Diet action
Drinking milk every day is still low bone density?
Answer these seven questions first
Recently, several friends who are concerned about nutrition have asked me about drinking milk, which is very challenging.
A lady asked: Does drinking milk really help calcium supplements?
I drink 1 cup of milk a day, how can I find that the bone density is still a little low?
I'm only 29 years old, and I have been exercising twice a week for the past two years.
My mother doesn't drink milk or exercise. She is in her 50s and her bone density is within the normal range. What's the matter?
Another lady asked: I heard that some nutritionists abroad are vegetarians and don't drink milk at all, but I haven't heard of osteoporosis or malnutrition.
I thought about it for a long time, divided the problem into several points, and explained it to you slowly.
First, let me explain. Drinking milk every day may not be enough for calcium.
1 How much milk did you drink?
Can a glass of milk drink enough calcium?
The calcium content in milk is about 100-120 mg/100 g.
1 box/1 full cup of milk is about 250 grams, with a minimum of 250 mg of calcium.
However, the daily calcium requirement for adults under 50 is 800 mg, and for those over 50 is 1,000 mg. Drinking this half a catty of milk is obviously not enough for a day.
According to the results of previous dietary nutrition surveys in my country, the average calcium content in the three meals is about 300-400 mg, except for milk, unless you deliberately eat more foods high in calcium.
Nowadays, many women do not eat much, and the calcium in the diet is about 300 mg. Adding a box of milk containing 250 mg of calcium is only about 550 mg, which has not yet made up the reference value of 800 mg, let alone 1000 mg. The target value for the elderly.
Therefore, drinking a glass of milk is better than not drinking it, but it still does not fully meet the standard.
Of course, milk yogurt is not just for calcium supplementation.
It provides a wide range of nutrients, and it is very convenient to drink.
Therefore, it cannot be considered that they are not worth drinking because it cannot solve the problem of osteoporosis.
2 Besides drinking milk, what else did you eat?
As mentioned earlier, in addition to milk, the calcium supplied by other foods in the diet is also very important.
Although the average is three to four hundred milligrams, the difference between people is quite large.
If you only eat white rice and white noodles, there are fewer vegetables, fewer soy products, fewer beans, nuts, and small fish and shrimps, then 300 mg is not enough.
If you increase tofu, tofu shreds, dried tofu, green leafy vegetables that are not astringent, and dried small shrimps and dried fish, you can increase your dietary calcium intake.
In this case, add a cup of milk and yogurt to easily reach the 800 mg standard for calcium intake.
3 Except for calcium, are other nutrients needed by bones made up?
Bone health does not only require calcium as a nutrient.
In addition to calcium, it is also related to many components such as protein, potassium, magnesium, zinc, vitamin D, vitamin K, vitamin C, and vitamin A. A moderate intake of two trace elements, boron and fluorine, may also help.
Research in recent years has also found that antioxidants may also be helpful, reducing the inflammatory response of bone tissue, thereby helping to prevent osteoporosis.
In addition, eating staple foods in moderation is also conducive to bone health.
Many people do not eat staple foods because of weight loss and advocate ketogenesis, which will increase the rate of bone calcium loss.
Long-term lack of calories and protein also has an impact, and people who are thin are more prone to osteoporosis.
4How about your digestion and absorption capacity?
When gastrointestinal health is poor, the absorption and utilization of minerals in food will be reduced.
Frequent gastric blockage, bloating, indigestion, and frequent diarrhea and bloating may all mean that the absorption capacity of nutrients has decreased.
Especially for people who are prone to diarrhea, the utilization of calcium will be seriously affected.
Not only milk, but also the utilization of calcium in other foods will be reduced.
Drinking a box of milk, even if it is fully utilized, you will only get about 250 mg of calcium. Even the daily amount of 800 mg may not be enough. What's more, this kind of poor absorption and utilization makes it impossible to reverse the bone minerals. The density of the material is gone.
In contrast, drinking yogurt may be more beneficial, because yogurt brings slightly less work burden to the digestive system than milk.
5How good is your bone foundation?
Speaking of it, I can’t refuse. Some people have inherited a large skeleton, and some people have a good nutritional status since childhood. Bone mineral enrichment; conversely, some people have inherited a small skeleton, and some people have a small accumulation of bone minerals in childhood and adolescence. not tall.
If your foundation is worse than others, even if you eat and live like others in adulthood, your bone density will not be as good as others.
Even if you drink a cup of milk and yogurt every day, it can only be maintained, and it is difficult to catch up with others.
Perhaps many girls think that their "big skeleton" and "bone sinking" are unfortunate, and under the same body fat rate, they will make their weight appear higher, and their body will not be so petite and weak.
But this kind of good foundation may reduce the risk of fracture in the future. After the age of 35, the body's bone density declines, which will reflect its benefits.
6 Is your bone calcium lost too fast?
Some conditions make calcium run too fast, or affect the normal metabolism of bones.
For example, female menopause, especially three years before and after menopause, the calcium loss rate is very fast.
For example, long-term stress and inflammation will increase the level of inflammatory factors in bone tissue and hinder bone renewal.
Such as mild acidosis.
Diabetic ketosis, ultra-high protein diets, and long-term ketogenic diets all increase bone calcium loss.
This is because in the case of acidosis, in order to save itself, the body will use the calcium in the bones to balance the pH of body fluids.
It is not to say that short-term treatment can not be ketogenic diet, but long-term continuous is risky.
Especially the kind of ketogenic diets and other very low-carbohydrate diets that have no medical guidance, no nutritionist management, and other very low-carbohydrate diets have very large side effects. One of them is that it affects bone health.
