This is from a posting by Robert Cohen on January 20, 2007 to the NotMilk group.
I was in the dairy aisle of my local supermarket (Whole Foods in Ridgewood, NJ) searching for a soy yogurt for my daughter, Lizzy, when I overheard this conversation:
Mom: Let's not forget to buy milk.
Little Boy: I hate milk.
Mom: If you don't drink milk you won't have enough
calcium for your bones, and you won't be able to
play baseball.
Little Boy: Ohhhhhhkaaaaaay
I was tempted to attack 'mom' in a nice way, of course, but finding myself hobbling along with a cane as a result of my recently failed spinal fusion operation which was performed to cure an accident, I doubted in my ability to generate a persuasive argument looking the way I did, so, I limped away, and would have kicked myself if I could have for a missed golden oppportunity.
Had I not appeared to be a man hobbled by bone disease, I might have addressed the boy's mother with the following:
Do you wonder why it is that cow's milk contains so much calcium? After all, cow's don't drink milk. Where then, do they get their calcium from?
I might have then explained that that plants (veggies and fruits) are loaded with calcium. Cows eat plants. People should, too.
You can eat all of the calcium in the world and still have weak bones. You can eat rocks and bones and eggshells, but without another key element, magnesium, you cannot absorb calcium. Magnesium happens to be the center atom of chlorophyll--that green stuff--plant blood.
Human breast milk is the perfect formula for baby humans. In her wisdom, Mother Nature included 33 milligrams of calcium in every 100 gram portion of human breast milk. At the end of this column are calcium values for 55 commonly-eaten foods. Compare those calcium values to human breast milk.
In order to absorb calcium, the body needs comparable amounts of another mineral element, magnesium. Magnesium is the center atom of chlorophyl. Milk and dairy products contain only small amounts of magnesium. Without the presence of magnesium, the body only absorbs 25 percent of the available dairy calcium content. The remainder of the calcium spells trouble. Without magnesium, excess calcium is utilized by the body in injurious ways. The body uses calcium to build the mortar on arterial walls which becomes atherosclerotic plaques. Excess calcium is converted by the kidneys into painful stones which grow in size like pearls in oysters, blocking our urinary tracts. Excess calcium contributes to arthritis; painful calcium buildup often is manifested as gout.
One calcium-rich food found in just about every supermarket is hummus. Hummus contains calcium and magnesium, so the calcium is easily absorbed. The primary components of hummus are Chick peas (150 mg od calcium) + sesame seeds (1160 mg of calcium). Hummus contains ten times as much calcium as human breast milk.
We have been brainwashed by unethical dairy ads into believing that osteoporosis is a problem associated with lack of calcium intake. Osteoporosis results from calcium loss. The massive amounts of protein in milk result in a 50 percent loss of calcium in the urine. In other words, by doubling your protein intake there will be a loss of 1-1.5 percent in skeletal mass per year in postmenopausal women.
The calcium contained in leafy green vegetables is more easily absorbed than the calcium in milk, and plant proteins do not result in calcium loss the same way as animal proteins do.
The dairy industry would have you believe that milk and cheese are the only foods containing calcium. They want you to believe that they own the monopoly on calcium. What an absurd lie that is. Try to memorize the following bit of trivia as an example of dairy deception.
Human breast milk contains 33 milligrams of calcium per 100-gram portion and potato chips contain 40 milligrams!
You should become an informed consumer for the sake of your children. How about for your own sake? Calcium content of foods per 100-gram portion (100 grams equals about 3.5 ounces):