Doctor rejects dairy dietary advice

KRISTIN SHORTEN
July 04, 2013
news.com.au

A RESPECTED doctor has rejected dietary recommendations about animal milk, contradicting the advice of most nutritionists who encourage people to consume three servings of dairy a day.

In an editorial penned for medical journal JAMA Paediatrics this month, Harvard professor David Ludwig says humans have no nutritional requirement for animal milk.

Dr Ludwig, the director of the New Balance Foundation Obesity Prevention Centre at Boston Children’s Hospital, says animal milk is “an evolutionary recent addition to the diet”.

“Anatomically, modern humans presumably achieved adequate nutrition for millennia before domestication of dairy animals, and many populations throughout the world today consume little or no milk for biological reasons (lactase deficiency), lack of availability, or cultural preferences,” he says.

“Adequate dietary calcium for bone health, often cited as the primary rationale for high intakes of milk, can be obtained from many other sources.

“Indeed the recommended levels of calcium intake in the United States, based predominantly on balance studies of three weeks or less, likely over-estimate actual requirements and greatly exceed recommended intakes in the United Kingdom.”

Dr Ludwig said that throughout the world, bone fracture rates are lower in countries where people don’t consume milk.

“Moreover milk consumption does not protect against fracture in adults, according to a recent meta-analysis,” he said.

Dr Ludwig, who is a professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and a professor of nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health, also argues the recommended three servings of dairy a day can contribute to a significant increase in sugar and calories in the diet.

“This recommendation to drink three cups a day of milk – it’s perhaps the most prevailing advice given to the American public about diet in the last half century,” he told Today Health.

“As a result, Americans are consuming billions of gallons of milk a year, presumably under the assumption that their bones would crumble without them.”

The Australian Government’s 2013 Dietary Guidelines say that dairy (cow’s milk and the yoghurt and cheese produced from it) products are good sources of nutrients including calcium, protein, iodine, vitamin A, vitamin D, riboflavin, vitamin B12 and zinc.

“These foods provide calcium in a readily absorbable and convenient form,” the guidelines state.

“However, in reflecting on Australian consumption patterns and ensuring all nutrient requirements are met within energy requirements, it is recommended that reduced fat varieties should be chosen on most occasions.

“The evidence for the health benefits of consumption of these (dairy) foods has strengthened since the 2003 edition of the dietary guidelines, however the evidence base primarily comprises small, short-term studies with varied definitions of dairy foods.”

The guidelines say that consuming at least two serves of (in most cases low-fat) dairy per day is associated with reduced risk of conditions including ischaemic heart disease, myocardial infarction, stroke, hypertension and metabolic syndrome.

“Recent evidence suggests that consumption of dairy foods (particularly milk) is associated with improved bone mineral density … but this is contradicted by evidence suggesting that less than one serve of milk per day during adult life is not associated with risk of osteoporotic or hip fracture.”

Dr Ludwig says that those with a “high quality” diet don’t need dairy as a primary source of calcium.
“The point is, we can get plenty of calcium from a whole range of foods,” Ludwig says.

“On a gram for gram basis, cooked kale has more calcium than milk. Sardines, nuts, seeds, beans, green leafy vegetables are all sources of calcium.”

In a list titled Dairy Food Myths, published by Nutrition Australia, Dairy Australia claims that avoiding or removing dairy foods from the diet “may lead to” vitamin and mineral deficiencies.

But in a piece published on MindBodyGreen, director of Austin UltraHealth Amy Myers says dairy is highly inflammatory, acid-forming and often full of hormones and antibiotics.

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