Drinking milk is detrimental to human health, despite government recommendations stating otherwise, according to research published recently in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

Harvard scientist David Ludwig said that conventional milk and dairy products can cause more harm than good, particularly with those products which contain sugar or sweeteners.

Government guidelines have traditionally urged people to drink more milk due to its calcium content which is said to have many health benefits, including healthier bones.

But Ludwig’s study has shown that almost all conventional milk brands either contain too much fat or too much sugar – including lactose.

He added that humans have no need for animal milk at all, while calcium can be obtained from many other sources – with green leafy vegetables being one example.

His study also revealed a startling conclusion – that bone health is actually more prominent in those countries which consume less milk and dairy products.

Ludwig’s findings are backed up by a similar study published in JAMA which revealed that Vitamin D played a much more important role in human health than calcium.

In the study, dietary calcium intakes and blood levels of vitamin D were measured in 944 healthy adults living in Iceland. The efficiency with which their bodies utilized and metabolized calcium was estimated by measuring blood levels of parathyroid hormone, with lower levels indicating more efficient handling of calcium.

Higher Vitamin D levels were found to be associated with more efficient calcium metabolism, whereas the association between calcium intake and efficiency of calcium metabolism was not statistically significant. The researchers concluded that, as long as vitamin D status is sufficient, taking more than 800 mg of calcium per day might not be necessary for maintaining healthy bones. On the other hand, high calcium intakes will not ensure optimal bone health if vitamin D levels are low.

In addition to calcium and vitamin D, a number of other nutrients have been shown to play an important role in bone health. These include magnesium, manganese, zinc, copper, boron, strontium, silicon, vitamin K, folic acid, vitamin B12, phosphorus, and vitamin C.

Therefore, a number of nutrients are needed to promote healthy bones, with milk not being one of them.

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