A lot of people drink milk for its calcium, to build strong bones, but a new study claims it might actually be making bones more likely to break.
The study comes from Uppsala University in Sweden and is published in the British Medical Journal. Not only does milk contribute to higher likelihood of bone fracture for women, but it raises mortality in both men and women. The researchers used information from two other large studies that had focused on people's dietary habits and compared their habits to their health and rate of injury. Men were who drank milk three times a day had more cardiovascular problems, and both men and women had a higher oxidative stress level, which is common for elderly people or people with cancer.
"I've looked at fractures during the last 25 years. I've been puzzled by the question because there has again and again been a tendency of a higher risk of fracture with a higher intake of milk," lead author Karl Michaelsson, a professor at Uppsala University, told the Washington Post.
The cause of higher mortality and bone fracture may be a milk sugar called D-galactose, which is associated with oxidate stress and inflammation. A glass of milk has more galactose than other dairy products.
"With fermented cheese the level of galactose is very low. It's not as high as it is in milk," Michaelsson told the Post. "Yogurt also has the probiotic effect of bacteria."