Well, most nutrition experts not on the Dairy Board's payroll will tell you that it is pretty much impossible to have too little calcium in one's diet. The consensus now is that calcium deficiency is due to (of all things) OVERCONSUMPTION OF PROTEIN. Yep, that's right, contrary to all the crazy hype, it is quite possible to consume too much protein, and very little likelihood of consuming too little. The excess protein seems to leech calcium from the human body... evidence?1) Bantu women in Africa have one of the lowest levels of calcium intake in the world: less than half what our dairy board recommends. However, they have one of the lowest rates of osteoperosis (bone decay due to calcium deficiency) in the world. (Bear in mind they consume very little protein compared to our culture, where bone decay is very prominent.)
2)The Inuit people of northern Canada have the highest rate of calcium conswuption in the world... because of all the fish and meat (including bones) in their diet. (Approximately 5-10 the level of calcium that Bantu women consume) They have one of the very highest rates of osteoperosis... odd doncha think? Well, not when you recognize that they also have a rather alarming level of protein in their diet.
3)Bantu people who have moved to north america and have changed their diets to match north american diets have rates of osteoperosis on par with north american averages. Therefore, we can see it is not a racial/genetic thing.
Make of it what you will, but you might want to read up on it a bit.
