If you’ve been drinking milk daily to help strengthen your bones, you might be on the wrong track, new research from Sweden suggests. According to this post from Dr. Andrew Weil, M.D., the study found that drinking milk doesn’t boost bone strength. Instead, the opposite can occur.
Said Dr. Weil:
The investigation suggested that drinking three or more glasses of milk daily increased the risk of bone thinning (often a precursor of osteoporosis), bone fractures – and death – in women. Milk consumption also slightly increased deaths from cardiovascular disease in men who drank three glasses a day compared to men who drank less than a glass of milk a day. Drinking milk didn’t benefit men’s bones either.
To reach their conclusions, the researchers followed 61,433 women (aged 39-74 years in 1987-1990) for an average of 20 years and 45,339 men (aged 45-79 years in 1997) for an average of 11 years. The participants completed food frequency questionnaires for 96 common foods including milk, yogurt and cheese.
This isn’t the first investigation to conclude that drinking milk doesn’t build bones in adults. In fact, this new analysis showed that instead of milk, you’re better off eating cheese or fermented milk products (yogurt) – each serving reduced hip fractures and death rates by 10-15 percent.
