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Milk Is BAD For You?

courtesy of michigan.spoonuniversity.com

courtesy of onegreenplanet.org

As we all know, milk has been one of the main sources of calcium and truly beneficial for humans. BUT, you better think twice after reading through this post readers! Since babies are born, they are recommended to consume milk (presumably from mums) for at least six months, if not more. All too often we heard of the advantages of milk from health practitioners.

MISCONCEPTION!

However, recent studies have shown that there is an association of milk consumption and osteoporosis. Osteoporosis is a medical condition where the bones are porous and break easily. In fact, milk actually EXTRACTS calcium from the bones for body usage rather than supplying the calcium from the food itself! Why is this so? Milk, like other animal dairy products, is acidic in nature. Our body mostly requires a neutral pH to work effectively, which is around pH 7.2. Thus , when dairy products are bring consumed, this inevitably decrease the pH of our body. Calcium, being an effective neutraliser, was extracted from bones each time to neutralise the acidic animal dairy products when they are consumed. Hence, this inarguably caused the bones in our body to become weaker and fractures easily upon high stress. According to Donna Herlock, MD, spokeswoman for Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, a non profit advocacy group opposed to milk consumption, " When you eat a protein food, such as milk, you may be swallowing calcium, but you turn around and excrete calcium in your urine".

Robert Heaney, MD, a professor of medicine at Creighton University in Omaha, Neb, who specialises in bone biology argues that dairy products work simply because they do not only contain solely calcium, but also other nutrients such as magnesium, vitamin D and the likes which are associated to good bone health.

THE ALTERNATIVES

According to the National Academy of Sciences, the recommended intake levels of calcium are: