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Recommended Reading
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the china study
marcia anzell
What Really Causes Osteoporosis
Headlines
“The myth that osteoporosis is caused by calcium deficiency was created to sell dairy products and calcium supplements. There's no truth to it. American women are among the biggest consumers of calcium in the world, and they still have one of the highest levels of osteoporosis in the world. And eating even more dairy products and calcium supplements is not going to change that fact.”
- Dr. John McDougall
"In the next 10 to 15 years, one of the things you're bound
to hear is that animal protein ... is one of the most toxic
nutrients of all that can be considered . Risk for disease
goes up dramatically when even a little animal protein is
added to the diet." T. Colin Campbell Ph.D. (Author of
The China Study).
Despite the dairy industry funding study after study to try to prove its claims, Dr. John McDougall, upon examining all the available nutritional studies and evidence, concludes:
“The primary cause of osteoporosis is the high-protein diet most Americans consume today. As one leading researcher in this area said, '[E]ating a high-protein diet is like pouring acid rain on your bones.’” Remarkably enough, if dairy has any effect, both clinical and population evidence strongly implicate dairy in causing, rather than preventing, osteoporosis. That the dairy industry would lull unsuspecting women and children into complacency by telling them, essentially, drink more milk and your bones will be fine, may make good business sense, but it does the public a grave disservice.
Bruce Friedrich
One study, funded by the National Dairy Council, involved giving a group of postmenopausal women three 8-ounce glasses of skim milk per day for two years and comparing their bones to those of a control group of women not given the milk. The dairy group consumed 1,400 mg of calcium per day and lost bone at twice the rate of the control group. According to the researchers, “This may have been due to the average 30 percent increase in protein intake during milk supplementation ... The adverse effect of increases in protein intake on calcium balance has been reported from several laboratories, including our own” (they then cite 10 other studies).
Bruce Friedrich
Says McDougall, “Needless to say, this finding did not reach the six o'clock news.”
Harvard University's landmark Nurses Health Study, which followed 78,000 women over a 12-year period, found that the women who consumed the most calcium from dairy foods broke more bones than those who rarely drank milk. Summarizing this study, the Lunar Osteoporosis Update (November 1997) explained: “This increased risk of hip fracture was associated with dairy calcium. If this were any agent other than milk, which has been so aggressively marketed by dairy interests, it undoubtedly would be considered a major risk factor.”
Bruce Friedrich
A National Institutes of Health study out of the University of California, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (2001), found that;
“Women who ate most of their protein from animal sources had three times the rate of bone loss and 3.7 times the rate of hip fractures of women who ate most of their protein from vegetable sources.” Even though the researchers adjusted “for everything we could think of that might otherwise explain the relationship it didn't change the results.” The study's conclusion: “[A]n increase in vegetable protein intake and a decrease in animal protein intake may decrease bone loss and the risk of hip fracture.”
Bruce Friedrich
Says Dr. T. Colin Campbell, the world's leading epidemiological researcher in the field of diet and health,
“The dairy folks, ever since the 1920s, have been enormously successful in cultivating an environment within virtually all segments of our society"from research and education to public relations and politics"to have us believing that cow's milk and its products are manna from heaven. Make no mistake about it; the dairy industry has been virtually in total control of any and all public health information that ever rises to the level of public scrutiny…The association between the intake of animal protein and fracture rates appears to be as strong as the association between cigarette smoking and lung cancer.” -Dr. T. Colin Campbell
“Milk, it now seems clear, is not the solution to poor bone density. To the contrary, it's part of the problem.”
- Dr. Charles Attwood
Discussion:
The ingestion of milk causes the blood to become acid
ie -pH less than the normal 7.43. The body corrects this via
the calcium phosphate balance which requires mobilization of
additional calcium into the bloodstream to correct the acidosis.
This calcium is obtained by removing it from the bones. Thus, it
is no surprise that milk causes a total body calcium loss.
This is not new information and is well discussed with reference
to the original studies in John Robbins's book "Diet for a New
America."
Amazing as it sounds, the ash (residue) from any animal protein
that finds its way to the bloodstream is so acid that the
homeostatic mechanisms of the body that maintain the pH of
the blood at 7.43 are immediately invoked. The prime mechanism
to accomplish this (as noted above) is the calcium / phosphate
balance in the bloodstream. Since calcium acts as a base
(can correct an acid condition of the blood) the body pulls
calcium from the bone to offset or correct the acidosis
caused by the acid residue from the animal protein
(this includes dairy/milk).
