Got bone problems? If you've “got milk”, there's a chance you're increasing your risk.
I'm Dr. Sofia Pineda Ochoa with Meat Your Future. Today, I'll be talking about dairy.
Last October 2014, a study came out in the British Medical Journal and
was reported by many news networks because the results were so impressive. Here’s a
clip from Fox News Channel: “Some brand new research to tell you about that goes
against almost everything you've ever heard about the benefits of drinking
milk. A new study shows that in-taking a higher intake of milk may actually cause an increased
rate in fractures, and even death in both men and women.” The study included
more than 100,000 people and found that women who drink three or more glasses of
milk per day had a 60% increased risk of developing hip fractures and a 93%
increased the risk of mortality, and that for each glass of milk per day
the risk of all-cause mortality increased by 15%. Another study, this one
from Harvard in 2014,
found that, “Greater milk consumption during teenage years was not associated
with a lower risk of hip fractures in older adults.” As a matter of fact, they
found that “each additional glass of milk per day during teenage years was
associated with a significance 9% higher risk of hip fracture in men[.]”
Another Harvard professor did a study of fracture incidence and calcium and
dairy intake in 10 countries, and found that a higher consumption of calcium
was associated with a higher risk of bone fractures. United States made the
top of the list on this graph. “[S]usceptible populations apparently
consume more, rather than less calcium[.]” “[H]ip fractures are more frequent in
populations where dairy products are commonly consumed and calcium
intakes are relatively high.” “The first rule in formulating public health policy
should be the assurance that the recommendations are not detrimental.
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.”
Harvard’s website from their School of Public Health said this about dairy and bones:
“[C]ountries such as India, Japan, and Peru where average daily calcium intake is as low as
300 milligrams per day (less than a third of the U.S. recommendation for adults,
ages 19 to 50), the incidence of bone fractures is quite low…. [S]tudies suggest
that high calcium intake doesn't actually appear to lower a person's
risk of osteoporosis…. Clearly, although more research is needed, we cannot be
confident that high milk or calcium intake is safe.”
Dr. T. Colin Campbell from Cornell University, one of the most prominent
researchers in nutritional biochemistry, recommends that people eat plenty of
“whole plant foods,… avoid animal foods, including dairy” to avoid osteoporosis.
As we know, many foods contain
calcium other than milk, like a leafy greens, and many legumes and vegetables.
That’s something that I myself didn’t fully grasp some time ago. Like many, I was
under the erroneous assumption that calcium came exclusively from dairy
products, which I now know could not be further from the truth.
Actually calcium from plant-based foods can also be easier for our bodies to
absorb. “Some substances can interfere with the absorption of calcium, including
proteins and phosphorus, both of which are abundant in cow’s milk.” So, even
with their calcium content, animal foods may not be the best source for this.
And so it happens that here in the United States we have one of the highest rates
of hip fractures in the world. We are also one of the highest dairy consumers.
In this study, they found an almost linear association with animal protein
consumption (which includes dairy) and hip fractures. Hip fractures are generally a
good predictor of bone health. So, it appears our bone health in general is
not doing okay here in the United States. And, although diet is not the only risk
factor, it is one that is significant and should not be ignored. The National
Osteoporosis Foundation estimates that here in the United States, “one in two
women and (up to) one in four men over the age of 50 will break a bone due to
osteoporosis.” This review, published in the American Journal of Clinical
Nutrition, notes that “[i]t is unclear whether dairy foods promote bone health[.]”
Therefore, “[t]he objective of this review was to determine whether scientific
evidence supports the recommendations that dairy foods be consumed for
improved bone health in the general [United States] population. Noting that,
“[d]airy foods have not been part of the diets of adults
of adults for most of human evolution[,]”
they reviewed the outcome of 46 studies published since 1985. Conclusions
included, “the body of scientific evidence appears inadequate to support a
recommendation for daily intake of dairy foods to promote bone health in the
general [United States] population. It appears the dairy is not only not
necessary, but that it may actually be detrimental to our bones and health. We
have also discussed how dairy has a high amount of phosphorus and protein, both of
which could interfere with calcium absorption. Another mechanism for calcium
loss is that animal protein in general, including meat, eggs, fish and dairy,
contain higher amounts of sulfur-containing amino acids. This
results in a state of acidosis in our body, which our body than compensates by
leaching calcium base stores from our bones to neutralize the acids. As you can
imagine, over time the leaching of calcium can weaken our bones.
Additionally, animal protein in general including meat,
eggs, fish and dairy, results in increased calcium loss in our urine. It makes our
urine more acidic, and calcium re-absorption is decreased. So, it is excreted in our urine
and can result in increased risk of kidney stones. Now we know green
vegetables and leafy vegetables and many legumes are very high in calcium, and that
calcium absorption rates can be higher when we eat green veggies rather than
dairy. Here, we see milk having a fractional absorption rate of 32%, versus
many vegetable having the absorption rate well over 50%. Maybe that's why this
study found an inverse relationship between lettuce consumption and hip
fracture. The “[r]isk of hip fracture was …inversely associated with lettuce
consumption…for one or more servings per day compared with one or fewer servings
per week[.]” And bone issues are not the only problematic things associated
with dairy. There's a slew of severe medical problems and risks associated
with dairy itself, from hormone-related cancers to immune related pathologies,
apart from infections that are transmitted through dairy products and
contamination of hormones, pesticides and antibiotics that they often have. Not to
mention the overall environmental devastation associated with the
livestock industry. And, in order to produce milk, like any mammal, dairy cows
must be continuously impregnated year-after-year. This result in an excess of
calves that the dairy industry cannot use. The calves are taken from their mothers
usually within hours of being born, which causes an immense suffering and
distress to both the mother and her baby. The male calves will never produce milk,
so they are often sold by the dairy farm for veal, where they are
typically killed after a few weeks of confinement in crates so small that
their muscles don't develop to keep them “tender”, and with diets low in iron to keep
their muscles pink when eaten. The female calves are either used for the next
generation of milk producers, or they suffer the same fate as their brothers, if
they are considered “surplus”. And, the dairy cows themselves are ultimately
killed too when their milk production declines, which occurs at a fraction of
their natural lifespans. The cruelty that is necessarily involved to obtain
dairy is truly horrific, and it is completely unnecessary, which makes all
this suffering that the cows ensure that much worse. And it's no
different, by the way, for other animals like goats or sheep, who are similarly used
for their milk. Please consider these issues and abstain from consuming
dairy products — for your own health, for the environment, and for the animals.
Thank you very much.