Osteoporosis and Calcium

 I read some interesting thoughts and figures about osteoporosis and where to get your calcium I thought I should share seeing as I have so many people in my life who suffer from this issue.

John Robbins, in Diet for a New America reports:

The National Dairy Council has spent tens of millions of dollars to make us believe that osteoporosis can be prevented by drinking more milk and eating more dairy products. Yet throughout the world, he reports, the incidence of osteoporosis correlates directly with protein intake. Recent research has shown that with a greater intake of meat and diary products, there is a higher rate of osteoporosis…not the other way around! In fact, the world health statistics show that osteoporosis is more common in precisely those countries where dairy products are consumed in large quantities: the United States, Finland, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.

In his book, Living Foods for Optimal Health, Brian Clement agrees: “Unfortunately the meat and dairy industries speak louder then medical journals. Their multimillion-dollar advertising campaigns ignore what even the most conservative medical investigators no longer deny - excess protein robs our bodies of strength. With their high protein content, milk and meat actually contribute to the accelerating development of osteoporosis. Certainly most people do not know that one teaspoon of sea kelp mixed in a glass of water gives approximately a thousand times more calcium (without animal protein) then an eight ounce glass of milk. You can bet you won’t hear that information pop up in a catchy jingle.

The more protein in our diets, the more calcium we lose. Eating a high protein diet rich in dairy products is not a good way to get your calcium. Your best sources are green, leafy vegetables such as collards, kale, cabbage, lettuce, along with apricots, figs, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, almonds, and other raw foods.

~ Alissa Cohen in Living on Live Food

A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine shows that calcium supplementation has no effect on the rate osteoporosis occurs as compared to women who took no supplementation.

My MILK Problem

I want to start out by saying I don't like Milk, never have so I in my research I am trying not to bias my facts by leaning towards studies showing that milk is unhealthy.

In Ayurveda, according to Dr. Robert E. Svaboda, Milk is the perfect food. Milk is the only food given willingly and with love (as it is a mother giving milk to a child, normally). In some Ayurvedic medicine, milk is the only substance given to someone suffering Vata-type illness. (Milk is not for those with a lot of Kapha in their system). Svaboda also recommends that Milk never be drunk cold (cold drinks and food slow the digestive process) and is best for those with strong digestive fire (Pitta).

However,
Gisella Hoffman, and many other people who study nutrition and health, do not recommend milk, indeed they believe that it is unhealthy for adult humans to drink milk at all!
Cow's milk is made for an animal with 4 stomachs (not 1 like humans).
In Nature, milk is not meant for adult use at all, only for babes who cannot find nourishment for themselves.

As for the nutritional value of processed milk?
Hormones given to cows are proven to not be that great for human consumption.
Many people advocate the use of organic, non-pasteurized milk (milk straight from the cow in other words). However, this form of the milk can cause other illnesses such as parasites in the body (i.e. tapeworms).

Milk in general is praised for its Calcium and Vitamin D, but what about other sources?

Calcium Sources:
Sesame seeds, seaweed, dulse, kelp, green/leafy vegetables, almond (I do like Almond Milk), filbert, brazilnut, citrus peel, and sunflower seeds.

Vitamin D:
SUNLIGHT!

What have you found in health and education lectures, magazines, documentaries, etc about Milk?
What is your opinion about milk, how its processed, its nutritional value?
Do you like milk?