Over time the continuing ingestion of animal protein
leads to significant loss of bone mineralization and
eventually clinical osteoporosis. Ingesting more calcium
is a very simplistic approach that more often than not
does not help. The problem is that supplemental calcium
seldom finds its way to the bloodstream and the body will
continue to remove calcium from the bone since this is the
pathway that mother nature has established. As a diagnostic
radiologist I had many an occasion to see calcium
tablets of all varieties totally undissolved on abdominal
radiographs. Treating osteoporosis with additional calcium is like
replacing the wood in a termite infested house without
eradicating the termites. The only effective (and extremely
simple) answer is to just not consume animal protein. One
of the other complications of the increased mobilization of
calcium is kidney stones. The incidence of kidney stones is
considerably increased in those who consume animal protein.
The Bantu women, who are exclusively vegan and live off of a
completely plant based diet in central Africa, get less than
350 mg of calcium in their daily diet. Yet, there is no
osteoporosis in these women since they do not ingest any animal
protein. This is also true for many women in the more remote
portions of mainland China.
All the new imaging devices for measuring bone density are
really a large technological waste of time and money.
If you eat meat you are at risk for osteoporosis -period.
Just take some of the money you would spend to have your
bone density measured and go out and buy some good
organic veggies. You and your bones will love you for it.
Osteoporosis is not gender specific. Although more women than
men are affected, men also have osteoporosis. I once knew
an Ultrasound technician in his thirties who had radiographic
osteoporosis.
Some Suggested Recipes
The following recipes are good sources of calcium from
totally natural sources as well as recipes that avoid the
foods that cause osteoporosis. For those of you outside
of the US the need for organic foods is not as critical
since the destructive commercial farming practices here
have not yet reached the rest of the world -yet. This is
especially true in Europe where a tomato, I am told, still
tastes like a tomato.
Black bean burritos, tostadas and tacos.
Prepare some organic black beans refried style as in the
MericleDiet or however you like to prepare your beans.
Obtain some organic tortillas, taco or tostada shells.
Drop some refried beans into or onto one of the above
and add some chopped lettuce, cabbage or onions. Black
beans and onions really make a good burrito. Wrap the
tortilla around your filling and garnish with salsa
and maybe some more cabbage or lettuce. If you like, you
can fry the burrito to make what we used to call a "Cindy
Special" from an old Mexican restaurant here in Tucson.
The frying is however not without its caloric burden,
although it makes for a real taste treat.
Other good sources of calcium are organic kale, collards,
broccoli, bok choy and tofu.
A fresh spinach salad makes a nice addition to this meal
and a lot of organic greens really are excellent sources
of calcium that the body can utilize. I have been told
that, although spinach is high in calcium, it is also high
in oxalic acid which is alleged to bind the calcium thus
limiting its absorption. However spinach is still a good
bet since it has been shown to retard the development of
macular degeneration.
Summary:
Osteoporosis is not a disease of calcium absorption but is a proactive disease caused by ingesting foods that upset the acid/base balance of the body thus requiring calcium to be slowly but constantly leached from your bones in order to keep the blood (pH) normal (7.43). No amount of ingested calcium will correct the problem as long as one continues to destroy their bones by eating the wrong foods. The answer is to simply stop the destruction of your bones by significantly reducing or completely stopping the ingestion of animal protein.
Thanks for your time and your attention.
Copyright © John Mericle M.D. D.A.B.R. 2000-2011 All Rights Reserved
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glucagon and weight loss ...page 6
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- exercise myth
- fuel selection
- glucagon and aging
where the sugar freeway ends ...page 38
- high fructose corn syrup
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- angina doesn't care
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the MericleDiet ...page 65
- introduction
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- medical basis
- carbohydrate confusion
- energy metabolism101
- role of exercise
- The Dangers of Sports Non-nutrition
Seven Days of Great Tasting Vegan Meals
- a different kind of potato salad
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- golden bowls
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- a quick primer on tofu
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- MericleDiet stir fry
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- mock chicken salad sandwich
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select articles ...page 125
- Complications of Coronary Artery Bypass Surgery
- Chunky Cole Slaw
- coconut oil good or bad?
- eleven dangerous food additives
- Fifteen Secrets of Safe and Easy Permanent Weight Loss
- Fats (triacylglycerols) and Essential Fatty Acids
- He Shou Wu
- Hypertension
- Hypertension II
- 14 Simple Things To Reduce Your Risk of Breast Cancer
- Osteoporosis
- What Really Causes Osteoporosis
- Macular Degeneration
- olive oil chest pain in a bottle
- Why Organic
- rugrat ... Lymphoma -The Dangers of New Carpet
- Your Stomach Knows Best The Dangers of Sports Nutrition
- Vitamin C
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