After reading about calcium on this website and having a child of almost two years old, I am wondering if I should continue to give him calcium supplements or not. I do this, because he doesn't drink cowsmilk, but oatmilk (with calcium out of algae) and in addition I give him Animal Parade calcium from whole food concentrates.

Here's what's in there:

Calcium (as amino acid chelate/complex)	250 mg	25 %
Magnesium (as aminoate complex)	50 mg	13 %

Fructose, natural vanilla, spinach (Spinacia oleracea leaf extract), broccoli (Brassica oleracea floret extract), fig concentrate (Ficus carica), date concentrate (Phoenix dactylifera), stearic acid, magnesium stearate.

I hope someone can enlighten me on this topic, because I do everyhting I can to get him the right food and would be very sad to learn afterwards I did it all wrong.

Thanks and kind regards,

Monique Dontje

The Netherlands

Hi Monique,

In my opinion calcium supplements are rubbish...the best source of calcium is organic leafy green veggies.

Robin

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Robin Allan
Chek Practitioner
Natural Health Coach

http://www.robinallan.com


robin_allan@hotmail.com

07967-366470

Hi Monique
First of all I think you are right not to give your child cow's milk; it was made for baby cows and is just about the complete opposite to human composition. Therefore when we drink it, it can have quite disastrous effects on us, such as causing iron-deficiency anaemia in infants and children because constituents of cow's milk bind the iron and make it difficult to be absorbed. It also has been linked to atherosclerosis and heart attacks in adults as well as causing Type 2 diabetes in children - which a New Zealand scientist proved came from a gene in modern-day cows (e.g. the Friesian, which replaced the Jersey because of its superior milk volumes). People with O blood do not handle dairy and wheat well in their diet, which may account for some people reacting worse than others.
As the digestive system develops the need for milk diminishes, which is why we get teeth - a good indication that our sustenance needs to come from other sources. By this time the mother would normally be pregnant again and have no milk for the offspring anyway.
You can find your own info on the disadvantages of cow's milk - just Google it. It is especially relevant to most of today's cows forced to live in unnatural and unhealthy farming practices.
Countries like NZ which eat high protein and high dairy suffer because the body uses its calcium reserves to break down protein; milk is a whole food and thus has protein as well, so meat and milk actually leach the body of its calcium.
So you're not 'depriving' your child of cow's milk at all! My daughter went from breast milk to organic food, purified water, yoghurt (friendly bacteria), a little cheese, natural sea salt and kelp, and she loved mussels preserved in cider vinegar (when she could chew) harvested from the sea around the island where we lived. Maybe that's where she got her calcium from because she never had a filling in her teeth (look - no fluoride water!).
I have heard Tahini (crushed sesame seeds) offers the best absorption of calcium. Because I find it rather dry and sticky in the mouth, I mix it with honey or organic coconut oil (great for health) on bread, or add it to dips etc.
I hope some of this helps.
Heidi 

Thank you Robin and Heidy.

Monique

Hi Monique

If you're still wondering, here's info from today's Dr Mercola newsletter: 

A recent study claims that young adults are not drinking enough milk -- at least according to press reports on the matter. But according to the study’s lead author Nicole Larson, the focus on the study was on calcium.

The words "milk" and "calcium" are often used interchangeably in the popular press. But while milk is a calcium source, no standard other than that of the National Dairy Council considers it the best calcium source.

The suggestion that you need to drink three glasses of the secretion of a cow's mammary glands in order to be healthy is a bit outrageous and doesn't fit the human evolutionary profile. In fact, most humans around the world cannot easily digest cow milk.

Yogurt has more calcium than milk and is easier to digest. Collards and other greens also have about as much or more calcium than milk by the cup. Greens, unlike milk, have the added benefit of vitamin K, also necessary for strong bones. Sesame is also very high in calcium.

When you measure calcium by cup of food product, milk is high on the list. When you view it by calorie, though, milk is at the bottom. A hundred calories of turnip greens have over three times as much calcium as 100 calories of whole milk.

Cheers Heidi