Two Myths about Milk * the best source of calcium, good for bones

In general, milk is considered to be a health food. Drinking more milk can help us strengthen our bones and absorb calcium that we need. The kind of concepts has been deeply rooted in people’s mind. For example, kids are always recommended to drink at least three cup of milk a day in order to grow up healthy, stronger and taller just like an upstanding tree. And adult drink lot of milk to prevent osteoporosis. But have you ever wondered about milk? Is milk really good for your bones? Is it really the best source of calcium?

Before we talk about these issues, let’s look back at the history of milk.

In the book Lait Mensonges et Propagande which written by Thierry Souccar, he mentioned a reference, according to the historian Bruno LAURIOUX, after the Neolithic Age the relations between Europe and dairy can be divided into north and south Europe. Northern Europeans are considered as barbarians who did not farm and drank beast milk also wore the pelt or animal skin. On the other hand, however, Southern Europeans are the population who work in agriculture. At that time milk is a symbol of lower classes, however, in the 20th century, milk has became one of a common diets. From then on, dairy industry began to convey a message: milk is good for bones and health to the people.

Drinking more milk≠Getting more calcium Actually there is no relation between the calcium in the diets that you eat and the amount of calcium that goes into the blood for bones and teeth. Milk contains the amount of calcium, approximately 1200mg per liter and human milk contains 300mg of calcium per liter. It is apparent that human milk contains less calcium than cow’s milk, however, breastfed babies are allowed to gain more calcium into their body. How come? This is because the calcium to phosphorus rate in milk is 2:1; it is also high in phosphorus. And in fact, the phosphorus can interfere with calcium absorption. Thus drinking more milk does not mean your body will absorb more calcium.

What kind of negative influence can milk have on our bones?

According to this diagram from the blog, Raw Body and Soul, “In countries where most dairy products are consumed, such as the U.S. and Sweden, there are most cases of osteoporosis, whereas in Asia, where these products are almost not consumed at all, suffering from osteoporosis is very rare.”, and it seems “milk, contrary to popular opinion, does not strengthen bones, but it damages them.” Besides, another research has also shown the comparison of bone density between Japanese and British women. Japanese women get proper amount of calcium through the beans, vegetables, and little fish they eat, whereas British women get calcium which more than 40% is from the dairy products. However, compared with British, less than 60% of Japanese women had femoral neck facture.

Why milk is bad for our bones?

Bone is an organ which keeps regenerating. And the kind of process is called bone remodeling. According to the website, wiseGEEk, “Bone Remodeling is a continuous process of bone resorption and formation for the purpose of maintaining normal bone mass.” The cell responses to bone formation which called osteoblast and the other cell responses to bone resorption named osteoclast. However, the osteoblast will not be supplied unlimitedly by Mesenchymal stem cell which “can differentiate into a variety of cell types.” As we get older the ability to make osteoblast will decline. Then the numbers of osteoblast will certainly decrease. And our bones will become weak eventually. In order to keep our bones healthy strong we should not to stimulate osteoblast activity. Unfortunately, protein in dairy products will excite osteoblasts and increases the numbers of it, as well as, milk itself contains a kind of calcium which can stimulate bone remodeling activity. Moreover, a factor in dairy products named IGF-1 which do influence on osteoblasts to increase bone remodeling. These are the reasons for why milk is bad for our bones. As we have already said, “contrary to general opinion and media promotion, milk is not really good for us.” So when you try to get the health benefit from milk how about think before you drink?