Channel TV called me today to ask my opinion on reintroducing milk back into schools. It’s National Milk day tomorrow.
I didn’t want to go on TV but I do want you to know the facts about dairy and healthy teeth and bones.
Milk is a great source of calcium but calcium needs other vitamins and minerals to aid it’s absorption. Dairy lacks these vital nutrients.
Foods rich in calcium that have the other nutrients to aid it’s absorption are:

• Broccoli
• Kale
• Edamame beans
• Bok choy
• Figs
• Oranges
• Sardines
• Salmon
• White beans
• Tofu
• Almonds
• Sesame seeds
• Spinach
• Avocado

Exercise and vitamin D from the sun are also important for absorbing calcium.
Dairy is one of the top 2 food intolerances. Many of us just don’t have the enzymes to digest it.
Symptoms of intolerance are
Constant blocked up/runny nose, sinus congestion.
Asthma
Eczema and other skin rashes
Bloating, wind, constipation, diarrhea, stomach cramps
If you want to know if you are intolerant to dairy I recommend cutting it out for 2 weeks and then reintroduce it. If your symptoms clear up during that 2 weeks and they come back when you have reintroduced it then you are probably intolerant.
The dairy industry is big business and especially for us in Jersey but nutritionally it just isn’t good for most of us, in fact it causes “dis-ease”.
So my opinion is not to reintroduce milk back into schools but to educate properly about healthy bones and teeth and include more of those other calcium rich foods into the lunch box.
This is what Michael Mosley said recently in a talk at Patrick Holfords Nutrition school Institute for Optimun Nutrition.
Patrick Holford
“Last week we celebrated 30 years of the Institute for Optimum Nutrition, during which time we have trained several thousand nutritional therapists. BBC’s Dr Michael Mosley gave a talk saying he learnt nothing on nutrition in his medical training and his son is 4 years into his medical training and has learnt nothing yet. Michael is convinced that nutrition is vital to health and medicine and hopes his programmes can help change the paradigm. I’d like to see the money raised from a sugar tax spent on employing nutritional therapists to educate doctors and to teach the importance of good nutrition in schools”.