NOTMILK News Letter 05/18/2001

CRIPPLING BONEHEADS

To four groups of learned individuals, each so
skilled in his or her craft and profession, having
never studied the science of nutrition, nor having
been required to take courses in nutrition to learn
their individual art, this column is so dedicated.

To the butchers, bakers, candle stick makers,
and medical doctors.

In 1992, B.J. Abelow and colleagues published
their study of cross-cultural associations between
hip fractures and nutrition.  Focusing upon dietary
calcium and protein intake, their paper (Calcified
Tissue International 50:14-18, 192) should have
been accepted as an important tool towards
understanding the etiology of bone disease.

Here's what medical doctors and others should have
learned from Abelow's research:

Nations in which calcium intake averaged 1000
milligrams per day "enjoyed" the highest rates of hip
fractures.  Nations in which very little calcium was
consumed exhibited low rates of hip fractures,
contrary to what doctors and dairy industry
marketing representatives wish us to believe.

Nations in which animal protein intake was high
also experienced high rates of hip fractures.  The
opposite was also true.  Nations in which animal
protein intake was low had low rates of hip fractures.

Here are the data:

            DAILY DIETARY INTAKE: HIP FRACTURE
NATION     CALCIUM   PROTEIN  RATE/100,000
                 CA    PR    XX
                 MG   GMS


USA              973   77   145

South Africa     196   10     7
(Blacks)

Singapore        389   25    22

New Guinea       448   16     3

Yugoslavia       588   28    28

Denmark          960   58   165

Holland         1006   54    88

Norway          1087   67   190

Sweden          1104   59   188

Finland         1332   61   111

CONCLUSION

Cow's milk is a "great source" of calcium.  Cow's milk is
a "great source" of animal protein.  Nations eating such
"great sources" of calcium and animal protein experience
the highest rates of crippling bone disease.  Recently,
Americans were advised by the National Science
Foundation to increase their intake of calcium by
drinking more milk and eating more cheese.  That
dangerous message is reinforced each day by milk
mustache ads.  Unfortunately, that advice is harmful
to the health of consumers.  That information will not
benefit the butchers, bakers, or candle stick makers
to whom this column is partially dedicated.  The medical
doctors should gain enormous financial rewards by
treating more patients as a result of increased dietary
calcium intake.  This much is certain.  The scientific
evidence is before you.

Who are the crippling boneheads?  Those who are
presented real science, and refuse to use their eyes
to see and their brains to think.  Those who advise
that drinking body fluids from another species is
nature's way of insuring good health.

Abelow's explanation has received little attention.
He believes that elevated metabolic acid production
associated with a high animal protein diet might lead
to chronic bone buffering and bone dissolution.
Subsequent studies have supported such a conclusion.

In 1994, the American Journal of Epidemiology
(volume 139) reported:

"Consumption of dairy products, particularly at age
20 years, were associated with an increased risk of hip
fractures...metabolism of dietary protein causes increased
urinary excretion of calcium."

In 1995, the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
(vol.61:4) reported:

"Dietary protein increases production of acid in the
blood which can be neutralized by calcium mobilized
from the skeleton."

The 12-year Harvard study of 78,000 female nurses,
published in the American Journal of Public Health
(1997, volume 87), concluded:

"There is no significant association between teenaged
milk consumption and the risk of adult fractures.  Data
indicate that frequent milk consumption and higher dietary
calcium intakes in middle aged women do not provide
protection against hip or forearm fractures...women
consuming greater amounts of calcium from dairy foods
had significantly increased risks of hip fractures, while no
increase in fracture risk was observed for the same
levels of calcium from nondairy sources."

Robert Cohen
http://www.notmilk.com


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