Virginia Messina RD posted a blog entry describing a study funded by the National Dairy Council about what would happen if, sort of, if plant based sources of calcium were used to replace dairy based sources of calcium in a human diet:
- vitamin A went up
- potassium went up
- magnesium went up
- sodium decreased
- saturated fat decreased
Messina wrote that The study didn’t analyze vitamin C, vitamin K, iron or fiber, none of which are found in dairy products and all of which would likely go up by replacing dairy foods with plant based calcium sources. Messinia mentions a good point to remember vitamins C, vitamin K, potassium and magnesium are also important for bone health.
So, if you give up cow’s milk and use plant based sources for calcium, you *can* get extra bone health nutrients and decrease problematic substances at the same time. Not a bad deal! :).