There’s an interesting article, Got Osteoporosis?, by Emily Yoffe, on Slate magazine. It’s about our bones, and all the things we might be doing to ruin them. You probably think you already know the article’s conclusion, but you would be wrong.
I’ll cut to the chase: the article suggests that perhaps drinking milk isn’t the best path to healthy bones.
Yoffe highlights smarty-pants researchers like Mark Hegsted, retired Harvard professor of nutrition and T. Colin Campbell, professor of nutritional biochemistry at Cornell University, who believe that the standard calcium recommendations may be…well…wrong.
(even if these recommendations do lead to bare-chested photos of David Beckham.)
Here are two of the ideas at work among the dairy-doubters:
1. Our high rate of osteoporosis and bone fracture are not the result of insufficient calcium. They are instead, the result of too much animal protein. There are plenty of population studies to suggest that as consumption of animal protein increases, osteoporosis and bone fracture also increase. Which may explain why in America — where a whoppin’ 70% of our diet comes from animal sources — 8 million women and 2 million men have osteoporosis, and we suffer 1.5 million fractures annually.
The basic idea is that the animal protein, which is high in sulfur-containing amino acids, requires the body to buffer the effects of those amino acids. Which it does by leaching calcium from the bones. So, while we may consume large amounts of calcium, we piss that calcium away. Literally.
Says Campbell:
The correlation between animal protein [intake] and fracture rates in different societies is as strong as that between lung cancer and smoking.
Yowza.
2. Getting too much calcium at a young age may permanently damage our ability to absorb calcium efficiently as we age. In other words, we absorb the calcium early on, and develop nice, dense bones. But then, as we age, all that early calcium harms our ability to absorb and keep calcium. It seems perverse, but it appears to be supported by a number of population studies. Says Hegsted:
[H]ip fractures are more frequent in populations where dairy products are commonly consumed and calcium intakes are relatively high. Is there any possibility that this is a causal relationship? …It will be embarrassing enough if the current calcium hype is simply useless; it will be immeasurably worse if the recommendations are actually detrimental to health.
Campbell points to the Chinese, who consume less than half the calcium we’re told is necessary, most from plant sources like leafy green vegetables. Only 10% of their diet comes from animal sources, although they consume more calories. Yet the Chinese have only one-fifth the incidence of hip fractures than Americans.
(Cambell also notes that rural Chinese girls begin menstruating much later than Americans — typical age is 15 —that Chinese women have only two-thirds of the estrogen circulating through their bodies compared with Americans, and they have far lower rates of breast cancer. Connection? He thinks so).
But in the end, Yoffe notes, this whole argument — Drink Milk! No, Don’t! — might be like shouting into the wind. With all the sodas we Americans are guzzling, and with all the sodium with which we’re smothering our foods, and with all of the exercise we’re just not getting, this whole darn dairy-no dairy argument is like opera companies and symphony orchestras fighting over teen audiences.
“While they’re fighting,” quips Yoffe, “they forgot to notice the audience is at American Pie.”
Which means we’ve got plenty more weakened, fractured bones to look forward to.
Now if you will excuse me, I’m going to go eat some yogurt and cheese. No I’m not. Yes I am. No, I’m not. Yes I am…
And so on.
I read about this in a book called Eat to Live by Dr. Joel Fuhrman. I was surprised. I’d always thought dairy was a good thing, and I’m sure it is in some perspectives, but this one is supposed to be the blue chip play for eating/drinking dairy and if it’s wrong, oy.
Yes, it’s true that Americans eat lots of animal foods and have abysmal health, but there are plenty of traditional diets worldwide that defy the animal foods = poor health mantra (Inuit, Masai, eg). We also eat loads of refined vegetable oils, transfats, refined grains, sugar, etc. Additionally, the animal foods that we do eat are of very poor quailty (pasteurized milk and grainfed beef, eg.) Here’s an interesting rebuttal to Campbell’s “The China Study” for pondering: http://www.cholesterol-and-health.com/China-Study.html
TraditionalFoodist – that’s a great, great point, and thanks for the link. There’s a lot there to take in, but it’s great food for thought.
One thought that I had as I read your comment was about all the research that’s been done on how what-animals-eat impacts what-nutrition-they-offer (in other words, what what-you-eat eats). There’s plenty of evidence that fish that eat grains on farms have lower omega-3s than fish that eat algae as they would in the wild. Milk and meat from pastured cows contains more omega-3s, more beta-carotene, more CLA, less fat, less saturated fat, etc. etc. than those fed corn and other grains.
Which leads me to wonder if the problem isn’t the animal protein per se, but rather the quality of the animals from which the protein comes. This is just conjecture here, but something about it feels right to me. The Inuit and the Masai are consuming very different kinds of animal protein than those of us in industrialized nations who are downing corn-fed burgers at alarming rates.
And, yes: it’s not just the burgers. It’s also the cokes and french fries and Big Gulps and skittles with which we’re consuming them.
Great point. Thanks.
cow’s milk is designed to grow baby cows, not baby humans, so it isn’t surprising that perhaps all the dairy the got milk folks are encouraging us to eat/drink aren’t the ticket for strong human bones.
Hi, back for only a second comment (I can’t remember how I logged in for the chard recipe comment, but it is me). So I would like to vouch for alternate ways of getting calcium. I actually agree with all of the comments- great points all! In other cultures where meat is a scarcity, treat, only used in minuscule amounts, most people get calcium from wild sources as well. For instance wild greens have a large, large amount of AVAILABLE calcium. Part of the milk “issue” is that our adult human bodies can’t access much of the good stuff in milk. So while the dairy industry isn’t really lying by saying that milk has tons of nutrients, it’s not quite true that adults can get a whole lot of good from it. (I heartily vouch for the beautiful wonderousness of whole milk yogurt. Whoa, that’s good for the guts right there! Fermentation and active cultures makes those milk nutrients available to many more people.)
So the way I get calcium: nettle leaf infusion. Yes, it is a traditional herbalist thing. Wild stinging nettle, collected while it is young and green. It can be used dried but is best fresh. Simply boil a quart of water, add an ounce of dried herb (I just add what looks like a lot) and let steep for 4 hours. HOURS… this makes it an infusion, not just a tea. From this infusion, you get the real heart of the plants minerals and nutrients. Add honey if you need to, add mint to change the flavor. It is green and pleasant and great iced!
Just out of curiosity, what about these two researchers is so compelling? Perhaps its worth looking a bit further to see if what they say holds water.
Campbell, especially, is a source I would view with a skeptic’s eye. I didn’t find his China Study to be very credible, for instance, so I would look very carefully at his studies of dairy, too.
Have you seen this? http://www.marksdailyapple.com/calorie-restriction-bone-loss/
We don’t seem to hear enough about weight-bearing movement/exercise in the conventional advice about bone health. Guess the Got Milk campaign doesn’t make any money off it. Guess this means I should be doing more housework for healthy bones, huh?
I can see it now, an ad for a mop that is hard to push or a vacuum cleaner that weighs a ton, but it’s great for your bones! LOL
So my bones areterrible and i wasnt a meat eater or a milk drinker when i was young. .reference to MEAT HAVIN EFFECT ON BONES.