Milk? No thanks!

Does your child get enough calcium?

The most calcium is located in dairy products, especially milk. A cup of 250ml milk contains ca. 285mg calcium. If you check with the table below, you will notice that your child needs between 2 and 4 cups of milk daily to cover its needs: thats between 1/2 and 1 liter of milk daily.

Daily Recommended Intake for Calcium

With an increased consumption of soft drinks during the last decades, our kids don’t get even a cup of milk a day. Is it right or wrong? Should we add more milk into their diet? Does an increased consumption of milk solve the calcium deficiency, which leads to bones fractures and osteoporosis?

Maybe not. While too much soft drinks is definitely unhealthy, too much milk may not be the best choice, too. Here are some facts you should consider.

Milk side-effects and facts

• Too much milk may be unhealthy due to its high amount of fat and cholesterol (thus, skim milk is preffered)
• Up to 70% of humans have lactose intolerance, which leads to diarrhoea, gases and cramping.
• Critics say that plant sources for calcium are far better, as the animal protein in milk eventually causes excretion of calcium from human bones! Studies show that vegetarians retain much more calcium than the nonvegetarian.
• Studies show that there is no direct evidence of less bone fractures by increasing daily milk intake.
• Older american women who have consumed over two pounds of milk during their entire live still get osteoporosis, over 30 Million women! Milk doesn’t prevent bone loss either.
• There is direct evidence of a relation between body acne and excess consumption of milk.

As a conclusion of these facts I should say that adults shouldn’t go hard on milk as mammals are not meant to consume milk after infancy. As rule of thumb, a child who is under 8 years old can drink as much milk as he wants. Afterwards I wouldn’t press him to drink more.

You can easily equilibrate your calcium needs with vegetables. The sad truth is that our children don’t get enough of green, either. Maybe that’s what you should work on.