Milk and Osteoporosis

“Dairy products are far from the solution, and may very
well be a cause of the problem,” says Anna Quisel, M.D. in
an article about osteoporosis. The dairy industry has done
a terrific job of convincing the public that drinking milk
is the key to adequate calcium consumption and strong
bones. However, the calcium in dairy products is not as
easily absorbed by the body as is the calcium in plant
foods. But many people are unaware that calcium is even
available in any other foods. Moreover, dairy products
pose a host of undesirable risks.

Milk is touted as protection against osteoporosis. When
calcium levels in the blood get low, little cells are activated
that begin to break down bone tissue and release calcium.
When calcium levels in the blood are high, the little cells
that build bone are activated and they begin to store
calcium. It seems simple: Want strong bones? Consume
more calcium. But it’s actually a bit more complicated.
As it turns out, countries such as the United States and
Canada where diets are highest in calcium also have the
highest rates of osteoporotic bone fractures. In a typical
American diet, calcium comes from milk, milk products,
and supplements. In Japan, daily calcium intake is less
than in the United States and it comes from soy products
and vegetables. Yet Japanese women have fewer hip
fractures. How can this be?

One reason is that animal proteins tend to pull calcium
from the bones and excrete it in the urine; plant proteins
do not have this effect. Another reason is that while milk
may appear to have more calcium when compared by
serving size to other sources such
as leafy green vegetables or
soy beans, less of the calcium
found in dairy products is
absorbed than that found in plant foods.

Consider a 100 calorie serving of skim milk; it has
334 mg of calcium, but only 107 mg—approximately
one-third—are absorbed. In contrast, 100 calories of kale or bok choy offer 449 mg and 787 mg of calcium,
respectively. More than half of the calcium in these
nutrient-rich foods—59 percent of kale’s calcium and 54
percent of bok choy’s—is absorbed by the body! Plant
foods also contain magnesium, which the body uses along
with calcium to build bone.

Besides their extra calcium availability, these foods don’t
carry the problematic milk sugars and proteins found in
dairy products. Milk proteins are the leading cause of food
allergies. Found even in low fat and fat-free dairy products,
these proteins may cause an immune system response
that has been linked to severe cases of atherosclerosis,
or hardening of the arteries. A similar immune response
has also been linked to Type I diabetes; in fact, there
is a direct correlation between Type I diabetes and the
amount of dairy products consumed. For some people,
immune responses to dairy products may aggravate
rheumatoid arthritis; many individuals have found
that eliminating these foods from their diets reduces
RA symptoms. Because milk is deficient in iron and
can even bind with the iron in other food sources and
prevent its absorption, milk is the number one cause
of iron-deficiency anemia in
children. The lack of fiber in
dairy products is another
count against them;
low-fiber diets lead to
constipation, varicose
veins, hemorrhoids,
hiatal hernias, and
colon cancer. Growth
hormones injected
into dairy cows
raise the levels of a substance called IGF-1 which may increase the risk
of certain cancers. Even low fat dairy products contain
saturated fat, the culprit in both heart attacks and cancers,
the two leading causes of death in America. The hormones
and saturated fat in milk and milk products can also
worsen symptoms of both PMS and menopause; recall the
plant-based Japanese diet: the Japanese don’t even have
a word for hot flashes!
Compared calorie for calorie, milk just doesn’t stack
up. The healthiest sources of calcium are leafy green
vegetables and legumes. We would do well to move more
toward a vegetable and fruit-based diet, limiting the use of
animal products to one or two servings per week.