Milk and calcium

Press, 9 January 1986, Page 14

Milk and calcium

Sir,—l am writing to ask for further information after having read the article “Lack of milk blamed for bone tissue loss” (“The Press,” December 26). The NZPA staff correspondent in Sydney should know better than to write in such specialised terms. I refer to the “400 or 800 or 1200 milligrams of calcium per day.” Please could you ask your medical or dietetic columnist to write in comprehensible terms on this subject. Milligrams mean nothing to me. Tell me in simple terms: how many bottles of milk? How much cheese (ounces as well as grams)? What other sources of calcium are available? Calcium deficiency is, according to today’s article, a serious health problem; costly, but preventable. So please let us have the information in terms the lay person can understand. Even my milk vendor does not know how to leave 400 milligrams of calcium at my gate. — Yours, etc., EMILY DAVIES. December 26, 1985.

[Dr M. A. Brieseman, the Deputy Medical Officer of Health, Christchurch, replies: “Your correspondent makes a valid point in the problems of communication. I suggest that she or anyone else wishing to have a daily dietary intake of 800 milligrams of calcium would make it easier for the milkman to understand if they asked for a pint of milk, or looked for 100 grams (about a quarter pound) of cheese in the supermarket. These figures are derived from the fact that milk contains 125 milligrams of calcium per 100 millilitres of milk, and cheese contains 500 to 1200 milligrams per 100 grams, depending on the type of cheese, with the popular cheddar containing 800 milligrams per 100 grams. Four hundred or 1200 milligram requirements would be met by half or 1% pints of milk etc.”]