Hello, this is Monica Reinagel.

Thanks for joining me for the nutrition divas quick and dirty tips for eating well and feeling fabulous.

Podcast listener Rona writes in with a question that I know many of you have been wondering about as well.

She writes,

My health coach says that I should avoid milk because it's acidic and contrary to common belief will actually

deplete the calcium in my bones. I've always believed that milk was a good

source of calcium. In fact I insist that my children have at least two servings of milk a day.

Does milk really deplete calcium from bones?

And should I stop giving it to my kids?

The idea that milk and dairy products weaken bones has been steadily gaining traction in alternative health communities.

Of course, this runs completely contrary to the conventional wisdom that dairy products help build strong bones by providing calcium.

Is the conventional wisdom wrong? Well let's take a closer look at the evidence.

People who are suspicious of milk's role in bone health like to point out that the countries with the highest consumption of dairy products also have the highest incidence of osteoporosis. Now is this convincing proof that dairy products cause osteoporosis? Not even remotely. There are many

things that affect bone health, including genetics, physical activity, body weight,

smoking or exposure to secondhand smoke, alcohol use, hormone levels, and medications. If any of those risk factors are more common in countries that also have higher dairy consumption,

then the link between dairy and osteoporosis may be nothing more than a coincidence.

If we're going to take this hypothesis that dairy products

cause osteoporosis seriously,

we need more than just a correlation.

At the very least, we need a plausible mechanism,

an explanation for how dairy products might weaken your bones.

Like Ronas Health Coach, some people have argued that milk weakens your bones. Some people have argued that milk weakens your bones because it is an

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