Dairy And The Food Pyramid
Something that isn’t commonly known is the way that the scientists in the US Department of Agriculture come up with their standards and recommendations for the food period - and thats because it isn’t done in any sort of a scientific manner. In fact most of the guidelines for the food pyramid aren’t based on any scientific evidence at all - they’re simply made up without rhyme or reason and many of them are engineered by people that work for various aspect of the food industry like big dairy or meat companies. Often these people will inflate the recommended serving amounts so that consumers purchase more products from the companies the represent. This is not only a conflict of interest it’s also not in the best interests of the general public and our health and safety. These guidelines are very damaging and have lead to the most unhealthy and overweight population America has ever seen and the diary recommendation is right in line with such results.
The problem is that we’ve been fed tons of these ideas about how good dairy is for us and how we absolutely need to have tons of it in our diet to keep us healthy and especially for our bones and to get enough calcium. None of this is true and in fact it’s just the opposite. In fact there are a lot of reasons that a person should consider avoiding dairy as much as they can. For one there is some significant evidence that shows that milk doesn’t reduce possible fractures - in fact it can even make them more likely! It’s also been shown that countries that have the lowest rate of dairy consumption (like places in africa and asia) also have the lowest rates of osteoporosis. Calcium doesn’t protect our bones the way we think it does as there’s no source of evidence that shows they help with fracture and that it’s actually Vitamin D that serves this purpose. Plus calcium can also raise the risk of cancer, along with dairy products, by thirty to fifty percent and most people don’t even have the ability to digest dairy products as we (and other mammals) stop producing the enzyme that allows us to digest dairy around the age of two. Over 75% of the world population is genetically unable to digest diary products because of this lack of enzyme and that means that it does nothing but act as a toxin in our system.
What’s interesting though is that we can get most of our calcium from eating a diet that is high in greens and vegetables as these are a much better and safer source of calcium and we don’t need nearly as much as the USDA recommends. In fact it’s been shown that milk doesn’t improve sports performance, doesn't prevent osteoporosis, and that it’s full of saturated fat which is linked to heart disease. It can also be attributed to lots of other problems like allergies, weight gain, headaches, sinus problems and so forth - many of these clear up for people after giving up dairy. The answer is simple - no matter what the current food pyramid looks like, it shouldn’t include dairy.