Options for Protecting Bones After Menopause

I borrowed the NY Times headline in yesterday's science section, page F-6, April 22, 2003. 

The story circulated on the Internet, but only actual New York Times readers got to see the accompanying illustration. 

A woman is in the seated position. The cadaverous drawing is bordered in pink. Her bright-red lipstick is centered within an olive-toned face, which bleeds decaying hues of rotting greens and grays into the rest of her body, seen as a skeleton on an x-ray plate. The long metacarpal bones in her left hand hold their deathlike grip around a glass of some pure-white liquid. Could that "option for protecting bones" be a subliminally delivered message conveyed from the NY Times to its readers? 

Written by Jane Brody, one knows from her previous work that her rhetoric does not belong on the science pages. Dairy shill that she is, her columns usually appear in the Wednesday NY Times food section. 

Jane has a long history as an ice cream, cheese, and milk cheerleader: 

http://notmilk.com/forum/603.html 

Buried deep within the article is this quote: 

"Every postmenopausal woman will lose bone, even if she takes calcium and vitamin D and does weight bearing or strength building exercise. Following menopause, one in two women will experience an osteoporotic fracture during her remaining lifetime. The bones become perforated. Their horizontal struts become thin, cracked and disconnected, weakened like a bridge with its cables cut." 

Dr. Ethel C. Siris Director of the Toni Stabile Center for the Treatment and Prevention of Osteoporosis Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center, NY 

The reader's eye cannot help but wander to the eerily x-rayed woman holding her glass of milky-white liquid. 

Waste not, want not. Brody wastes no opportunity to promote dairy products. At this point in the article, she no longer cites scientists or researchers. Now, it's time for her own biased editorial. 

Spouting her usual dairy rhetoric, she writes: 

"Adequate calcium - 1200-1500 milligrams daily for everyone over age 50 - and vitamin D - 400 international units daily until age 70; 600-800 afterward - and regular bone-stressing exercise are necessary no matter what else is done." 

Brody then lists good sources of dietary calcium. Her list begins with: 

"Low-fat and nonfat milk and yogurt, hard cheeses..." 

Towards the end of the article, Brody reports that protein is also necessary. I am astounded by her arrogance. She writes: 

"While animal protein sources (meat, poultry, eggs and cheese) are protective, vegetable protein sources are not, a fact that may place vegetarians at increased risk of osteoporosis." 

Nations eating a plant-based diet have little or no incidences of bone disease. Nearly two years ago 
(May 15, 2001), the New York Times science section contained a review of "The Okinawa Way: How the World's Longest-Lived People Achieve Ever-Lasting Health," by Dr. Bradley Wilcox, Dr. Craig Wilcox, and Dr. Makoto Suzuki. 

The population of 1.3 million Okinawan islanders eat an average of seven servings of vegetables and fruits each day, supplemented by seven servings of grains and two servings of soy products. Okinawa has 
400 people over the age of 100, about 33 per 100,000. Compare that to 5 per 100,000 in the United States. The average age of death for a woman living on Okinawa is 
86 years. 

These healthy people experience few instances of osteoporosis, and heart disease. Cancer is extremely rare. Most men living on Okinawa have never heard of prostate cancer, and breast cancer is so unusual that mammograms are considered unnecessary. 

Wilcox's book dispels the notion that genetics plays even a remote role in longevity. According to his landmark study, the key factor in long life and good health of the world's longest-lived people is their daily diet. 

Unfortunately, the New York Times science section has become more hype than science. For the real science regarding bone disease, see: 

http://www.notmilk.com/o.html 

Robert Cohen http://www.notmilk.com

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