All those McDonalds Milkshakes and still poor bone health

You'd think with all those cheeseburgers, milkshakes, ice creams, lattes, and the dairy that's sneaked into every kind of food imaginable that the medical establishment would have worked out that something didn't add up as dairy as a useful source of calcium for humans.



America and the UK are suffering record levels of oesteoporosis and the message is illogically is to eat even more dairy. The Doctors who get very little (2 days) training in nutrition can be excused but even some quite experienced nutritionists get suckered in to the dairy lobby's hype "Dairy is an excellent source of Calcium"



For a cow maybe?



With the amount of Dairy secreted in our food forcing the EU to legislate for better labelling laws on allergens it just doesn't add up, if dairy were the answer the problem would be solved.



But guess what? - the generation who had free milk at school are experiencing record levels of suffering - despite this the Billion Dollar Dairy industry still maintain it's not enough that is the problem



USDA statistics show only 12% of girls and 32% of boys ages 12 to 19 get the DRI (Dietary Reference Intake) of calcium. Nearly 90% of adult bone mass is established by the end of this age range, and those who are not getting enough calcium are at increased risk for osteoporosis later in life, according to Dr. Duane Alexander, director, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Rockville, MD. He warns that osteoporosis is a geriatric disease with roots that can be traced back to adolescence.



Some of the consequences don't wait for old age, however. Grace Wyshak, Ph.D., researcher, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, has conducted studies to examine the relationship between drinking carbonated soft drinks, physical activity and bone fractures. The most recent, published in the June 2000 issue of the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, showed that active girls who drink cola drinks are five times more likely to have bone fractures than girls who don't drink soda. With each population studied, from teenagers and adolescents to postmenopausal women, the researcher consistently found strong relationships between consumption of carbonated beverages and bone fractures in physically active populations.



After age 8, soft-drink intake climbs dramatically. By age 18, a teenager consumes about 19 oz. of soft drinks per day and less than one serving of milk. The problem is more acute for adolescent girls than boys the same age.



Furthermore, pediatricians are seeing the reemergence of rickets, a bone disease that results from low levels of vitamin D, a nutrient commonly fortified in all types of fluid milk. Vitamin D also aids in calcium absorption, and study results published in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine in Oct. 2004 showed that nearly a quarter of 300 healthy teenagers were deficient in vitamin D.



The real answer? More green leafy veg, vitamin K, magnesium (soya, cashew, almonds, brocolli, bananas, green leafy veg) and some quality sunshine for vitamin D. Less of anti nutrients such as caffienated carbonated drinks will help to stop bone robbers too.