Myths of Osteoporosis

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Myths of Osteoporosis

JoAnn Guest

Dec 16, 2004 22:46 PST

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Myths of Osteoporosis

by Bruce Friedrich

http://www.notmilk.com/calbones.html

 

" The myth that osteoporosis is caused by calcium deficiency was created

to sell dairy products and calcium supplements. There's no truth to it.

American women are among the biggest consumers of calcium in the world,

and they still have one of the highest levels of osteoporosis in the

world. And eating even more dairy products and calcium supplements is

not going to change that fact.

--Dr. John McDougall

The McDougall Program for Women (2000)

 

Osteoporosis is a debilitating disease characterized by low bone mass

and deteriorating bone tissue that affects tens of millions of Americans

and causes 1.5 million fractures annually. The annual cost of treatment

totals more than $10 billion. While some people suffering from

osteoporosis experience recurring back pain, loss of height, and spinal

deformities, many don't even know they have the disease until a bone

fracture occurs.

 

According to the National Osteoporosis Foundation, one in two women over

the age of 50, and one in eight men, will experience an

osteoporosis-related fracture.

 

The dairy industry has a powerful hold on the nutrition industry in this

country; it pays huge numbers of dietitians, doctors, and researchers to

push dairy, spending more than $300 million annually, just at the

national level, to retain a market for its products.

 

The dairy industry has infiltrated schools, bought off sports stars,

celebrities, and politicians, pushing all the while an agenda based on

profit, rather than public health.

 

Dr. Walter Willett, a veteran nutrition researcher at the Harvard School

of Public Health, says that calcium consumption " has become like a

religious crusade, " overshadowing true preventive measures such as

physical exercise.

 

To hear the dairy industry tell it, if you consume three glasses of milk

daily, your bones will be stronger, and you can rest safely knowing that

osteoporosis is not in your future.

 

Despite the dairy industry funding study after study to try to prove its

claims, Dr. John McDougall, upon examining all the available nutritional

studies and evidence, concludes:

 

" The primary cause of osteoporosis is the high-protein diet most

Americans consume today. As one leading researcher in this area said,

'[Eating a high-protein diet is like pouring acid rain on your bones.' "

 

Remarkably enough, if dairy has any effect, both clinical and population

evidence strongly implicate dairy in causing, rather than preventing,

osteoporosis. That the dairy industry would lull unsuspecting women and

children into complacency by telling them, essentially, drink more milk

and your bones will be fine, may make good business sense, but it does

the public a grave disservice.

 

Most of the world's peoples do not consume cow's milk, and yet most of

the world does not experience the high rates of osteoporosis found in

the West. In Asian countries, for example, where consumption of dairy

foods is low (and where women tend to be thin and small-boned,

universally accepted risk factors for osteoporosis), fracture rates are

much lower than they are in the United States and in Scandinavian

countries, where consumption of dairy products is considerably higher.

 

But don't take our word for it; examine the science for yourself:

 

One study, funded by the National Dairy Council, involved giving a group

of postmenopausal women three 8-ounce glasses of skim milk per day for

two years and comparing their bones to those of a control group of women

not given the milk.

 

The dairy group consumed 1,400 mg of calcium per day and lost bone at

twice the rate of the control group. According to the researchers, " This

may have been due to the average 30 percent increase in protein intake

during milk supplementation ... The adverse effect of increases in

protein intake on calcium balance has been reported from several

laboratories, including our own " (they then cite 10 other studies). Says

McDougall,

 

" Needless to say, this finding did not reach the six o'clock news. "

 

After looking at 34 published studies in 16 countries, researchers at

Yale University found that countries with the highest rates of

osteoporosis--including the United States, Sweden, and Finland--are

those in which people consume the most meat, milk, and other animal

foods.

 

This study also showed that African Americans, who consume, on average,

more than 1,000 mg of calcium per day, are nine times more likely to

experience hip fractures than are South African blacks, whose daily

calcium intake is only 196 mg. Says McDougall, " [O]n a nation-by-nation

basis, people who consume the most calcium have the weakest bones and

the highest rates of osteoporosis. ...

 

Only in those places where calcium and protein are eaten in relatively

high quantities does a deficiency of bone calcium exist, due to an

excess of animal protein. "

 

Harvard University's landmark Nurses Health Study, which followed 78,000

women over a 12-year period, found that the women who consumed the most

calcium from dairy foods broke more bones than those who rarely drank

milk. Summarizing this study, the Lunar Osteoporosis Update (November

1997) explained: " This increased risk of hip fracture was associated

with dairy calcium … If this were any agent other than milk, which has

been so aggressively marketed by dairy interests, it undoubtedly would

be considered a major risk factor. "

 

A National Institutes of Health study out of the University of

California, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition

(2001), found that;

 

" Women who ate most of their protein from animal sources had three times

the rate of bone loss and 3.7 times the rate of hip fractures of women

who ate most of their protein from vegetable sources. " Even though the

researchers adjusted " for everything we could think of that might

otherwise explain the relationship … it didn't change the results. "

 

The study's conclusion: " [A]n increase in vegetable protein intake and a

decrease in animal protein intake may decrease bone loss and the risk of

hip fracture. "

 

Another study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition

(2000) looked at all aspects of diet and bone health and found that high

consumption of fruits and vegetables positively affect bone health and

that dairy consumption did not. Such findings do not surprise

nutritional researchers:

 

According to Dr. Neal Barnard, author of Turn Off the Fat Genes (2001)

and several other books on diet and health, the calcium absorption from

vegetables is as good as or better than that from milk.

 

Calcium absorption from milk is approximately 30 percent, while figures

for broccoli, Brussels sprouts, mustard greens, turnip greens, kale, and

some other leafy green vegetables range between 40 percent and 64

percent.

 

After reviewing studies on the link between protein intake and urinary

calcium loss, nutritional researcher Robert P. Heaney found that as

consumption of protein increases, so does the amount of calcium lost in

the urine (Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 1993): " This

effect has been documented in several different study designs for more

than 70 years, " he writes, adding, " [T]he net effect is such that if

protein intake is doubled without changing intake of other nutrients,

urinary calcium content increases by about 50 percent. "

 

Researchers from the University of Sydney and Westmead Hospital

discovered that consumption of dairy foods, especially early in life,

increases the risk of hip fractures in old age (American Journal of

Epidemiology, 1994).

 

Finally, an analysis of all research conducted since 1985, published in

the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (2000), concluded:

 

" If dairy food intakes confer bone health, one might expect this to have

been apparent from the 57 outcomes, which included randomized,

controlled trials and longitudinal cohort studies involving 645,000

person-years. "

 

The researchers go on to lament that " there have been few carefully

designed studies of the effects of dairy foods on bone health, " and then

to conclude with typical scientific reserve that:

 

" The body of scientific evidence appears inadequate to support a

recommendation for daily intake of dairy foods to promote bone health in

the general U.S. population. "

 

What we do know is that osteoporosis rates decline markedly as body

weight, exercise, and caloric intake rise. Corroborating the

researchers' lament about bad studies, only three studies have factored

caloric intake into the analysis; two of them found no correlation

between dairy intake and osteoporosis.

 

The other found a positive link; that is, the more milk consumed, the

higher the fracture risk (Harvard Nurses Study, see above).

 

The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (2000) study cited above

argued that since we know for certain that total caloric intake and body

weight are positively associated with bone mass, such factors are

" particularly important " in any study of osteoporosis and bone mass.

 

Is the dairy industry ignoring these factors by design in its clinical

studies, perhaps because dairy consumers tend to be heavier and to

consume more calories than those consuming fewer (or no) dairy products?

It is remarkable that the dairy industry can't get the results it's

looking for, since dairy consumption does tend to make people heavier.

Even though dairy researchers ignore this factor, most studies still

show no relationship, and some indicate that milk causes osteoporosis.

 

If the tendencies of those who consume more dairy to be heavier and to

consume more calories were accounted for, would the studies indicating

no link show, in fact, that dairy intake causes osteoporosis, like the

Harvard School of Public Health study?

 

That would bring clinical analysis into line with the population

analysis, which clearly states that increased dairy consumption is

linked to increased risk for osteoporosis.

 

So what can I do for strong bones?

 

Osteoporosis is a horrible disease, and although the evidence is strong

that dairy consumption doesn't prevent it, simply eliminating dairy

products does not ensure that it won't afflict you. And if, like most

people who consume no meat or dairy, you are slender, you should be sure

to put some thought (and effort) into keeping your bones healthy.

 

What the evidence does dictate as useful for strong bones is:

 

* Getting enough vitamin D (if you don't spend any time in the sun, be

sure to take a supplement or eat fortified foods).

 

* Eliminating animal protein (for a variety of reasons, animal protein

causes severe bone deterioration).

