Why Dairy is Scary
Dairy products are plain confusing. Advertisements claim that dairy products can help us lose weight. We hear about the "good" bacteria in yogurt. We are told how much calcium we need to prevent osteoporosis. Sounds like dairy is a good, even necessary, part of our diet. But is it?
Mammals concentrate toxins in their milk. So we get extremely high levels of mercury, perchlorate, PCBs, pesticides, and dioxin in milk and dairy products. Organic dairy products aren't much better. While they aren't fed or sprayed with pesticides, they still get toxins through water, air, and runoff from other farms. Toxins have "endocrine-mimicking properties", meaning they imitate steroid, or reproductive, hormones such as estrogen in humans. Ironically, people avoid soymilk because they've heard misinformed hype about plant estrogens, so instead they drink cow's milk, which is loaded with estrogen-mimicking substances. Commercial cow milk not only contains toxins that act like hormones, but it has added hormones and antibiotics. Even organic cow milk has naturally occurring growth hormones.
What about the need for calcium? The biggest calcium thief is animal protein. Consuming animal protein creates an imbalance of uric and sulfuric acid in our blood, forcing the body to neutralize these acids by releasing calcium from our bones. 
The calcium buffers the acid, but is then released into our urinary tract, where it either winds up in the toilet or builds up in the kidney-the major reason for kidney stones.
Studies done in rural parts of Asia and Africa found that elderly women tend to consume little or no dairy products. Their calcium consumption is only 300-600 milligrams per day. Yet these women have extremely low rates of osteoporosis. Researchers believe this to be due to the low amounts of "calcium losers" in their diet, including animal protein, processed foods, and soda. Genetic relatives of these populations, consuming an American diet, have the same rates of osteoporosis as Americans do, so diet and lifestyle trump genetic factors. home...
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Bronwyn Schweigerdt
I am a speaker, nutrition instructor and author. I have a Master's degree in nutrition from Tufts University. I love to give seminars and teach classes. I teach regularly for State Agencies and the Co-op but would love to do more. If you have a group that could use a fun, challenging nutrition speaker email me!
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