>medicine and the dairy industry yesterday by asserting that vegetables >are a better weapon than milk against osteoporosis. It is far better to the first thing i did when i learned of my son's milk intolerance is start reading everything i could about nutrition. (hubby says i read too much, it drives him crazy ;) this means sorting through all the propaganda to find peer-reviewed published studies. and from what i've read, the reason milk doesn't prevent osteoporosis the way the dairy industry would like you to think it does is that it contains way too much protein, and protein inhibits calcium absorbtion. in fact, it seems (my understanding is) that osteoporosis is not caused by a lack of dietary calcium at all, but rather by excess dietary protein which leeches calcium from ones bones. this is confirmed by cultures who consume much less calcium and protein than the typical western diet, and have very low rates of osteoporosis. a well-balanced and varied plant-based diet provides all the calcium (and protein) one needs. so i don't have the details now or the time to look up the references, but they're not hard to find and i'm sure there are other experts on this list that can explain it better than i can. :) in fact - a digression - due to this and many other similar things i have learned, i've actually taken our new no-dairy diet to an almost vegan diet. didn't someone recently ask about emailing with someone going veg? jen [log in to unmask] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- -=- disclaimer: the views & opinions expressed above are mine -=- -=- alone and DO NOT necessarily reflect those of my employer -=- -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-