Promoting Lifelong Bone Health: Skip Dairy

Scientific evidence shows that dairy products do not reliably help bones. A recent review in Pediatrics showed that dairy products do not promote bone integrity in children and young adults.¹⁹ Studies of teenagers have found that their adult bone health is related to physical activity, not to the amount of milk or calcium they consumed.^{20, 21}

Milk consumption is no help later in life either. In an 18–year Harvard study of 73,000 women, those who got the most calcium from dairy products received no benefit from the extra dairy they consumed. Milk consumption was not associated with a lower risk of hip fracture.²² Similarly, a 1994 study of elderly men and women in Australia showed that those who consumed the most dairy products had double the hip–fracture rate of those who consumed the least.²³

Why are dairy products no help for bones? Well, despite their calcium content, they also contain animal protein and sodium, both of which accelerate calcium loss. There are plenty of good reasons to skip dairy products.