Q & A Thursday: cow's milk
Posted by kathryn in Myths, Nutrition and Dairy
Fiona asks:
Cow’s milk. Nutritionally beneficial? Or only beneficial for baby cows?
While cow’s milk is sometimes painted as the nutritional equivalent of an anti-christ, I don’t have a problem with it, as long as you can tolerate it.
Nutritional breakdown
Nutritionally, cow’s milk is made up of the following:
- 87% water
- 3.3% protein
- 3.8% fat
- 4.6% carbohydrate
- No fibre
And 100ml of milk also contains:
- 120mg calcium
- 158mg potassium
Skim and light milks obviously contain less fat, but they also have slightly more protein.
Calcium
One of the main facts we all know about dairy is it contains calcium. Calcium performs a variety of functions in our body, but the majority of it is used to keep our bones healthy and strong.
There are lots of other foods that contain calcium and many people that survive quite happily and healthily without dairy. However, in our society it’s hard to get enough of this important mineral if you’re not eating dairy, without making some radical changes to your diet .
Calcium RDI
Compared to other nutrients, we need a lot of calcium each day. Most adult men and women need 1,000mg, while that amount is increased for menopausal women, to 1,300mg per day.
Calcium containing foods
As I said before, there are actually a huge variety of foods that contain calcium. Meat, bread, vegetables, fruit, vegemite, all contain some calcium. However most of these don’t contain enough to make a serious dent on the 1,000mg required per day.
The following is a list of the foods considered a serious source, with the amount of calcium per 100g of the food :
- Sunflower seeds: 100mg
- Tahini: 330mg
- Almonds: 220mg
- Brazil nuts: 150mg
- Mustard greens: 130mg
- Parsley: 200mg
- English spinach: 170mg
- Dried figs: 200mg
- Salmon, tinned with the bones: 310mg
And the dairy sources:
- Ricotta: 245mg
- Tasty cheese: 800mg
- Fetta: 340mg
- Low fat yoghurt: 250mg
- Full fat yoghurt: 150mg
- Milk: 120mg
The non-dairy sources can definitely be a useful addition to your daily calcium intake. However, my guess is that most people, in our society , are going to struggle to make their daily 1,000mg without dairy.
Photograph by Mayu P under the terms of a creative commons license.
28 June, 2007
Comments
I’ll admit my bias and say I am in the milk=antichrist camp. What are your thoughts on the bioavailability of calcium in dairy foods? The nurses study showed that the women who diligently consumed their calcium in the form of dairy throughout the decades of the study had as many or more fractures post menopause as the women who didn’t. The milk ads keep selling it as the stuff for bone strength but the research doesn’t back it up. We’ve been hoodwinked to think the issue is solely about calcium when Vitamin D and possibly other nutrients are major players. Do you think the ca:mg ratio can be problematic in dairy as well?
Hi there Outspoken Female and thanks for your comment. I’m going to be posting about calcium and bone health later in the week, so I’ll address the issues you raise in that post.
[…] During a previous Q & A Thursday, I answered a question on cow’s milk and touched on the importance of the mineral, calcium, for bone health. Following a comment, I thought I ‘d expand on this. It’s a big topic, so I’m going to cover the subject in a series of posts. […]
[…] When people think of calcium, they tend to think milk and it’s true that most dairy foods contain a lot of calcium. The perception is if you drink and eat lots of dairy, you’ll have strong bones and prevent osteoporosis. However, it’s not that simple. […]
Hi Kathryn,
Got a question about lactose/milk protein intolerance.
For a few years I’ve seemed to be lactose intolerant: milk —> bloating, nausea, diarrhoea. Milk with cereal or in coffee was the worst. About a tablespoon in tea was all right. Cheese and yoghurt were and are still generally fine… but the interesting thing is, ice cream is also all right. So is cream (in moderation) and custard. Always has been. And baked goods with milk in them are generally fine.
So I’m wondering if this is likely to be something to do with milk protein, rather than lactose? Would the combining factor somehow alter the protein so it’s more easily digestable? Or would they interact with the lactose somehow and break it down?
PS This blog is ace.
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