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Drink Your Milk - New York Times - Science section 1/7/2003

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New York Times -- January 7, 2003

 

Drink Your Milk: A Refrain for All Ages, Now More Than Ever

By JANE E. BRODY

 

The goal of the "Got Milk?" campaign may be to sell more milk, but the

main beneficiaries of this advertising effort could well be the bones

and health of current and future adults.

 

As we learn more about the benefits of calcium and the particular

importance to a healthy skeleton of calcium during childhood and

adolescence, nutrition experts are becoming increasingly alarmed about

the failure of most young people to drink enough milk.

Although calcium can be obtained from foods other than milk, as well as

from supplements, it is the main source of this vital nutrient for young

Americans. Few children or adults consume enough cheese and nondairy

calcium-rich foods, like collard greens or broccoli, to meet the daily

calcium requirements.

 

Some people avoid milk because they are lactose-intolerant and

experience flatulence or diarrhea when drinking the milk on an empty

stomach.

 

Nutritionists, however, have found that most lactose-intolerant people

can handle up to three glasses a day if they are consumed slowly and

with meals.

 

And nearly every supermarket now sells lactose-reduced and lactose-free

milk, although usually at twice the price of regular milk.

 

Children Are Shortchanged

 

The National Academy of Sciences says that children ages 4 through 8

should be consuming 800 milligrams of calcium daily and that teenagers

13 through 18 need 1,300. People 19 through 50 need 1,000 milligrams of

calcium a day, and those 51 and older are urged to consume 1,300

milligrams, the academy says.

 

According to Dr. Duane Alexander, director of the National Institute of

Child Health and Human Development, "Without including milk in the diet,

it is nearly impossible to meet calcium needs" through foods alone.

Milk, he noted, supplies slightly more than half the dietary calcium

consumed by children in this country.

 

A national survey in the mid-1990's, however, revealed that only 13.5

percent of girls and 36.3 percent of boys ages 12 to 19 consumed the

recommended amount of calcium.

 

Such data, and especially the poor calcium intake among adolescent

girls, prompted the institute to begin a public information campaign

called "Milk Matters" to educate health professionals, parents and

children about the importance of consuming enough calcium, particularly

from milk and other dairy products like yogurt and hard cheese, to

protect bone health.

 

Far too many children consume carbonated soft drinks and fruit drinks

and juices instead of milk or dairy-based drinks. Schools that permit

soda vending machines in or near their cafeterias (in exchange for big

bucks from beverage companies) hardly help matters. Yet middle schools

and high schools that installed vending machines that dispense flavored

as well as plain milk report that they routinely sell out each day, with

chocolate milk being the overwhelming favorite.

 

Aging Bones

 

In this month's American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, researchers from

Cincinnati Children's Hospital reported that adult women who consumed

less than a glass of milk a day during childhood had flimsier bones and

a twofold greater risk of fractures than those who consumed a glass of

milk or more each day as they were growing up.

 

Now, a glass is hardly enough milk to meet the daily recommended intake

of calcium for anyone. So it is a safe bet that if the researchers had

compared those who drank less than a glass of milk a day with those who

drank three or more glasses during childhood, the differences in bone

density and fracture risk would have been that much greater.

 

Dr. Connie Weaver, who heads the department of foods and nutrition at

Purdue University, points out that "adolescence is a critical time to

optimize bone health" because about half of an adult's skeletal mass is

accrued during the teenage years.

 

For girls, 95 percent of the body's total bone mineral content is

accumulated by age 17, and 99 percent is completed by age 27. Thus, a

girl who shortchanges herself on calcium will enter adulthood with a

skeleton that is less than adequate, and she will face an increased risk

of fractures throughout life.

 

"Current calcium intakes of adolescents are well below recommended

levels," Dr. Weaver said. "Studies indicate that four to five servings a

day of calcium-rich foods are needed to optimize peak bone mass during

adolescence."

 

An eight-ounce serving of a calcium-rich food like milk or yogurt would

provide at least 300 milligrams of calcium. Comparable amounts can be

obtained from calcium-fortified soy milk and orange juice and a cup of

cooked collard greens. Many breakfast cereals are now fortified with

calcium. And even some milks have added calcium.

 

Unlike most other foods, milk is fortified with vitamin D, which the

body needs to absorb calcium through the digestive tract. The natural

sugars in milk also aid in calcium absorption -- another reason milk is

the preferred dietary source of this bone-building mineral.

 

Other Health Benefits

 

Emerging research is showing that the importance of calcium goes well

beyond bones.

 

Studies using supplements have indicated that calcium is good for the

heart. Calcium helps to lower blood pressure in about one-third of

people with hypertension.

 

Researchers at the University of Wisconsin showed that hypertensive

women who took 1,500 milligrams of calcium a day, in addition to their

medication, for four years experienced a significant drop in blood

pressure, while those who took just medication experienced an overall

rise in blood pressure.

 

Calcium also improves blood lipid levels. In a study at the University

of Auckland in New Zealand, researchers found that a daily

1,000-milligram dose of calcium citrate increased protective H.D.L.

cholesterol levels and lowered harmful L.D.L. cholesterol, a change that

could reduce the rate of cardiovascular problems by 20 percent to 30

percent.

 

Although the role of calcium in cancer is still being investigated, the

latest study, which followed 135,000 health professionals for 10 to 16

years, found that total calcium intake in excess of 1,250 milligrams a

day was associated with a nearly 30 percent lower risk of developing

cancer in the lower colon.

 

There is biological support for this finding. Calcium protects the bowel

by binding bile acids and reactive fatty acids, which are known to

promote cell growth.

 

Also, in a colon cancer prevention study, a daily 1,200-milligram

calcium supplement resulted in a 20 percent decrease in the recurrence

of colorectal adenomas, benign growths that are the precedents to

colorectal cancer.

 

And various studies have suggested that calcium may play a role in

countering premenstrual syndrome and polycystic ovary syndrome.

 

******* Article link is found at

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/07/science/07BROD.html for

interested readers.

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