un|we|sen

Lower protein diets lower your calcium requirement and reduce your need to eat high calcium foods. Plant proteins do not result in calcium loss in the same way that animal proteins do. Plant foods that are high in calcium include broccoli, tofu, chickpeas, almonds, cornmeal, soybean nuts, baked beans, and leafy green vegetables such as collard greens and kale, to name a few. Contrary to popular belief, the calcium contained in leafy greens (except spinach) and soybeans is at least as easily absorbed as the calcium in milk. [11]

Summarizing the medical research on osteoporosis, one of the nation’s leading medical authorities on dietary associations with disease, Dr. John McDougall, says: I would like to emphasize that the calcium-losing effect of protein on the human body is not an area of controversy in scientific circles. The many studies performed during the past fifty-five years consistently show that the most important dietary change that we can make if we want to create a positive calcium balance that will keep our bones solid is to decrease the amount of proteins we eat each day. The important change is not to increase the amount of calcium we take in. [12]

Even conservative medical investigators no longer deny the connection between excess protein and osteoporosis. In a report published in Lancet, Drs. Aaron Wachman and Daniel Bernstein commented on work sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health and Harvard University. They called the connection between meat-based diets and the increasing incidence of osteoporosis an “inescapable” conclusion. [13] More than one hundred studies and research papers published in peer-reviewed scientific journals have found a direct and consistent association between animal protein consumption and calcium loss in the urine. These studies have shown that the best advice we can give young people with growing bones, as well as post menopausal women at risk for osteoporosis, is to limit protein intake, exercise three or more times a week (running, walking, high-impact aerobics) and consume more vegetables.

Even some of the studies funded by the dairy industry agree. In one Dairy Council-sponsored study, it was found that women who drank an extra three eight-ounce glasses of low-fat milk every day for a year showed no significant increase in calcium balance. The scientists who conducted the test said that the women continued to have a negative calcium balance because of the average 30 percent increase in protein intake during milk supplementation. [14] In 1984, the British Medical Journal published a report indicating that calcium intake is completely irrelevant to bone loss. The study tracked post-menopausal women for 2 years, and found that women who consumed less than 550 mg of calcium daily showed bone loss similar to those who took in as much as 2000 mg a day. [15] At the Mayo Clinic, Dr. B. Lawrence Riggs measured bone densities and calcium intake in women for more than four years. Reporting his findings in the August 1, 1986, issue of Science, he noted, “We found no correlation at all between calcium intake and bone loss, not even a trend.” [16] The calcium loss of osteoporosis is aggravated by animal protein, sodium, caffeine, tobacco, and sedentary lifestyle; calcium intake is a much less important factor.

Pages: 1 2 3 4