in tooth decay in the past 30 years can be attributed to the fluoridation of the U.S. water supply. The American Dental Association, the United States Public Health Service, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the World Health Organization, among many other national and international organizations, endorse community water fluoridation. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recognized fluoridation of water as one of the 10 greatest public health achievements of the 20th century. Most of all, my dentist, Dr. Richard Oliver, highly recommends the benefits of fluoride, and that's good enough for me.

Mary Hunt is the founder of DebtProofLiving.com and author of 17 books, including "Debt-Proof Living." You can e-mail her at mary@everydaycheapskate.com, or write to Everyday Cheapskate, P.O. Box 2135, Paramount, CA 90723. To find out more about Mary Hunt and read her past columns, please visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.
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