Many of us have been told in our childhood that we should drink milk for strong bones.
This sounds true as well because calcium is found in milk which is beneficial for the mineral found in bones.
But the relationship of strengthening bones by drinking milk is as simple as it sounds.
In order to understand the relationship between milk and bones, Harvard University did a research on 77000 female nurses in the year 1997. The diet of these women was studied for 10 years. Researchers found that there was no difference in the number of bone fractures between women who drank milk once a week or less and those who drank milk three or more times a week.
This team did a similar study on three lakh 30 thousand men. And here also there was no effect of drinking milk in case of fracture of bones.
In the year 2015, a team from New Zealand conducted a trial to understand this effect of milk itself. In which things containing calcium elements were added to the diet of some people. This team also re-reviewed 15 similar studies and found that calcium had an effect on bone density for two years, but after two years, milk did not make any difference to bones over time.
Calcium supplements are also taken to supply calcium in the body but there are dangers of their prolonged use. This New Zealand team also conducted 51 other trials to understand the effect of calcium supplements. It was revealed that even after a year or two, the strengthening of bones stops. This calcium supplement can only reduce or prevent the loss of bone mineral with increasing age.
When other countries studied these data, they fixed the amount of calcium in daily food according to it. For example, in America, the amount of calcium in the daily diet was doubled compared to the UK and India. In America, a person is asked to drink 227 milliliters of milk every day.
In the midst of the debate about how much milk is beneficial for us and how much is not, two new studies came out in the year 2014, according to which people who drink three glasses or more milk a day, their bones do not benefit from it, but it can be harmful.
In 1987 and 1997, Sweden's Uppsala University and the Karoliska Institute gave a questionnaire to some people on the consumption of milk in their diet. In the year 2010, the death rate of these people was studied, it was found that people who drank a glass of milk daily, there were also incidents of broken bones in their bones as well as their death too early.
Participants in the Swedish studies were asked to average their milk use. In such a situation, these people told in the questionnaire only how much milk they take, but apart from this, many things of milk are also used in the food.
These studies clearly state that these data need to be re-studied before any diet advice can be given.
According to what is coming out after mixing all the studies that have come out so far, if you drink milk then it is fine. It is possible that it has an effect on the bones.
But there can be other ways to keep bones strong. Exercise and vitamin D can prove to be a better option to strengthen bones.
For this you take sunlight, vitamin D supplement can also be taken during cold days.
Source- bbc news.
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