Milk for Your Bones? Oct. 6, 2. 00. 0 - - Growing up, milk was non- negotiable in our house. Like a team of star athletes with a dairy council sponsorship, my family of six guzzled gallons of the stuff. Nearly every night before dinner my mother pressed $2 into my hand. Off I went to the corner store to replace the jug my brother had polished off with his after- school snack. When I left for college, my mother's mantra, . After all, osteoporosis had confined my shrunken grandmother to bed - - the bones of her spine slowly dissolving into dust. Who was I to question my mother's wisdom? Like most women, my mother got her information from doctors and health organizations who for years have touted milk as the key to healthy bones. But is dairy really the best source of calcium? The question stirs emotions on both sides of the debate. Dairy supporters revere milk as the perfect vehicle to transport calcium to bones. Those opposed argue that, among other things, proteins found in dairy products actually rob calcium from bone stores, making plant- based sources - - and exercise - - a better choice for healthy bones. As a vegetarian, I'm frustrated by the mixed messages surrounding the question of dairy as the best source of calcium. In my quest to avoid sharing my grandmother's fate, I've discovered that the issue is more about educating myself to make informed decisions than blindly swallowing anyone's advice - - even Mom's. There's much more to the story than Mom knew. Milk: Does It Really Do a Body Good? It turns out that the relationship between the proteins in dairy products and the calcium in bones is a rocky one. First of all, calcium appears to be ultimately pulled from bones to escort digested animal protein from any source - - not just dairy products - - on its trek through the body. Since the average American's diet is protein- heavy to begin with, some experts say that eating lots of dairy foods may actually cause people to lose calcium. Continued. To buttress her point, Herlock points to a portion of the Harvard Nurses' Health study published in the June 1. American Journal of Public Health. The study found that women who ate lots of dairy products had higher rates of bone fractures than women who rarely touched the stuff. It suggested that drinking more milk didn't provide any substantial protection against hip or forearm fractures in middle- aged and older women, writes Diane Feskanich, Sc. D, a professor at Harvard Medical School in Cambridge, Mass., and the study's lead author. Milk advocates pooh- pooh the protein concern. The amount of calcium lost in the urine from drinking a glass of milk is trivial compared with the amount of calcium coming in, says Connie Weaver, Ph. D, head of foods and nutrition at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind. In fact, because the average American consumes approximately 7. Robert Heaney, MD, a professor of medicine at Creighton University in Omaha, Neb., who specializes in bone biology, also shrugs off dairy dissenters. For a woman about to turn 6. But according to one recent study that dairy doubters add to their arsenal, she has more than milk to thank for that bragging right. Continued. According to scientists at the University of Pennsylvania, exercise during crucial bone- building years is the best predictor of a woman's adult bone health. Researchers tracked the diets and exercise habits of 8. You've got 9. 8% of your bone mass. Not so, says Lloyd. Bone is like skin; it's constantly being regenerated. Kids need a lot of calcium because a bone's densest part, the core, is formed during adolescence. But adults need calcium, too. Even though the core gets thinner as we age, calcium from foods we eat is deposited on the surface of bones, like rings on a tree. As the rings grow, the bone's diameter expands, and it gets stronger. Whether or not you get your calcium from dairy products, both sides of the debate agree that calcium is good no matter how it's delivered. The growing popularity of calcium- fortified foods makes it easier than ever to meet your daily quota without dairy. The 3. 00 milligrams of calcium that you'll find in one cup of milk can also be obtained by drinking the same amount of calcium- fortified orange juice or by eating a cup of dried figs or a bowl of Total cereal topped with calcium- enriched soy milk. ![]() Information and tools to assist in managing dairy nutrition, including resources on forages, pasture, heifers, and calves. A large observational cohort study Cattle—colloquially cows —are the most common type of large domesticated ungulates. