Nutrition News Health Column in todays Daily Sun
 

November 26, 2013. Heading: "Start today to train healthy eaters for life"

The columnist, a dietition, quotes two other dietitians who have written a book to help parents raise healthy eaters.

Two paragraphs from the bottom of the column there's advice, from the two co-authors, on how to increase calcium. I'l list the recommendations:

1) milk

2) yogurt

3) calcium-fortified orange juice

4) calcium fortified breads and other grains,

5) tofu

6) dairy desserts such as pudding and ice cream

7) low fat cheeses in sandwiches, snacks and casseroles.



My Comment: What's missing from the above recommendations? There's no mention of the very best way to get calcium: "Dark leafy greans". Dairy is the worst way to get calcium because it makes the body acidic and, therefore, causes calcium to get excreted in the urine. Although, on second thought, the worst advice is to get calcium from ice cream. And this is from a book that's supposed to be teaching parents to train healthy eaters.

I suspect that the columnist and the book's co-authors are employed by the dairy industry. I've been reading this column and noticing this for quite some time.

This is total speculation on my part. When I look at the list I see the stage of feeding a baby easily gummed food or toddlers with finger foods, but may be mistaken. Leafy green vegetables can't be introduced until there are teeth that can actually chew. I made all our baby food when our kids were young and did the same thing with our grandsons. I'd puree the vegetable or fruit and freeze in ice cube trays. When I attempted to do this with leafy green vegetables the outcome was a bitter taste and not something the kiddos would eat.

I may not be correct and the article targeted to older kids. In which case, leafy green vegetables are a great source for many nutrients.

Employed by dairy industry? Probably not. Past and even present day thinking is that dairy is the main source of calcium. Dark, green veggies do provide calcium, but again, their taste may be off putting to some adults and many youngsters. Milk is cool, refreshing and more easily ingested.....open the fridge and there it is.

No mention was made of babies so I assume it was intended for older kids.

Milk is a human's first food. My husband thinks that it comes in attractive containers.

At least not directly. They can set up XYZ publishing company and put a dietitian in charge of it to put out a column every week. Since the dairy association is not allowed by the FDA to promote dairy as a food that will help build strong bones, I'm reasonably sure that the industry has found indirect ways of linking the idea of strong bones to dairy consumption. And I'm reasonably sure that dietitians must be aware of this. The FDA would have made this ruling based on insufficient evidence that dairy helps build strong bones. How could 3 dietitians not be aware of this? Here's the cleaver part: I noticed that the article, and the quote from the book, did not claim that dairy helps build strong bones. This is left for readers to assume. So the column didn't promote any falsehood in this regard, as far as I know. They don't have to because, as you have said, they know that present day thinking is that, "dairy helps build strong bones".
And the whole point of the column and book is to simply reinforce that idea.

Yes, it may very well be as you say, that dairy is the main source of calcium. But the question is: Does dairy help build strong bones? The FDA says that there's no evidence to support that claim.

You are likely correct again, but the debate is not about taste. First and foremost, dietitians should provide accurate information. Then if people don't like "dark leafy greens", they are free to take their chances with with something else that is unproven.



Note:What some will call "preaching" is simply me trying the best I can to reply to a post.

As I said, I did not know if the article was referring to an infant. I will copy and paste from your post: "Start today to train healthy eaters for life"

You begin introducing healthy eating with the first food introduced as they begin getting solids.

I am not a dietician and this is simply something I have heard or read.

Actually, absorbing the calcium is key to the body using it.

Vitamin D

The two main ways to get vitamin D are by exposing your bare skin to sunlight and by taking vitamin D supplements. You can’t get the right amount of vitamin D your body needs from food.

The most natural way to get vitamin D is by exposing your bare skin to sunlight (ultraviolet B rays). This can happen very quickly, particularly in the summer. You don’t need to tan or burn your skin to get vitamin D. You only need to expose your skin for around half the time it takes for your skin to turn pink and begin to burn. How much vitamin D is produced from sunlight depends on the time of day, where you live in the world and the color of your skin. The more skin you expose the more vitamin D is produced.

You can also get vitamin D by taking supplements. This is a good way to get vitamin D if you can’t get enough sunlight, or if you’re worried about exposing your skin. Vitamin D3 is the best kind of supplement to take. It comes in a number of different forms, such as tablets and capsules, but it doesn’t matter what form you take, or what time of the day you take it.

What is vitamin D? | Vitamin D Council

VPL, " First and foremost, dietitians should provide accurate information."

Just a reminder that "accurate" is constantly changing as scientists, researchers, etc. continue to study foods and their impact on the human species. Remember, old ideas take a long time to replace with new findings.

Have a great holiday, VPL, today is when you celebrate with friends. Enjoy!

The dairy industry has been studying dairy products ("and their impact on the human species") for as long as they have been in existence and they still can't prove to the FDA that dairy helps build strong bones? All they would have to do is present adequate test studies, just as drug companies do when they want to have a drug approved. This is a civilized society with checks and balances.

No more excuses for dairy!

As a matter of fact, the opposite has been proved in large scale studies. There are large-scale population studies that show strong bones where there is an absence of dairy products, and weaker bones where there is an abundance of dairy products.

Even prehistoric bones (30 to 40 thousand years old) show great strength. And there were no dairy products back then.

No more excuses for dairy. They have had the past 50, 60 or more years to prove that milk has a positive effect on bone health and they have failed to make their case.



Let's not continue to have blind faith in a product that has yet to prove its effectiveness.

Nice post, which may be helpful, but this thread is not about vitamin D. Lets not get off topic and confuse the issue. Yes, of course vitamin D is needed to absorb calcium.

The question is: Can dairy help build healthy bones under any (optimal) conditions? The dairy industry hasn't been able to prove their case to the FDA. And since it hasn't been proved , should dietitians be promoting it as though it has been proved?