If you believe advertisements, at least in the US, milk producers would have you believing that you can't be healthy, or get enough calcium and have strong bones unless you are chugging down lots of milk. But is it true?
Milk, they claim, is a perfect food. It is perfect-- for babies. If you look around, you will notice that the only mammals who continue to use milk after weaning, are human beings. But it isn't necessary to human health, and can be detrimental in many ways. First are the large numbers of people who are allergic to milk. Most prevelant are those who suffer from lactose intolerance. A large percentage of people from African or Asian backgrounds suffer from this inability to digest the milk sugar, lactose, causing nausea, gas, and diarrhea. For others milk contributes to hay fever, asthma, and other respiratory ailments.
Today there are added concerns as we see disease increasing in the animal population with BSE (mad cow disease), hoof and mouth disease, leukemia, and TB, all on the rise in cattle and other animals, and, with the exception of hoof and mouth, all can be passed to humans. Whether they will pass through the milk, is as yet unproven, but the possibility is quite strong.
Many cultures in the world don't use milk or use it minimally. Americans are being cajoled to drink milk with the claim of health benefits, but do those peoples who don't use milk suffer ill effects from not drinking milk? If the calcium in milk is important to the prevention of osteoporosis, how is it that the USA has one of the highest rates of osteoporosis in the world yet it also has one of the hightest milk consumption rates in the world? Obviously, the calcium is doing little good.
One theory for this dilema is the high amount of protein in milk and the high flesh food diet of Americans. Proteins produce uric acid in the body and to nuetralize the acids, the body uses calcium which is then excreeted by the kidneys. It seems that much of the calcium intake never reaches the bones because it is needed in the digestion of the high proteins. Vegetarians, especially vegans, don't usually have this problem. Plants, grains, nuts, and vegetables do not have the high amounts of proteins contained in animal foods. Less uric acid is formed, and less calcium is needed to neutralize it.
The calcium found in meat and milk is not the most suitable for the body to absorb. Plant calcium is more easily absorbed by the human body. There are some good sources of calcium in the plant world.
*Beans: pinto, navy, lentils, kidney, great northern, and especially soy, blackeyed peas, crowder peas, garbanzos (chickpeas), blackbeans.
*Carob powder (good chocolate substitute)
*Greens: collards, turnip, mustard, dandelion, beet
Another advantage of using vegetable sources for calcium rather than dairy products, is the amounts of fat, cholesterol, fiber, and protein. Americans, as a rule, get too much fat and protein, too little fiber, and any amount of cholesterol is unneeded by the body as we humans make our own. Cholesterol taken into the body only clogs the blood vessels and causes problems.
If you're going to have a milk mustache, maybe you should make it soy! 
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For I know that my redeemer liveth,
and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth.
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Linda[This message has been edited by Linda Sutton (edited March 05, 2001).]