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae, are the most. Milk is a pale liquid produced by the mammary glands of mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for infant mammals (including humans who breastfeed) before. Toss a half- cup of tofu (the kind made with calcium sulfate) into a stir- fry, and you've added a whopping 4. Other calcium- rich foods include collard greens (2. Daily calcium recommendations from the National Academy of Sciences start at 1,3. Continued. No Bones About It. Clearly, there is consensus that calcium is necessary for good health - - but no consensus on whether calcium is best when consumed from dairy or other sources. My own decision has been to get my calcium fix in a variety of ways. I still treat myself to a slice of cheese pizza now and again, but I also pour calcium- enriched soy milk on my cereal, drink calcium- fortified orange juice, and load up on dark leafy greens. When I told my mother I'd cut back on my milk consumption, I might as well have announced that I'd given up oxygen. But she's slowly gotten used to the idea. Now when I visit, instead of slipping me money to buy milk, she opens her denim purse, digs down deep, and hands over a bite- sized, foil- wrapped piece of chocolate - - calcium- enriched, of course. Web. MD Feature. All rights reserved. ![]() Two Foods That May Sabotage Your Brain ? It is my firm conviction that diet – both what it may be deficient in as well as its potential toxicity – can cause what we label as mental illness. In medical school, we learn about the mental repercussions of nutrient deficiencies such as Beriberi (thiamin), Pellagra (niacin), and B1. We know that minerals such as magnesium and zinc are critical cofactors for basic functions, and that fatty acids are essential in the support of cell membrane health. I believe in a partnership with my patients; however, my most paternalistic mandate, as a psychiatrist, is that of a gluten and casein free dietary trial. What’s that? Is it possible that our modern, post- industrial foods – sugar, gluten, processed dairy, and genetically modified soy and corn are conspiring with nutrient deficiencies in an incendiary collaboration that will give rise to gut/brain pathology? Gut- Brain Axis. If we accept an inflammatory model of mental illness as having the strongest prospects for guiding preventive medicine interventions and non- toxic, reparative treatment approaches, then we must look at underlying drivers of inflammation. Immune activating and inflammatory proteins, such as those found in wheat and dairy products, may be critical triggers to consider. Milk ProCon.org is a nonpartisan, nonprofit website that presents research, studies, and pro and con statements usually related to pasteurized cow's milk and its. One of the mostly highly processed foods in our diet – wheat – is almost exclusively rendered as high- glycemic flour, prepared with sugar, and often genetically modified vegetable oils which are oxidized (rancid). Dairy is homogenized and pasteurized, creating a dead, high- sugar liquid with distorted fats, denatured proteins and unabsorbable or thoroughly destroyed vitamins. Cross- reactivity and stimulation of antibody response by foods like dairy, oats, corn, millet was examined in this study, suggesting that there is important overlap between grains and dairy. Why and how would these foods cause the problems that they do? There are a number of identified reasons for the disturbances caused by America’s darling duo, cheese and bread: Fire in the Hole. Lectins in grains and nightshade plants, and proteins in dairy and gluten – namely casein, gliadin and glutenin – can trigger intestinal changes, local, and systemic inflammation. Only recently have we begun to understand how and why. In the case of gluten, zonulin- mediated permeability affords gut contents, including bacterial toxins, access to the bloodstream, where they can play a significant role in driving inflammation and associated psychiatric symptoms, as discussed here. Bugging the Bugs. It turns out that diet can be a major determinant of what bugs are most active in our guts, and that the bacteria in our guts may also determine the degree to which we are sensitive to local inflammatory effects of gluten. Gut bacteria are the gatekeepers sounding the alarm by sending inflammatory messages to the rest of the body including the brain. Molecular mimicry. When the immune system reacts to a perceived threat such as a food protein, antibodies formed in response may also bind to tissue in glands and organs that share overlapping amino acid sequences. Antibodies can be formed against brain cells, specifically, at times with permanent resultant damage. A study of 4. 