What to know about milk and bone health

I've always heard that you need to drink milk to keep your bones healthy. Is that true?

- Simar Bajaj

For generations, Americans have been told — through school nutrition programmes and advertising campaigns — that milk is an essential part of a healthy diet.

Key to that narrative was that milk builds strong bones. Your bones are made of calcium, and one cup of whole milk contains about 300mg of this nutrient. So, drinking three cups a day, the thinking went, must make them resilient.

But that message was built on short-term studies and pushed by the dairy industry, said Dr Walter Willett, a professor of epidemiology and nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

With over one-third of people in the United States having trouble digesting lactose, nobody needs to drink cow's milk, said Dr Christopher Gardner, a nutrition scientist and professor of medicine at Stanford University. Getting enough calcium is still important, especially for some high-risk groups, but there may be better sources.

WHAT DOES MILK DO TO BONES?

Calcium is an essential nutrient, critical for nerve, muscle and heart function, as well as bone and tooth health. However, as with most nutrients, your body needs only a certain amount.

The US dietary guidelines recommend that adults consume 1,000 to 1,200mg of calcium a day, but this threshold is debated among experts, and other countries, like Britain, recommend only 700mg.

Singapore's national health platform HealthHub says the recommended dietary allowance is 800mg for adults aged 19 to 50.