Even if you do not deliberately develop ketones to lose weight, just go on a regular diet, it is very easy to impair bone density.
As early as the 1990s, foreign studies found that Japanese white-collar women in their 20s who often diet to lose weight and do not exercise have a bone density that is not as high as that of 50-year-old women who often exercise and do not diet when they are young.
For example, smoking and drinking, such as taking drugs indiscriminately, can affect bone health.
7 Do you exercise enough during the developmental period?
Have you continued to exercise for a long time thereafter?
The so-called use of advancement and disuse, exercise is extremely important to promote bone construction.
Aerospace studies have found that in a state of weightlessness, human bones will quickly decalcify after being "compressed" by weight.
Experiments using long-term bed rest to simulate weightlessness have also found that bone density will be significantly reduced after bed rest.
Conversely, jumping exercises, exercises that resist gravity, and weight-bearing exercises are all conducive to increasing bone density.
Especially during the growth and development of children and adolescents, active exercise is particularly important for the formation of strong bones, which can benefit a person for a lifetime.
After the age of 25, the bone density reaches a plateau, and even after the age of 45, the bone density decreases. Insistence on exercise is still of great significance for bone strengthening.
With the same dietary nutrition, people who exercise since childhood and those who have not exercised have different bone conditions.
On the one hand, exercise improves the cardiopulmonary function, so that bone tissue gets more blood oxygen supply; on the other hand, exercise can also strengthen muscles, reduce the stress on bones and cartilage, and improve coordination and balance, thereby reducing falls and Danger of joint pain.
Going back to the questions at the beginning, I believe many people have already solved the puzzle.
Confusion 1: My parents never drank milk when they were young. They are in their 50s, how can they be better than my bone density?
There may be the following differences:
First, many people in the older generation do not have the concept of sun protection, and they have been exposed to the sun since they were young; when they are old, they also go out and walk in the sun every day, so that vitamin D is relatively sufficient.
Many young people are busy with sun protection every day, not only wearing parasols and wearing sunscreen clothes, but also applying sunscreen all over their bodies.
These will affect the skin's ultraviolet rays, and the production of vitamin D will be greatly reduced.
Second, although the older generation ate less meat since they were young, they did not eat less whole grains, did not go on a diet, had sufficient carbohydrates, and were rich in potassium and magnesium.
Sufficient potassium and magnesium are beneficial to reduce calcium loss.
Young people have been picky eaters since childhood. Vegetables, grains and legumes are few, green leafy vegetables are not a favorite, white rice and white noodles and meat are more, vitamin K is less, and potassium and magnesium intake is insufficient.
Many people often go on a diet to lose weight, causing artificial malnutrition.
Third, the older generation did not consume excessive amounts of protein for most of their lives, nor would they eat a lot of sweet snacks. Without sweet drinks such as cola, the risk of bone calcium loss was not so great, while some young people ate them. Excessive meat, some people often eat sweets and drinks, which is not conducive to the increase of bone density.
Fourth, the older generation has been running and jumping outdoors since childhood, doing a lot of physical activities when they were young, and having a better skeletal foundation.
Adults are also more willing to walk and work, while most young people have been sedentary every day from childhood and adolescence, and have less time for physical exercise.
Confusion 2: Some people are vegan and don’t drink milk. Why don’t all of them have osteoporosis?
Vegetarian food does not mean insufficient calcium intake. If there is a good nutritional mix, vegetarian food can also take in enough calcium.
For example, tofu and dried tofu, green leafy vegetables that are not astringent (such as small rape, cabbage, kale, celery, cabbage, etc.), have more calcium.
Tahini, sesame seeds, melon seeds, flax seeds, etc. also contain a lot of calcium.
Potassium, magnesium, vitamin C, vitamin A, vitamin K and other nutrients can be obtained from plant foods.
Vitamin D mainly depends on the sun.
Although there is a small amount in fish, egg and milk, as long as there is enough outdoor activities, the effect of not eating them is not too big.
The sulfur-containing amino acids in legume protein are less, lower than the content of meat, egg and milk, which in a sense is also beneficial to reduce the loss of calcium.
Because too much sulfur is to promote the excretion of urinary calcium.
The nutritional value of various plant milks is not as good as milk.
Soy milk is comparable to milk in terms of protein, but its calcium content is very low, unless enough calcium is added.
Developed countries can buy a variety of milk substitute products fortified with calcium and vitamin D, but the situation in my country is still not satisfactory.
Vegetarian food includes healthy vegetarian food and unhealthy vegetarian food. Not all vegans can get all the nutrients mentioned above.
It's just that some vegetarians should have sufficient nutritional awareness and be able to do a good job with nutritional supplements and fortified foods.
in conclusion:
1. Drinking a glass of milk/yogurt is very helpful for dietary calcium supplementation, and there is no such problem as "the more milk you drink, the more calcium deficiency is".
2. The amount of calcium in a cup of milk is not enough to reach the recommended daily amount, and other foods are needed.
3. Bone health requires the joint action of a variety of nutrients, and the problem of preventing osteoporosis cannot be solved by drinking a glass of milk alone.
4. Although people in the past did not have the conditions to drink milk, they were exposed to more sunlight, more physical activity, and more intake of vegetable grains, which are all factors that are beneficial to bone health, and their bones are often good.
5. Nowadays, many people do not exercise enough, excessive sun protection, unreasonable eating habits since childhood, and poor bone foundation, which may increase the risk of osteoporosis in the future.
6. Plant milk cannot replace the nutritional value and calcium value of milk.
7. If you want to live a vegan life, you should eat more green leafy vegetables, nut oil seeds and soy products, and supplement calcium, vitamin D and related nutrients when necessary.
Text/Fan Zhihong