DAIRY & CALCIUM - Does dairy give us strong bones, & can we get enough calcium from plants?
Dairy seems to be a tough food for people to let go of on their plant-based journey. I was a vegetarian for eight years before I even started to question dairy. Up until that point it was a huge part of my life. I often joke I was actually a dairy-tarian as I ate a lot more dairy than veggies! To read more about my love affair with dairy, and how my health improved when I broke up with it, check out My Story here. Dairy is also a huge part of New Zealand culture and is a billion dollar industry in this country. Almost everything around me was telling me that dairy is good for me, and I didn’t think to question it. ‘Dairy for life’ right?
Dairy and Health
That was until I watched a documentary called Forks Over Knives (so many plant-based journeys started when people watch this documentary!). This movie blew my mind. It showed how the excess consumption of animal products, including dairy, actually had a detrimental effect on health. I had always thought that dairy was needed for calcium to make my bones strong, but this turned out to be a complete myth! Calcium is a mineral in the soil that is needed by the body to function, and our teeth and bones are made from it. More and more studies are showing that calcium from milk has no impact on bone density, and that exercise does. If dairy is so good for our bones, why do countries that consume the most dairy (New Zealand is right up there with the USA, UK, and Sweden) have the highest rates of osteoporosis in the world? Shouldn’t we have the strongest bones in the world?
When you take a minute to think about dairy, where it comes from, what it’s for, and how it is made, things do become clearer. For one, cows don’t make calcium, they eat it - in grass. Leafy greens are a great source of calcium and the calcium in them is much more absorbable than it is in milk. Secondly, cows make their milk for baby cows to grow into adult cows in a very short amount of time. They grow to weigh about 200kg in six months. As Dr Klaper infamously said, milk is ‘baby calf growth fluid’. Humans are the only species to drink breast milk from another species, and the only species to consume milk once we have weaned. Elephants, rhinos, and gorillas don’t drink milk (once weaned) and they are some of the strongest, largest, mammals on the planet. And animals also don’t get osteoporosis!
It has recently been shown that vegans had higher bone mineral densities than omnivores even though they consumed lower levels of calcium and protein. Their systems were able to use what was available more effectively. Research also shows that excess intake of animal products, including dairy, lead to calcium excretion instead of absorption. The body becomes acidic after consuming these foods and to neutralise it draws calcium from our bones, creating weakness and vulnerability. This is what causes high rates of osteoporosis in counties like New Zealand where excess levels of dairy are consumed.
Dairy and Ethical Implications
Dairy is a source of calcium, but not the best. It comes, not only with health, but also environmental, and ethical implications. It was something I never thought about either until I heard it explained by Dr Neal Barnard on the Rich Roll Podcast. I thought cows produce milk, they are happy enough, no big deal right? To produce milk cows need to have a baby calf. So they are impregnated, give birth, spend a few short hours or days with their babies and then have them removed and are milked until their supply dries up. How do they keep their supply going? They are impregnated again (so they are pregnant while they are being milked) and the cycle continues until they are too old, or don’t produce anymore, and then they are killed for meat. Regardless if the milk you are drinking has extra hormones added to it, it is full of hormones. This effects our own bodies and hormones when we consume it. Humans are not baby calves!
And as a bit of a side note, after having a baby and nursing him, the ethical implications of dairy became even more obvious to me. Cows are highly social, intelligent, and sentient animals. Regardless of how well they are treated, they still have their babies taken from them over, and over again in their lifetimes. Those baby calves are either raised to be dairy cows, or killed as a by-product of the dairy industry. A video went viral in New Zealand last year of a cow being hung off the back of a tractor by her hip bones next to her dead calf. I found it very difficult to even look at, but the comments were mostly about how this was ‘best farming practice’ and the ‘right’ thing to do to ensure she survived and kept her milk production up. Any system that creates an environment where an animal ends up like this is, in my opinion, cruel. Just because something has always been done, and is ‘best practice’, doesn’t make it right. But the very good news is that we can get more than enough calcium from plants! And with none of the health, ethical, or environmental implications.
Alternative Plant-based Sources of Calcium
It has been so ingrained through clever advertising and marketing that you need dairy for calcium. This doesn’t mean you can’t get it somewhere else, and most plant-based food contains some calcium. There is no need to panic when ditching dairy, and that includes whey protein powders. It is crazy that what used to be a by-product of cheese making is now a multi-billion dollar industry. Whey contains calcium but also comes with large amounts of the milk protein casein, which has been proven to promote some forms of cancer. It is definitely not a health food and something that should be avoided. Check out my post on protein to learn more about plant-based sources.
So where can we get plant-based calcium? Here is a list of some foods that have particularly high levels of calcium:
-Sesame seeds
-Red kidney beans
-Spinach
-Kale
-Almonds
-Oranges
-Apricots
-Dates
-Oats
-Tofu
Oat milk is also a great source of calcium and one cup (250 mls) will provide nearly the total RDA for a toddler. Out of curiosity I calculated my approximate daily intake from a diet based on oats, fruit, veggies, bread, beans, and pasta, and it came to about 1100mg which is 100mg over the RDA for an adult. As I’ve said before our bodies are much smarter than us and as long as we eat a varied whole food, plant-based diet you should get what you need. Just because you consume your daily recommended amount of calcium doesn’t mean your body will absorb it all! Don’t sweat the small details, your body will handle it for you if you are eating a variety of whole foods. Included below is Nourished Elephant’s pocket guide for calcium. It’s a great way of illustrating how plant foods are high in calcium and that it is very easy to get what we need from them. Time for a green smoothie with sesame seeds!
Disclaimer: I am not a nutritionist or health professional. I have completed a certificate in Plant-Based Nutrition from eCornell and have done in-depth research about plant-based living. The information I trust is mostly sourced from medical professionals that are leading the way in this plant-based revolution. Check out my recommended page for more info.