 

* Limiting alcohol consumption (alcohol is toxic to the cells that form

bones and inhibits the absorption of calcium).

 

* Limiting salt intake (sodium leaches calcium out of the bones)

 

* Not smoking (studies have shown that women who smoke one pack of

cigarettes a day have 5 to 10 percent less bone density at menopause

than nonsmokers).

 

* Getting plenty of exercise. Studies have concluded that physical

exercise is the key to building strong bones (more important than any

other factor). For example, a study published in the British Medical

Journal, which followed 1,400 men and women over a 15-year period, found

that exercise may be the best protection against hip fractures and that

" reduced intake of dietary calcium does not seem to be a risk factor. "

 

And Penn State University researchers found that bone density is

significantly affected by how much exercise girls get during their teen

years, when 40 to 50 percent of their skeletal mass is developed.

Consistent with previous research, the Penn State study, which was

published in Pediatrics (2000), the journal of the American Academy of

Pediatrics, showed that calcium intake, which ranged from 500 to 1,500

mg per day, has no lasting effect on bone health.

 

" We (had) hypothesized that increased calcium intake would result in

better adolescent bone gain. Needless to say, we were surprised to find

our hypothesis refuted, " one researcher explained.

 

Conclusion:

 

Drinking milk builds dairy producers' profits, but as the above studies

show, it's more likely to harm your bones than to help them. And dairy

foods are linked to all sorts of other problems, including obesity,

heart disease and cancer (including breast cancer and prostate cancer)

and are likely to be contaminated with trace levels of antibiotics,

hormones, and other chemicals, including dioxin, one of the most toxic

substances known to humans (The Washington Post reported that " the

latest EPA study concludes that people who consume even small amounts of

dioxin in fatty foods and dairy products face a cancer risk of 1 in 100.

They may also develop other problems, such as attention disorder,

learning disabilities, susceptibility to infections and liver disorders "

(April 12, 2001).

 

Of course, calcium is an essential mineral, and it is possible to have a

calcium deficiency. According to Dr. Neal Barnard, president of the

Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine:

 

" Milk, in particular, is poor insurance against bone breaks ... the

healthiest calcium sources are green leafy vegetables and legumes ...

You don't need to eat huge servings of vegetables or beans to get enough

calcium, but do include both in your regular menu planning. If you are

looking for extra calcium, fortified orange, apple, or grapefruit juices

are good choices. "

 

It makes no more sense for humans to consume the mother's milk of cows

than for us to consume the mother's milk of rats, cats, dogs, giraffes,

or any other mammal. Nature created human mother's milk for baby humans,

cow mother's milk for baby cows, and so on.

 

The late Dr. Benjamin Spock, in Baby and Child Care (the United States'

best selling book, other than the Bible, over the past 50 years), after

recommending that no one consume cow's milk and cataloging a host of

ills associated with milk consumption (heart disease, cancer, obesity,

antibiotic residue, iron deficiency, asthma, ear infections, skin

conditions, stomach aches, bloating, and diarrhea), concludes:

 

" In nature, animals do not drink milk after infancy, and that is the

normal pattern for humans, too. ...Children stay in better calcium

balance when their protein comes from plant sources. "

 

Dr. Spock recommends human mother's milk for baby humans, as nature

intended.

 

" It is hard to turn on the television without hearing commercials

suggesting that milk promotes strong bones. The commercials do not point

out that only 30 percent of milk's calcium is absorbed by the body or

that osteoporosis is common among milk drinkers. Nor do they help you

correct the real causes of bone loss. "

--Dr. Neal Barnard

 

Says Dr. T. Colin Campbell, the world's leading epidemiological

researcher in the field of diet and health,

 

" The dairy folks, ever since the 1920s, have been enormously successful

in cultivating an environment within virtually all segments of our

society--from research and education to public relations and

politics--to have us believing that cow's milk and its products are

manna from heaven. ... Make no mistake about it; the dairy industry has

been virtually in total control of any and all public health information

that ever rises to the level of public scrutiny. "

 

" The association between the intake of animal protein and fracture rates

appears to be as strong as the association between cigarette smoking and

lung cancer. "

--Dr. T. Colin Campbell

_________________

 

JoAnn Guest

mrsjo-

DietaryTi-

www.geocities.com/mrsjoguest/Genes

 

 

 

 

 

AIM Barleygreen

" Wisdom of the Past, Food of the Future "

 

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