Some of the health benefits of milk

People seem to insist that cow milk is the only possible way to get a sufficient quantity of calcium.

The only reason they think this is because the dairy industry has done such an incredible job over the last 70 years equating milk with calcium and strong bones.

Well, fact is that spinach, figs, broccoli, salmon, sesame seeds, and lots of other items are high in calcium. There are also tons of foods, like soy milk or cereal or vitamins or OJ, that are calcium fortified. Of course you can also supplement with a calcium supplement like calcium carbonate.

There is nothing "essential" about cow milk, and the only reason it's the "preferred" milk for humans is that it's the cheapest to produce in large quantities.

I drink milk because I like it and no one is going to convince me not to.

I've always attributed me never breaking a bone (until last year) and never having a dental cavity to how much milk I drink but maybe it was nothing to do with my milk consumption.

I do drink a pint or so of milk a day though.

I was told to drink a pint of milk a day when I was growing up by my Doctor.

Still drink loads of milk but not because of what the doc told me, just because it tastes good.

I don't drink milk, but that has NOTHING to do with being "cruel" to the cows. I just don't like it. I take a calcium supplement and am just fine.

As a side note, I was called a "communist" once because I said I don't like milk

I don't like milk..never really have. I get my calcium other ways.

Milk is essential for cookie consumption.

And cake.

Yeah, definately for cake too.

Of course it is. Just ask grandpa.

What that old soak? Just because he's been milking grandma for years.


rogY

Huh?

I'm not going to argue that there aren't other ways to get calcium in your body, but you have to understand that taking milk completely out of the equation leaves you with very little food left to get your calcium from, with very little bits of calcium in them.

Dairy products all contain milk in them of some form so say, you don't want to drink milk because of ethical reasons, you can't have yogurt, cheeses, ice cream...ect. I know people who are lactose intolerant to the extreme and cannot have any dairy except the soy milk. You can, however find soy versions of all those products. It's more than what I can afford, but you can.

Soy milk, if I'm not mistaken, and it's products have at least the same amount, if not more calcium than cow milk.

The problem with this thread is that both sides are spewing a bunch of crap that no one in the medical community that I know of supports on either side.

You need calcium. The best source for that is dairy products. Even milk is "calcium supplemented" but still remains the best source of high amounts of calcium (whether it is cow milk or soy milk).

The WORST way to get calcium (according to every doctor I've been to, many who have yelled at me about my lack of milk consumption) is by pill supplement. There are myths about contamination and such, but the truth is, your body only absorbs x amount of calcium from those pills and it's not anywhere near enough. Every doctor I've talked to in my time have told me the same damn thing, "if your not going to drink milk, then eat calcium rich foods, stay away from a supplement".

Here's a comparison chart for calcium in foods:

Milk

Other than milk

As you can see, dairy still ranks the top of the list.

The reason there is an increase in osteoporosis is many people are misinformed and think that milk is all they need to keep their bones healthy. So, they don't bother with other calcium enriched food. Whereas, someone who maybe just doesn't like the taste of milk, will actively find other ways to consume calcium to compensate (based on the same misinformation). This doesn't negate that both parties are consuming dairy products.

The truth is, any diet at all that eliminates any part of food consumption is dangerous. The most extreme case I saw of this was Dr. Adkins. He followed his fool hearty diet for many many years and when he was literally forced into a healthy balanced diet, he ballooned up and died weeks later. I've seen this happen with all diet fads, vegan and vegetarian lifestyles (in cases where a dairy substitution is not used). The true key to being healthy is watching portions, and making sure that there is an array of different nutritional foods on your plate. I mean face it, a dinner of soy beans, soy milk, and soy meat substitute is not going to give you any better chance of nutritional enhancement than that of the Adkins' diet of meat meat and more meat.

The other thing that most people have wrong about how to eat a healthy diet is cooking their food. Meat is one of the only things out there that doesn't loose it's nutritional value with cooking (which is very good). But with most veggies and fruits, the rawer the better. Any time you get a processed food product (like with many of the commercial soy products) all nutritional value has been drained from it and then unnaturally put back in. Which is sort of like the controversy of giving the cow special supplements (steroids and antibiotics) that in the long run were harmful to humans. I'm willing to think that it's not healthy to consume large amounts of unnatural "nutrients". In fact, I'm willing to bet it's hell on your liver. But these are just my opinion and that's based on the fact that I've seen what nutrients in pill form have done to people's livers and that doesn't mean that you liver cannot process these "nutrients".

That is false. There are lots of foods very rich in calcium, plus it's easy enough to take a calcium supplement.



If you don't want to drink milk for ethical reasons, why would you want to consume products made directly from milk??



You know why? They are supplemented with calcium carbonate or calcium citrate, the same stuff you find in Tums, Caltrate, or any other standard calcium supplement.



Absolute bulls***. The only reason you think that is because the dairy industry has done so damn well convincing the medical establishment and populace of that.

There is nothing better about the calcium in cow milk than any other calcium source.

And you tore apart my well thought out and hard worked on post to make me sound like an idiot.

1. I posted a couple of links that listed the difference in the amount of calcium in milk in comparison to other foods. By far, dairy products had more.

2. That was my point exactly, along with that dairy created from other than cow milk products were actually just as good, if not better in the amount of calcium. From this point on in my post, dairy was in reference to both made from cow milk and soy dairy products.

3. Tums is a supplement that is far from intended to replace calcium. Where the problem with those that are meant for replacing calcium, most often there is little or no calcium absorption from them. Either they do not dissolve or the elemental calcium is so trace that all there is to the pill is a binding agent that you liver has to process.

4. Yes because the dairy industry has paid off every scientific research facility out there. I've seen zero evidence to prove that there is any less calcium in any type of milk (especially when fortified) than there is in oatmeal.

Dairy products have a bit more calcium per "serving" than most calcium-rich foods, but they also have an ass-ton more calories per mg of calcium than many those same calcium-rich foods.

Milk is simply not necessary, nor is it the best way to get calcium.

It's vaguely amusing that you recommend soy milk as an acceptable alternative to regular milk for calcium intake, when the reality is that one of the last steps of soy milk production is basically dumping Tums into the mix. All the calcium in soy milk, and virtually every calcium-fortified food there is (from cereal to OJ) is, basically, Tums. Calcium carbonate.

And the dairy industry hasn't paid off every scientific research facility out there, but it has directly funded a large number of "studies," advocacy groups, advertising campaigns, schools, nutrition seminars for doctors, etc. As a corollary, you will notice that there are many, many studies that show milk is not actually that great, such as the ones mentioned in this thread showed milk drinkers are at least as likely to break bones and develop osteoperosis as non drinkers.