Calcium intake and bone density: not really related.

You just have to sit in clinic with me (especially NHS ones) to see, on an anecdotal level, that dietary calcium intake (particularly of dairy foods) does not lead to super strong bones at all. Just this week I saw a number of women in their fifties and sixties with shocking osteoporosis and arthritis, all of whom consumed at least two pints of milk per day for decades. A major study just released backs this up: the connection between calcium intake and bone density ( or risk of fracture) is tiny, if existent at all.

For anyone who ever bothered to do independent research, it was always clear that the connection between calcium and bone density was way more complex then simply meeting your recommended daily allowance of calcium. I wrote about it on this post a while back: http://dalianutrition.com/2014/09/14/dumbing-down-the-building-of-strong-bones/.

I do hope this study will settle the minds of people who are scared to lower their dairy intake for fear of becoming predisposed to osteoporosis: your bones are a symphony of living tissues; my post linked above will help to guide you in what you need to do to take care of your bones - drinking gallons of milk is not one of them, nor is being obsessed about calcium intake.

This study is a happy day for practitioners like me; dietitians who have stepped away from the classic 'three portions of dairy a day' healthy eating advice spoonfed to us under the likely influence of industry: Being evidence based is important to me, as well as common sense based - humans were not put on earth, only capable of living a healthy life, if they consume the milk of another mammal.

Eat yer greens!

Here's an article about the paper: http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/10/05/study-reviews-find-calcium-doesnt-improve-bone-density/

Whoopeee!!!