Drinking Milk Doesn’t Prevent Osteoporosis

Got Kale?

“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 U.S. 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 U.S. 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 one-hundred 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% of kale’s calcium and 54% of bok choy’s—is absorbed by the body! Plant foods also contain magnesium, which the body uses along with calcium to build bone.

The following table lists other nutrient-rich sources of calcium:

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 rheumatoid arthiritis 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. Build your diet around vegetables and fruits, limiting the use of animal products to one or two servings per week.