Calcium is the most important mineral for a mammals state of health. If calcium is not in balance within the body, nothing will be right. Most people’s calcium levels are out of balance for four main reasons:-

• we are the only flesh eating animal who does not crunch up on bones with the ingestion of flesh. As flesh needs calcium to digest, it is leached out of our bones
• since the use of super phosphate as a widely used fertiliser, all agriculture is out of balance (with much too high levels of phosphorus)  unless it is organically grown
• we are given misinformation about our nutrition - dairy may be very high in calcium, but it is very low in terms of bio-availability (not utilised by the body)
• we are omnivores, not carnivores, and we eat far too much flesh for our digestion

Calcium must be in the right proportions with other minerals, especially with phosphorus and magnesium. If this combination is out of balance, everything will be out of balance.

As meat needs calcium to digest and as humans don’t crunch up on bones while consuming meat, the calcium required for digestion of flesh is leached from our bones. Is there any wonder osteoporosis is so common?

Although women suffer more from osteoporosis than men, men are not immune.

• Men have heavier frames, so more calcium can be leached before the effect is felt.
• Women have babies, where calcium can be a drain.
• Men tend to do more weight bearing exercises, which are good for bone health.

Dairy cattle generally graze on pastures which have been fertilised with super phosphate. This creates a high phosphorus state, throwing the cows calcium out of balance. How then can we benefit, from eating products from animals who are nutritionally out of balance?

Most dairy consumers think they are getting sufficient calcium. This is far from the truth. Dairy is a wonderful food for babies, but the body changes after weaning, to digest more complicated foods and dairy becomes more difficult to digest.

As dairy comes from a different species. (cows need to reach maturity within a year, whereas it takes a human eighteen years), the nutritional balance is wrong for humans.

Pasteurisation and homogenisation also alters the milk to be less nutritionally valuable.

The confusion arises as dairy has a high calcium content, but it also has a low bio-availability for humans, (little is absorbed by the body). In contrast, green leafy vegetables have a high bio-availability even though they have low calcium levels, so is readily absorbed by the body.

The best sources of calcium is all green leafy vegetables (spinach, bok choi), broccoli, turnip greens, rhubarb, beans, oats, molasses, tofu., nuts, kelp and spirulina. Certified organic foods are the best.

For more information on dairy, see my e-letter on dairy:
Eletter on Dairy

I’m not suggesting that you should stop eating all dairy, if you enjoy it. But eat it because you enjoy it, not for its nutritional value. And try to limit it.

Bear in mind that growing children need more protein and calcium than do adults.