In recent years, the question of calcium has become more and more contentious. The mammoth studies in nutritional science and Western governmental guidelines continue to maintain that the calcium found in dairy products will support good bone health and density, but an increasing number of reports are surfacing which suggest that this may not be the case.
With such a saturation of apparently contradictory evidence, it is becoming more and more difficult for adults and parents to understand what they should be feeding themselves and what they should be feeding their children. So, do dairy products really make your bones stronger? I compared studies of dairy-sourced calcium and plant-sourced calcium to find out.
What is Calcium?
Calcium is a mineral, a chemical element, required by the body in small doses to maintain normal bodily functions. Calcium is a macro-mineral, which means that the human body must ingest it in slightly higher levels than some other chemical elements. Generally, the human body requires in excess of 100mg of macro-minerals per day to support the body’s health.
However, while minimum recommended intake for many macro-minerals is easy enough to find in government guidelines, a suggestion for maximum recommended intake is often ignored. While calcium promotes the body’s natural growth and maintenance functions, an excess can result in the formation of “stone” deposits in some of the body’s organs, most commonly the gall bladder and the kidneys.
Is Calcium good for bone health?
Calcium is, by nature, a constituent of bones and teeth, and the body requires the ingestion of a certain level of calcium to maintain the body’s optimum balance. A decent intake of calcium is also recommended to prevent the onset of osteoporosis in menopausal women by protecting bone density and limiting deterioration. Calcium is also responsible for balancing the body’s metabolic processes, including nerve function and blood clotting. The CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) cites that ‘adequate calcium consumption and weight bearing physical activity build strong bones, optimises bone mass, and may reduce the risk of osteoporosis later in life.’ The guidelines also recommend dairy products as the primary dietary source for calcium.
What is the difference between animal-sourced calcium and plant-sourced calcium?
Dairy products are often cited as the predominant dietary source for calcium. The CDC recommends ‘low fat or nonfat milk, cheese, and yoghurt’ before plant-based sources for calcium, which include dark leafy vegetables such as broccoli and spinach, soy products such as tofu, and some nut products including almonds. While dairy products are indeed high in calcium, it is important to recognise that the CDC also cites the highest levels of osteoporosis in White / Caucasian post-menopausal women, an ethnic bracket responsible for some of the highest levels of animal protein and dairy consumption in the world. Based on this apparent contradiction, can we therefore assume that there is an inherent difference between animal-sourced and plant-sourced calcium?
Dr T. Colin Campbell and his son Dr Thomas M. Campbell identified a stark difference between consuming calcium from dairy products and consuming calcium from plant sources in landmark nutritional resource The China Study. Their investigation into calcium consumption and bone health began with this notion:
‘Americans consume more cow’s milk and its products per person that most populations in the world. So Americans should have wonderfully strong bones, right? Unfortunately not. A recent study showed that American women aged fifty and older have one of the highest rates of hip fractures in the world. The only countries with higher rates are in Europe and in the South Pacific (Australia and New Zealand) where they consume even more milk than the United States.’
So perhaps it is not only the level of calcium consumed, but the source of calcium that helps protect us from bone density deterioration. One reason for this may be the idea that animal protein significantly increases the metabolic acidity of the human body. Dr T. Colin Campbell goes on to explain that the metabolic acid load caused by the ingestion of animal protein actually strips calcium from the bones instead of contributes to them:
‘When animal protein increases metabolic acid and draws calcium from the bones, the amount of calcium in the urine is increased. This effect has been established for over eighty years and has been studied in some detail since the 1970s.’
And the evidence for this suggestion speaks for itself:
‘The Study of Osteoporotic Fractures Research Group at the University of California at San Francisco published yet another study […]. After seven years of observations the women with the highest ratio of animal protein to plant protein had 3.7 times more bone fractures than the women with the lowest ratio. Also during this time the women with the high ratio lost bone almost four times as fast as the women with the lowest ratio.’
These studies and statistics drawn on by Dr T. Colin Campbell and Dr Thomas M. Campbell make a convincing argument for the consumption of plant-based calcium to promote better bone health. By avoiding dairy products, we are able to balance the metabolic acidity of the body, allowing calcium to work in the body before excreting it.
Despite these studies, a large proportion of the Western hemisphere – accustomed to eating high levels of dairy produce – are likely to argue that the level of calcium consumed through plant-based products would hardly be enough to support our recommended daily intake. In fact, a higher level of calcium can be found in combinations of plant-based products that it can in an equal combination of animal-based products. In portion sizes equivalent to 500 calories of energy, equal parts of tomatoes, spinach, lima beans, peas, potatoes provided 545mg of calcium compared with 252mg of calcium provided by equal parts of beef, pork, chicken, and whole milk (p. 230, The China Study).
Over time, it has been ingrained in our minds that without dairy products, we would not be consuming enough calcium. However, an increasing number of experiments and studies are consistently demonstrating that animal products in fact inhibit the body’s capacity to absorb the calcium we consume, while plant products are able to provide the body with a higher density of calcium, balance the body’s metabolic acidity, and reduce the chances of developing calcium deposits or ‘stones’ in the body’s vital organs. Perhaps it is finally time to reconsider the health benefits of animal products in a contemporary Western diet.
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