Milk does a body good, right? If you are a calf, yes. For us adults, not so much.
Exhaustive studies have shown that large consumption of milk does not increase our bone protection against fractures. In fact, it actually does the opposite. So if milk is not good for our bones, why are we drinking it? Maybe because the $47-billion-a-year dairy industry does a great job at trying to convince us differently, and has made the “milk: does a body good” slogan one many of us will never forget.
Unfortunately the truth is that all the pro-health advice most of us heard via ads, dietary guidelines, and health campaigns were really made to benefit the health of the dairy industry and not so much our health.
There is a phenomenon called the calcium paradox which is backed my many studies. Basically, scientists found that countries with the lowest milk consumption have the lowest rates of osteoporosis and bone fractures. Not exactly the concept that has been embedded in our heads for decades, right? And surprisingly, the countries with the highest dairy consumption have the highest rates of fractures.
If you enjoy having a glass of milk, try having unsweetened almond or unsweetened coconut milk instead.
How am I going to get my daily calcium intake if I shouldn’t drink cow milk?? No worries, there are plenty of healthy food options packed with calcium. Here are a just a few: spinach, collard greens, sardines, and almonds.
We won’t even get into all the other reasons of why cow milk is not good for us. Trust me, there are plenty so just try to eliminate it from your diet.
2 Responses
There is so much to be said on this topic- what a great introduction! Thanks for sharing your knowledge.
Yes indeed. Thanks Felicia 🙂