The dairy debarkle

Dr. Schulze ,

I would like a little more clarity on the subject of dairy products and whether human beings actually need to consume them or would benefit from doing so. I’ve assumed this to not be the case for the following reasons:

1) No other animal, carnivorous or herbivorous, consumes or is required to consume the milk of other animals, so logically a human being wouldn’t be required to either.
2) Since we’d been surviving for millions of years without drinking milk (humans only began doing so 8 to 10 thousand years ago) there’s no reason to suspect that our bodies would require something that until recently was not at all a part of our diet.
3) The substance of dairy food – it’s undisputed that although it may contain beneficial elements, it also contain an excess of fat, protein and various other nasties. Fruits and vegetables and other ‘quintessential’ eats, however, are usually all-out good for you.

It all seems pretty straight forward until the following argument is laid out by nutritional ‘authorities’, such as those from ‘Medicine Today’ magazine. A particular article (April 2002, Vol. 3, No. 4), claims that the risks of Lacto-ovo vegetarian diet (i.e. no consumption of meat, but still of dairy) are “very low”, where as vegan diets (no consumption of meats OR dairy) are “high, particularly for babies, children and adolescents, as well as for pregnant and lactating women. Likely to be low in calories, iron, calcium, zinc, vitamin B12 and protein.”. They go onto say that “children under 5 years of age…need the extra energy and fat-soluble vitamins provided by whole milk and full-fat dairy foods”.

This obviously contradicts my ideas from before. If you could shed some light on this issue it’d be much appreciated

I would also like an opinion on the ‘calcium paradox’ of dairy foods: to my understanding dairy foods appear to be a rich source of calcium, but in fact will eliminate calcium from the body rather than enriching it. This happens because the hefty amount of protein found in dairy food requires considerable quantities of acids (stomach I assume?) to break it all down. The body then must neutralise the acid to maintain the necessary blood pH. Calcium (being alkaline) is most suitable, and is acquired by leeching it from the bones, leaving your body with less calcium than you would conceivably like. Any truth in this?

Thanks
Anthony Gore

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