How does the calcium we get from plants stack up against the calcium in dairy products? The answer may surprise you.
The number one source of calcium in the standard American diet is dairy products. The number one source of saturated fat, however, is also dairy products. Dairy products also constitute the number one allergen in the American food supply. So yes, cow’s milk represents a substantial source of calcium, but it all depends on what baggage you want with your calcium.
The calcium in dark green leafy vegetables like kale, broccoli, and bok choy, is absorbed by the body about twice as well as the calcium in milk, and you also get as a bonus: fiber and folate, iron and antioxidants, and bone health superstar vitamin K. You won’t find any of this stuff in milk. What you will get as a bonus to the calcium in milk is saturated butterfat, cholesterol, lactose, antibiotics, pesticides, pus, and manure.
Speaking of pus, there was a pus study this year in the Journal of Dairy Science. They asked the age-old question, “Can you taste the pus?” The United States has the highest allowable pus concentration in the world with over 300 million pus cells per glass. The industry, however, has always argued that it doesn’t matter how inflamed and infected the udders of our factory-farmed dairy cows are because as a result of pasteurization, it’s cooked pus. So there’s no food safety risk.
What these researchers did, though, was to see if people could taste the difference. They made a trial with two vats of cheese, one from high pus milk and the other conforming to the more stringent European standards. The result was that not only could people taste the difference, but the “less pus” cheese evidently tasted significantly better.
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April 20, 2017
Lee manure can get around the outside of a cow’s udders. For example if a cow lays down, or if her udders hang low and brush manure, or if a machine touches the manure then touches her udders. Then when the cow is milked it can transfer into the milk, even by falling off into it, or transferring from a hand or machine into it. Boiling does not always help with things, and neutralizes a lot of good nutrients.
April 20, 2017
Lee pus is that gooey icky stuff that comes out of a wound.
April 20, 2017
Sue – Yes, u r absolutely right!
April 19, 2017
Pus? What do you mean by “pus?”. And, why would there be manure in milk?
April 19, 2017
Doesn’t dairy also leech calcium out of bone? I thought I read that somewhere.
April 20, 2017
Yes it does. Explains why countries with the highest dairy consumption have higher rates of osteoporosis and hip fractures. Doesn’t do a body good after all.
April 22, 2017
Yes Sue dairy makes your blood slightly acidic and in order to return your body to the correct pH it leeches calcium out of your bones. That is the main reason why countries with the highest dairy intake also have the highest rates of hip and other bone fractures, especially among the older generation.