00 volunteers found that half of those who reacted to wheat also reacted to brain- based peptides, and the same was found in the subgroup reacting to dairy, suggesting a clustering of reactivity to both brain tissue and these foods. The Pleasure of Pizza. Digested proteins from cow dairy and gluten, termed exorphins, interact with opiate receptors in the brain, which accounts for the potentially addictive quality of these foods, and the associated withdrawal when they are taken off the menu. What does the evidence suggest? Research into the etiology or cause of syndromes centers around two primary outcomes of interest – associative data that suggests a relationship between an exposure and a cluster of symptoms (% of people with gluten sensitivity who have psychiatric problems), and treatment data that suggests a causative role for that exposure based on the therapeutic effects of its removal (cutting out dairy leads to treatment of depression). Suspect # 1: Gluten. Assessment of psychiatric pathology in celiac patients has supported a statistically significant incidence of anxiety (panic), depression (2. If you ask to be screened for gluten intolerance, that screening will typically include antibodies to only alpha gliadin, endomesial antibody, and one type of tissue transglutaminase. This testing neglects the role of the innate immune system in non- celiac gluten enteropathy, an inflammatory disorder that often has extra- intestinal manifestations. According to gluten- researcher, Dr. Hadjivassiliou, “gluten sensitivity can be primarily, and at times, exclusively, a neurological disease”. Since 1. 95. 3, there have been observations linking schizophrenia and Celiac disease, suggesting that the role of the immune system plays prominently in this poorly understood disorder. A recent study contributes to the literature suggesting a bidrectional relationship between schizophrenia and autoimmune diseases. In this Danish cohort, individuals with schizophrenia and infectious exposures (hospitalization), the incidence of autoimmune disease was almost 3x as frequent. The role of antibody complexes feature prominently in the work of Severance et al. In this study, they use complement fixation as an indication of immune reactivity to food/immune complexes that disrupt cellular functioning, demonstrating that those with immune reactions were 4. There is speculation as to the significance of in utero exposure to these foods, and how this may lead to changes to brain modeling, also supported by this study which found a 7. Even more compelling is the following case presentation: “a 3. A gluten- free diet was started, resulting in a disappearance of psychiatric symptoms, and normalization of histological duodenal findings and of SPECT pattern.”This means that someone avoided a lifetime of medication with antipsychotics by eliminating gluten from their diet. In a related report, a case series of three patients treated for depressive syndromes without active intestinal complaints experienced resolution of symptoms on a gluten free diet within 2- 3 months, including one patient who was medicated during pregnancy and was able to stop medication within 2 months of dietary change. But I don’t have Celiac! When I suggest elimination of gluten to patients, they sometimes tell me that they have already been tested, and “don’t have Celiac”. The limitations of currently available conventional testing are very real as most physicians who do a “Celiac panel” are only testing for alpha gliadin, tissue transglutaminase 2, and endomesial antibody, a small portion of the potential immune responses to this food. In a grain consisting of 6 sets of chromosomes, capable of producing greater than 2. In one study, inflammatory response was noted in healthy volunteers, suggesting that gluten may cause reactions in everyone. Suspect # 2 Dairy. The molecular similarity between gluten and casein makes them coconspirators. With quantitatively less literature; however, dairy immune provocation appears to be more variable from person to person. In cow dairy, there are 6 types of protein milk – 4 casein comprising 8. Within the casein category, A1- beta casein is most commonly present in American cows (Holstein) and is thought to represent a mutated form of the protein, only 5,0. Casomorphin, an opiate- stimulating compound, is released from A1- beta casein. A2- beta casein is found in the milk of sheep, goats, and Jersey cows. Severence et al. This study established a linear relationship between these antibodies and exposure to milk – demonstrating resolution of antibodies on a milk- free diet and return with reintroduction of milk. Gluten and casein free diets have been systematically studied in the autistic population, including in randomized trials; however, no such study design could account for the potential high yield outcomes in any given individual. For this reason, I recommend an empirical trial of at least one month in all individuals struggling with psychiatric symptoms. There are many wonderful and freely available guides to converting to a gluten free life, but the basic principle is to eliminate rye, barley, wheat, and unspecified oats. Dairy elimination would include all milk- based foods and products including yogurt, cheese, and ice cream. Think of these changes as a prescription for brain healing and for bringing your wellness onto a higher plane.
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