Thank you for that, Margaret, with the references, particularly the Am J Public Health one. Dairy products are flogged here in Australia, too, and have been for years, as essential for calcium intake and density. A few months ago, someone actually called me "alternative" because my calcium intake comes from other sources this past year or so - though, sadly, I was raised to take 2 pints of bovine milk at home, and the extra 1/3 pint of it at school under the free school milk scheme. (I eventually developed an allergy to it, that went undiagnosed for years, and other problems, but that's another story.)
It would be great if pregnant and breastfeeding women received proper advice, instead of that influenced by years of tradition, helped along by marketing. Ann Prentice and colleagues have done some really good work on calcium levels and bone density in pregnancy and lactation, in Cambridge (UK) and the Gambia, demolishing some of the myths surrounding the subject. (Sorry, I don't have the refs in front of me, but they are easily found in a MEDLINE or PubMed search.) Two useful papers were presented at the ILCA 2003 Conference in Sydney by Associate Professor Graeme Jones, addressing the issues of breastfeeding and bone strength, both in young children and women who had or hadn't breastfed. For those of you who missed the conference, the CD is still available on the ILA website, www.ilca.org
I'm going NO MAIL in the next few hour, to devote more time to writing. Reading Lactnet posts, instead, is t-o-o tempting! Any messages to me privately, please, - note the new email address.
Virginia
in Brisbane, Queensland
[Margaret wrote: 'Large-scale studies show that those who drink the MOST milk have the
HIGHEST risk of hip fractures. "There is no significant association
between teenaged milk consumption and the risk of adult fractures.
Data indicate that frequent milk consumption and higher dietary
calcium intakes in middle aged women do not provide protection
against hip or forearm fractures... women consuming greater amounts
of calcium from dairy foods had significantly increased risks of hip
fractures, while no increase in fracture risk was observed for the
same levels of calcium from nondairy sources." Am J Public Health,
1997 Jun;87(6):992-7.']
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