Greetings! Today, we are going to discuss how an adequate supply of calcium can be secured, by young or old, without milk.
Calcium Study No.1
The minimum daily calcium requirement is said to be .45 grams for an adult and .90 grams for children, expectant and nursing mothers; and it is claimed that it is necessary for an adult to take a pint of milk daily and the others a quart to make sure of these respective amounts of calcium. Therefore, we will take the cow’s milk as the basis from which to work. Here are the figures on the calcium content of three kinds of milk:
- Cow’s Milk .120
- Human Milk .034
- Soy Milk (Approximates human milk, but is not standardized.)
Cow’s milk contains three and a half times as much calcium as human milk. Which one is right for a human baby? He who believes in God as the Creator will accept human milk as the standard, not the cow’s milk.
There are reasons for this difference in calcium content in the two kinds of milk – the calf grows to full size in two years, while the baby takes twenty years; and the calf grows into a much larger animal than does the baby. For these reasons, the calcium requirement is larger.
Prominent workers have contented that milk is too rich in calcium for the good of the child.
“Dr. Rosamund contends that a quart of milk gives a child more calcium than it needs. A pint and a half would be enough, even if there were no calcium in other foods. Other articles of diet, like…celery, oatmeal, beans, cabbage, and carrots, contain considerable amounts of this mineral.”
Calcium Study No. 2
A U.S. Government chemists shows that two-thirds of the calcium in wheat is removed when it is made into white flour, which is the main ingredient in nearly all of the baked goods of today. A similar loss is met in many of the refined breakfast cereals in common use.
Those who advise a pint and a quart of milk daily consent to the people eating largely of these refined flours and cereals, and this class teaches young and old to use entire grain products. Manifestly, those who “rob” certain natural foods of calcium must “spike” others with it from unnatural sources to make up the loss; but those who use whole foods will not need to do so.
Calcium Study No. 3
It is taught by many that the next richest source of calcium, after milk, is the leafy vegetables. The teaching of this class is to give more prominence to those foods, which further lessens the necessity to secure it from cow’s milk.
Calcium Study No. 4
The university of Wisconsin made an exhaustive study of the loss of each kind of mineral from all kinds of vegetables by various methods of cooking. The most common method is that of boiling in water, which entailed losses varying according to the mineral, the amount of water, and the length of cooking time; all the way from 10 percent to 75 percent. If vegetables are cooked in that manner, naturally it will be necessary to supply the deficiency of minerals from some other source.
Calcium Study No. 5
It is now known that an alkaline diet causes the calcium to be retained in the body, and absorbed into the blood; whereas an acid forming ration causes the calcium to leave the body through the feces.
The chief acid-forming foods are meats, eggs, and grains. Usually those who hold that it is necessary to use milk to get enough calcium advocate the use of more meats, eggs, and grains, than are recommended in this class, and therefore those who follow this class will not need as much extra calcium as will those who do not.
Grab a friend and share the wealth, from what you’ve learned in the School of Health! In our next class, we shall go over some more calcium studies. God bless!