Got milk?

There is still widespread belief that ingesting high amounts of dairy products is a healthy practice, because of milk’s high calcium content.  Actually, drinking lots of  milk is very prevalent in bodybuilding circles as a weight gaining food (alongside high animal protein consumption).  What can be more wholesome than milk, right? This is what Walter C. Willett and Meir J. Stampfer of the Harvard School of Public Health have to say about drinking milk:

“… it promotes overconsumption of dairy products, recommending the equivalent of two or three glasses of milk a day. This advice is usually justified by dairy’s calcium content, which is believed to prevent osteoporosis and bone fractures. But the highest rates of fractures are found in countries with high dairy consumption, and large prospective studies have not shown a lower risk of fractures among those who eat plenty of dairy products. Calcium is an essential nutrient, but the requirements for bone health have probably been overstated. What is more, we cannot assume that high dairy consumption is safe: in several studies, men who consumed large amounts of dairy products experienced an increased risk of prostate cancer, and in some studies, women with high intakes had elevated rates of ovarian cancer. Although fat was initially assumed to be the responsible factor, this has not been supported in more detailed analyses. High calcium intake itself seemed most clearly related to the risk of prostate cancer.”

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