Truth About Milk: Learn the Facts Behind Its Calcium Deficiency

You think it is best source of Calcium
You want to meet daily requirements for protein
Your doctor said so!
You see the facts everywhere about benefits( backed up by billion dollar dairy industry)
You are afraid that you will somehow be in poor health if you do not drink it.

We all have been told since childhood to drink our milk and then chew upon the chocolate chips in cookie. So any theory that disagrees or disregards your favourite drink might be quite emotional. Its all about personal choice when it comes to likes and dislikes regarding any food. We have been told that milk is a nutritional packed wonder food, which is true but there is an underlying truth which is often overlooked and it is:
What kind of MILK?

The truth is, just like human milk is for human babies, cow's milk is for their babies(calf), dog's milk is for their pups, horse milk is for their foals. Milk is considered to be a food for the babies when born and hence uniquely designed for their body. Every animal milk is different and hence their kind of milk only suits their kind of body. According to Dr. Kradjian's Research on this, he had read around 500 out of 1500 milk related scientific literatures that were more relevant and concluded that the diseases related to milk included but not limited to intestinal colic, intestinal irritation, intestinal bleeding, anemia, allergic reactions, ear and tonsils infections, bed-wetting, asthma, and childhood diabetes in infants and children[3]. He also mentioned that in adults the problems were more related to heart disease ,arthritis, allergy,sinusitis etc.

What about Calcium?

Factors affecting Calcium
The calcium is definitely an important nutrient for the body but not the one from cow's milk. According to the cover of the milk carton 1 cup provides about 276mg of Calcium per cup. But does our body takes it all? Here are few reasons why drinking milk may leave you calcium deficient and give you unsolicited problems.

Magnesium
Magnesium is an important mineral that helps to maintain normal muscle and nerve function, heart rhythm, a healthy immune system, bone formation, control blood sugar levels, promotes normal blood pressure[4]. Another role of this mineral is to absorb and retain calcium in our body. Thus too much calcium prevents magnesium from being absorbed and can cause magnesium deficiency [7] . While cow's milk contains about 276 mg of Calcium per cup and only 24.4mg of Magnesium [1]. According to experts, about 1 : 2 ratio of Calcium to Magnesium is needed for proper absorption of both the minerals. Only 80- 90 mg of calcium is said to be absorbed by the body from 1 cup of milk. Adding magnesium rich foods in your diet can be much better rather than focussing only on calcium alone.

Vitamin D
Vitamin D is a fat soluble vitamin which is produced only when our body is appropriately exposed to sun . It helps to absorb Calcium into the blood. That is why you would see most of the milk cartons adding this to their milk. But beware of this addition. As Vitamin D is not a vitamin, but an immunosupressive steroid. It naturally forms in our skin and the only way to activate is to get out in sunlight . So putting on sunscreens and masking the skin wouldn't be a good idea to get this vitamin. According to the Vitamin council mere 20- 25 minutes exposure to sunlight is good enough to produce more than enough of this vitamin [6]. If you were just counting on just fortified vitamin D milk then you would have to drink 50 glasses of milk to meet daily requirements, which is no way recommended [6]. As Dr. Mercola had mentioned that he doesn't advise the usage of oral supplements as it could result in elevated levels which could be toxic [5].

Protein
If you thought you could get enough protein for the day by drinking this heavy liquid protein then think again. Milk has high protein content called casein. It is a heavy protein digestible only to calves and hence undigested to rest of us resulting a heavy mucus in humans. That is the reason why a heavy milk drinker usually suffers from heavy allergies, frequent cold,constipation, bloating etc. This high animal protein increases acid production in the body that causes excessive calcium to release out to help neutralize the acid in order to maintain body's PH. This causes the loss of calcium through Kidneys which may result in kidney stones or gall stones [2].

Conclusion:
Its not about how much your calcium intake is , the most important factor to remember is how much are we really getting ? As a result the milk seems to be the poor source of calcium as opposed to the claim. Do yourself a favor by living a milk free life and enjoy the best health without getting sick frequently.

Good sources for Calcium:
Less oxalate plant based greens like , Kale, Collards, Broccoli, Sesame seeds, Almonds, Orange, Chinese Cabbage, Pure coconut water, Black-eyed beans, Blackstrap Molasses. Spinach is also a good source but contains high amounts of oxalic acid that reduces the bioavailability of calcium.

Helpful Tips:
-Check on the box to see if the food is Calcium fortified. These types are poorly absorbed so do not count on them completely.
-Too much of anything is not good and so is this. Try dividing the foods you eat in parts like few Almonds in morning, an orange after lunch and broccoli as side in dinner, putting tahini on toast.
- Calcium can inhibit Iron absorption so do not take iron supplements with milk or other calcium containing substances. In case of Anemia, spinach has to be avoided.
- Milk substitues that can be used are Soy Milk, Rice Milk, Almond Milk, Coconut Milk and are available in health food store in dairy aisle.

Food for thought:
-While it is advised to not to feed cow's milk to infants under 1 year of age , but the money making dairy industry still sneak in through putting their milk in formulas resulting in frequent ear infections, allergies, colic, gas etc.

References:
1) http://www.nutritiondata.com/facts/dairy-and-egg-products/69/2
2) http://www.everydayliving.com/archives/myth_about_milk.htm
3)http://www.notmilk.com/kradjian.html
4)http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/magnesium.asp
5)http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2006/04/25/sunshine-works-for-congestive-heart-failure.aspx 6) http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/
7) http://www.mgwater.com/calmagab.shtml