For the millionth time, I recited, "Humans don't need milk beyond the age of weaning." I sighed. "If we were allowed to wean ourselves naturally, we would never, ever, ever need milk again, certainly not cow's milk. I've heard that calves won't even drink the product we create from their mother's milk."
She shook her head. She'd heard this all before. "How will she get her calcium?" she asked.
"From the same place the cows get it," I answered. "Green stuff." I took a deep breath and proceeded to challenge her. "Where did our ancestors get their calcium before they started milking cows?" She didn't answer, so I continued, "Beautiful people on television and billboard ads may claim that drinking milk builds our bones and prevents osteoporosis, but a 12-year Harvard study of 78,000 women showed that those who consumed the most calcium from dairy products broke more bones than those who got calcium from other sources."
Besides increasing osteoporosis risk, consumption of dairy products is linked to the development of a wide range of health problems, from Type 1 diabetes, heart disease, obesity, prostate and other cancers, to iron-deficiency anemia, constipation, and asthma.
I explained to my friend, again, that my husband has Type 1 diabetes, so my daughter likely has a genetic predisposition to developing it. She doesn't need the added trigger cow's milk is suspected of providing to the development of the disease.
In response to a petition filed by the Physician's Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) with the Federal Trade Commission in July 2000, a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) expert panel recommended that ads promoting whole milk should indicate the increased risk of prostate cancer and heart disease associated with drinking it. The panel didn't pronounce the milk industry's osteoporosis prevention claims to be false, but they noted that factors like exercise and nutrients other than calcium are important for bone health, and were wrongfully omitted in dairy industry ads.
According to PCRM nutritionists, the real threats to our bone health are not too little milk-as the dairy industry claims-but too much salt and animal protein combined with too little exercise and sunlight. Another way of looking at it is too little fruits and vegetables to balance the calcium loss promoted by animal protein and salt.
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