Milk: A Different White Lie Part I

The dairy industry has garnered a windfall from it's advertising campaign with it's widely known "Milk. It does a body good" slogan. Does milk do a body good? Evidence that milk is only intended for unweaned creatures, including humans, has been mounting for years. With all the television and print commercials along with huge government subsidies you wouldn't know it. Milk, without doubt, has issues as it relates to the human body. We have been told to drink milk for its nutrient packed goodness especially as it pertains to calcium but a closer look is needed to assist in making an informed decision.

The calcium content of milk as long been the trumpet sounded by the dairy industry as to why we should consume their products. We, the consumer, have obediently danced to the sound of their music in order to sustain growth, especially in children, and maintain strong, healthy bones. Rarely, if ever, are the biological mechanisms of calcium absorption discussed. For calcium to be absorbed it must be found in a 2:1 ratio with magnesium. That is to say for every 2 parts of calcium consumed there must be at least 1 part of magnesium present to make the calcium available for use in the body. Milk is calcium rich but magnesium poor. In fact the calcium/magnesium ratio in milk is 10:1! That makes the excess calcium in milk unavailable to the body. Why, do you ask? Calcium from milk must be converted into a usable form by magnesium which also helps to solidify calcium into bone. A person would have to take a magnesium supplement with milk to absorb all the calcium or risk creating a magnesium imbalance in the rest of the body as magnesium is diverted from other functions to attend to the excess calcium floating around. Consuming cheese for its calcium content is even worse when you consider the calcium/magnesium ratio is 28:1. A study involving 120,000 U.S. women printed in the American Journal of Public Health, 1997 had some startling results. The 12 year study found that women who consumed 2 or more glasses of milk per day had a 45% higher risk of hip fractures and 5% increase in forearm fractures than women who drank less. The study director, Diane Feskanich, advises not to rely on milk for prevention of osteoporosis. Good sources of calcium and magnesium can be found in dark green leafy vegetables, almonds and figs.

Next week the discussion will focus on a seldom discussed but udderly (cheesy pun...wow a pun in a pun!) important hormone called insulin-like growth factor or IGF for short.