Bovine providence, thank 'em cows, carabaos, sheep, mares, goats, yak, and their ilk for their milk. Lifeblood is transformed via their meaningful udders into fluid manna that nourishes.
Check this out: Milk packs three distinct families of proteins that add up to 18 different amino acids, a variety of fats and related compounds called lipids, over a dozen vitamins-all the B vitamins are aboard-plus some 30 minerals and trace elements including silver and aluminum. Also, nearly half of over 90 natural elements are found in milk, in wee amounts though-seven of these (phosphorus, magnesium, zinc, iron, iodine, selenium, and calcium) had had recommended dietary allowances (RDAs) established; it is likely the others are also musts to good health.
That welter of yummy goodies ought to explain why nutritionists and dairy-industry lobbyists are saying we never outgrow the need for milk-why, even the lactose intolerant should continue to drink some milk or eat dairy products if they possibly can.
Their bodies need all the calcium they can get. Milk and dairy aside, there are so few good dietary sources of calcium-and they don't taste just as wholesome. Say, chewing for hours daily on crushed burnt seashells or pats of quick lime mixed with bits of betel nut. Or a daily binge of tinned fish, sinaing na tulingan or wee dried anchovies called dilis-munch on mostly the mushy-soft bits of bone which oozes with calcium- but a week of that food fare might just be too much on your breath or go into palate fatigue.
The 800-mg/day recommended dietary allowance for calcium might be too low, contends Steve Carper in his 1996 book Milk Is Not for Every Body (Living with Lactose Intolerance). "If you do not drink milk or eat dairy products, you almost certainly have a calcium problem. Even if you have some dairy products in your diet, you probably have a calcium problem. Even 50 percent of children whom you expect to be milk drinkers fall short on calcium intake. Most people fall way short."
Over 99 percent of the body's calcium content is in the bones and teeth. The remaining less than one percent is scattered through cells and in the bloodstream for ready use. Take out even that minuscule portion of gadabout calcium-disaster ensues.
"Your body can't regulate your heartbeat, stimulate blood clotting, help your muscles flex or facilitate vitamin-B12 absorption, nerve impulse coordination and hormone response. "Calcium is so crucial that the body is more concerned about keeping the bloodstream supply high than keeping bones strong. If the blood level of calcium declines by as little as three percent the calcium bank in your bones is raided to make up the difference," Carper warns.
Not unlike the Gloria Arroyo tenure trotting out gargantuan budgets to shore up a bloated bureaucracy while dunning taxpayers and creditors to cough up monies to make up for budgetary deficits, steady calcium withdrawals in the bone banks lead to a debilitating condition: osteoporosis.
That spells out two tough choices for the lactose intolerant. Choice number one: shun milk intake and there's bone loss and fractures that stem from osteoporosis. Second choice: drink milk or eat milk-laced food, then hush a tummy gone amok from the intake of milk sugar.
Age-induced bone loss is inevitable but much of it appears to stem from lifelong deficiencies in calcium intake. Past age 35, there's little evidence that high-calcium diets alone can add up to bone mass or make up for earlier deficits, explains Carper.
With or without lactose intolerance to contend with, bone buildup via copious amounts of calcium intake ought to be carried out in childhood while bone formation predominates.
Childhood is the make-or-break period in which the recommended calcium intake is as large as it is for an adult-up to 1,000 mg a day.
In middle age, pumping up bone mass just won't work, only minimizing natural calcium loss will stave off the menace of osteoporosis. Cites Carper: "Calcium is swept out of the body every day, mostly in the urine but also in sweat, saliva, mucus, and other bodily fluids. Maintaining a calcium supply in the diet relieves the body of the need to remove it from the bone bank."
He notes that the body's ability to absorb the calcium intake lessens with age, a double whammy since the elderly typically consume less calcium than those younger. Too, bad health habits have a pronounced effect on calcium, say, doubling protein intake leads to a 50-percent increase in urinary calcium loss. Excessive caffeine intake-10 to 20 cups of coffee daily-a high-sodium diet, smoking, and alcohol abuse also trigger calcium losses in the bone bank.
Between the old-fashioned daylong betel chewing that can spawn mouth tumors and easy splurging on milk and milk-laced goodies like cookies, custards, a gamut of cheese varieties that go well with fruits and pasta, even the lactose intolerant will settle for milk.
"Not all foods that contain calcium are also good sources of calcium. Only those foods whose calcium comes in a form that is easily digestible by the body qualify as good sources," Carper explains as he crosses out dark-green leafy vegetables, dried peas, and beans from the list of good sources of calcium.
Spinach packs six times as much oxalic acid as it does calcium-the acid binds with the calcium to turn up nondigestible calcium oxalate. Most peas, nuts, and beans and whole-grain breads and cereals contain phytic acid which binds the calcium into calcium phylate, he points out.
Relish this exotica: alligator meat contains a full day's allowance of calcium in every serving! (Now, congressmen often tabbed by pundits as kin to those reptiles ought to watch their backs lest calcium-famished populace get their hands on them.)
Sure, there's no cure for a normal alimentary incapacity to tackle milk sugar. Thank goodness lactase tablets can be bought over the drug counter to gear up one's tummy for such goodies as this unlikely concoction whipped up straight off a dentist's clinic. A tin of condensed milk-packs a high 16-percent lactose concentration that spells major disaster for the lactose intolerant-is left to stew for five hours or a day and half boiling in a tray of water with the syringe and such gadgets to be sterilized. The thick gooey nougat-like fudge off the can is as delicious as sin, more tempting than Turkish delight, as uncomplicated as spooning pork and beans off a tin can.
Citing experts, the author pooh-poohs calcium supplements as a try to ward off osteoporosis-"largely an act of faith although, on balance, a small positive effect is consistent with the available data."
Along with milk-laced food and milk, a better long-term preventive for osteoporosis is exercise. Any kind of exercise at any age will be beneficial. Strong muscles and strong bones go together.
"The muscle-tissue loss from the lack of exercise can exercise bone loss. A sedentary lifestyle and excess weight go together, putting an additional strain on weakened bones. Those who are bedridden or otherwise immobilized may lose 30 to 40 percent of their bone within a few years. In contrast regular exercise increases the flow of blood and therefore of nutrients to bones and creates a heavier musculature which leads to denser bones," asserts Carper.
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