We have all seen the advertisements from which he is a Body Good publicity for the Got Milk? Campaign. It is drilled into our heads, over and over again that milk is absolutely necessary for the body. If you are young, you need the content of protein, vitamins, minerals and growth. If you're not young, you need the calcium to protect your bones against osteoporosis. In this series, I would like to examine the good and the bad of dairy consumption. I go to the milk debate in five places:
- calcium, bone health and osteoporosis
- allergenicity Components
- others, may adversely Components
- Vs Raw Pasteurized /homogenized
- My Take On the whole ordeal
calcium, bone health and osteoporosis
friend that you do not consume dairy products and the immediate question is "Where you get your calcium," the implication that your bones will crumble under their own weight without calcium, that the dairy industry tells you is so important. And what about the big deal about this "calcium" anyway?
calcium (chemical symbol CA) is the fifth most common element by mass in the crust of the earth. It is also the most common metal by the mass in animal facilities, accounting for 1-2% of body weight, most of them in the teeth and bones. Along with potassium, calcium plays a role in the proper metabolic function, cellular permeability, and electrical conductivity in your nerves. Muscle contractions, nerve impulses, and properly functioning glands and blood vessels, together with blood clotting, are all functions of calcium-potassium channels. Needless to say, calcium is an important element in the body.
Calcium is also one of the three main building blocks of your bones, a point that the marketing companies behind the milk campaigns are sure to drive home. The other two components of the diet are vitamin D and magnesium. And, of course, given the "use-it-or-lose-it" attitude brings your body to the party, weight-bearing activity is necessary for maintaining bone strength. Their bones are not just sticks on which to hang the skin and hair. They are living parts of the body, constantly demolished and rebuilt, fortunately in very small sections rather than wholesale.
So there is no doubt that calcium is important for the body. But how much calcium do we need? World's healthiest foods suggests:
"Most men should be for 1000-1200 mg daily, young women for 1000-1300 mg daily, and postmenopausal women for 1200-1500 mg of calcium daily."
Another answer to this question, and I'm rather inclined to believe, comes from the work of Dr. Loren Cordain. Although I can not find an exact range, I remember that daily intake of hunter-gatherer tribes in the area 300-600mg/day. Perhaps someone with Paleo Diet book will be me an answer from the book. Of course our ancestors must have had weak bones, because they had such a low calcium intake.
But wait ... something wrong. The United States has a very high consumption of dairy products and calcium, but it also has one of the highest rates of osteoporosis, while the hunters and gatherers were known to have fairly robust bones. What gives? The problem is that, contrary to what the dairy industry tells us it's far more to the equation of bone health than calcium. The other pieces of the equation, vitamin D and magnesium are equally important, if not even more important to bone health. For example, hunters, collectors usually had a 1:1 ratio of calcium to magnesium. Today it is more like 4-to-1.
Could be high intakes of calcium actually exacerbate the problem? I would have asked whether the response was not "yes"? Calcium and magnesium compete for the same absorption channels, so that too much of one against the other is not properly absorbed.
High diet can cause calcium-magnesium deficiencies, even if normal levels of magnesium with open skin "
And of course, most people are not even enough to eat the right foods for an adequate magnesium intake : Nuts, seeds, green leaves, certain fish. So we take in too much calcium and magnesium not enough.
Today, we know that too much calcium is a problem. What is the vitamin D variable in this equation? Well, when it comes to them, vitamin D is necessary for the proper absorption and retention of calcium. And where we come vitamin D? The most prevalent source of our skin, but that requires UVB rays around the body synthesize the vitamin from cholesterol. We all know that we are not there every Sunday, that if you cause skin cancer (Please note the biting sarcasm here). Other sources of vitamin D are foods that few people eat enough eggs, liver, fish, oysters. Eggs are high in cholesterol, liver is scary and fish-taste "too lazy", and oysters are like snot. Of course, I only agree with the last one, but it seems the general consensus. Dairy products are fortified with synthetic vitamin D, but you all know how I feel about food that needs to be fortified to have enough of something. If it requires enrichment, it is not a good source for this vitamin.
