Growing up, milk was non-negotiable in our house. Like a team of star athletes with a dairy council sponsorship, my family of six guzzled gallons of the stuff. Nearly every night before dinner my mother pressed $2 into my hand. Off I went to the corner store to replace the jug my brother had polished off with his after-school snack.
When I left for college, my mother’s mantra, “milk makes healthy bones,” played in my head as I sidled up to the steel-gray 50-gallon tank in the cafeteria and filled a 16-ounce glass with every meal.
After all, osteoporosis had confined my shrunken grandmother to bed — the bones of her spine slowly dissolving into dust. Who was I to question my mother’s wisdom? Like most women, my mother got her information from doctors and health organizations who for years have touted milk as the key to healthy bones. But is dairy really the best source of calcium? The question stirs emotions on both sides of the debate.
Dairy supporters revere milk as the perfect vehicle to transport calcium to bones. Those opposed argue that, among other things, proteins found in dairy products actually rob calcium from bone stores, making plant-based sources — and exercise — a better choice for healthy bones.
