The other night, after we gave a lecture in which we mentioned
that we seldom recommend drinking milk, one of our guests jumped up and asked,
“Well, if we don’t drink milk, how are we ever going to get our calcium?”
The answer is: Plenty of ways. And milk isn’t the best of them.
In fact, the Federal Trade Commission recently asked the USDA to convene a panel
of scientists to examine the claims in the milk industry’s ads that feature “Got
Milk?”
The panel found no support for the claims that milk improves
sports performance or that it builds bone and prevents osteoporosis. They did
find evidence of links between milk and heart disease as well as between milk
and prostate cancer. And they pointed out the suffering caused by lactose
intolerance for over 75 percent of the world’s population, particularly among
members of specific ethnic groups, including African Americans, Asians, Latinos,
and Native Americans – who have been featured prominently in these ads.
Milk is nature’s perfect food, the ads say – but only if you are
a calf. The truth is that medical research has linked milk to many common and
preventable health problems. It is a significant source of saturated fat in our
diet, and has been linked to Type 1 Diabetes, as well as chronic constipation
and anemia in children.
In fact, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends against
feeding any milk products to infants less than one year of age. And milk may
actually account for an increase in fracture risk, instead of preventing
osteoporosis (see American Journal of Public Health, 1997, vol. 87, pgs.
992-97, and the American Journal of Epidemiology, 1994, vol. 139, pages
439-505).
For many, milk is the cause of allergies, sinus problems, eczema,
and ear infections as well as a potential source of irritable bowel syndrome and
digestive problems.
Think about it: 75 percent of the world’s population doesn’t
drink milk, except breast milk in infancy. Where do they get their extra
calcium? Nowhere. Most African women ingest little calcium – perhaps 300 to
500mg a day – yet they rarely come down with osteoporosis. This is because they
are not drinking alcohol, colas, or caffeine, or eating salt or excess animal
protein – all of which can leach calcium out of your bones and into the toilet.
So if you’re ingesting salt, sugar, alcohol, and cola, but you’re
not taking in a lot of calcium – rich greens, sardines, sesame seeds, nuts or
beans – you do need higher amounts of this mineral. The easy answer? Eat those
greens, sardines, sesame seeds, and so on. (You can take supplements, too, but
most of your calcium should come from your diet, because your body will absorb,
and use, it better.)