Vitamin D May actually more important than calcium. Studies have shown that vitamin D protected women against hip fractures, even though milk and high intake of calcium is not. Vitamin K also plays a role in bone health, for the production of bone-building proteins and inhibit the production of substances, reduction of bone. But vitamin D and vitamin K are fat-soluble vitamins, and we know that fat should be avoided. This is obviously a cursory overview of the vitamins and minerals in bone health, but it is illustrative. Others, such as potassium also play a role, but are unimportant for our discussion of the dairy. Contrary to popular opinion, higher protein intake also appears to be beneficial for saving your bones.
So, if you couple too much calcium and magnesium not enough with poor levels of vitamins E and K and a mostly sedentary lifestyle, what do you do? "Weak bones" is the correct answer. But for some reason the dairy industry is not telling us that part. There are two other components to this debate also: acid-base balance and calcium balance. Acid-base balance is a measure of the net kidney burden of food you eat. Some foods are broken down as acid-forming compounds, namely animal products and grains. Other foods are broken down as the base-forming compounds, such as fruit and vegetables. Fats are mostly neutral. Since some of us question the benefits of meat, fruits or vegetables, grains, dairy products and that leaves as the dietary components in question.
move along, the body is working on a very tight balance the pH of the body. If there are too many acid-forming foods in the diet, the body must have a base to neutralize the acid. Their bones are the largest deposits of alkaline material in the body. I speak specifically about the calcium in the bones. So, if you eat a diet with high meat, cereal and milk and low in fruit and vegetables (all see a Western dietary pattern here?) Do you have a net acid-forming food, which cause the body to flush Calcium from the bones. This leads directly into the discussion of the calcium balance.
Which is better, a calcium intake of 300mg/day or 1500mg/day? The correct answer is C) There is not enough information to answer this question. " To answer the question, we need to know what the outflow is calcium. If the concerned authority for the first election only a daily demand of 250mg of calcium, while the second is the need of 1700mg by dietary factors, we have discussed, who is better? It is about balancing see saw, not just always so much calcium as possible. Other factors, resulting in the need of calcium are smoking, drinking too much alcohol and too much salt.
look at the big picture, it appears that a moderate intake of calcium is a necessary but not sufficient condition to build strong bones. However, dairy is not a necessary element in the equation, because calcium is from so many other sources: kale, almonds, sardines and canned salmon with bones, oranges, broccoli, sweet potatoes. In fact, one study showed that the calcium in Kale is better absorbed than that in milk. Please note that the average absorption of milk was only 32% (ie for kale was 40%). Of course, the total calcium content of milk is much greater, but the point is that the acidic nature of the May milk is not suitable to an adequate calcium assimilation.
If all this together, is someone who believes that more milk is the answer to ensure that your bones strong? It sounds to me like the right answer is to eat a more alkalizing diet, which means that at least grains have to go in favor of fruits and vegetables, along with always plenty of vitamins E and C and magnesium. Moving on here, and it would not hurt anything either.
The next time we will discuss milk allergies.
Scott Kustes is the owner of the Modern Forager blog. A computer geek by training, he brings an intense passion for nutrition and health, specifically how evolutionary history determines the proper food for the human body. By looking at nutrition through the lens of evolution, in much the same fashion as Dr. Loren Cordain, Scott is able to find the logic behind what works and what doesn't.
Scott has published two articles in "The Performance Menu, Journal of Health and Athletic Excellence". The first article, published in Issue 26 (March 2007), was titled "The Spice of Life" and explored the myriad health benefits of including numerous common herbs and spices in your cooking. The second article, "Absolutely Offal," was published in Issue 33 (October 2007) and explored recipes for cooking the most nutritious of meats, organ meats.
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