Study: Milk may not be very good for bones or the body --- Milk is often touted as one of nature's most perfect foods -- and for good reason. It contains many essential nutrients and in particular, the high calcium content has been touted as crucial for good bone health when fortified with vitamin D, as it is in the United States. -- But a new study from researchers in Uppsala University in Sweden suggests that consuming more milk could actually be associated with higher mortality and bone fractures in women and higher mortality in men. -- “I've looked at fractures during the last 25 years. I've been puzzled by the question because there has again and again been a tendency of a higher risk of fracture with a higher intake of milk,” said the study's lead author Karl Michaelsson, a professor at Uppsala University. -- The study, published in the British Medical Journal, utilized data from two large, long-term Swedish studies of adult men and women, which asked about their dietary habits -- how much and what types of milk and dairy products they consumed. -- Women who consumed three or more glasses of milk a day had a higher risk of fracture and a higher risk of death. Men who drank three or more glasses of milk a day had a slightly higher risk of death -- mostly associated with cardiovascular death -- compared to those who drank less than one glass a day. And there was no reduced risk of fracture as milk consumption increased. -- Michaelsson's team also analyzed data from the two studies about the levels of a biological marker of stress in some of the participants. -- In both men and women, the amount of milk they consumed was also associated with higher levels of a biological stress marker -- oxidative stress -- which has been associated with aging, cancer and cardiovascular disease. -- Other studies have observed a similar -- and seemingly paradoxical -- relationship between the consumption of calcium-rich milk and bone fractures. - Read More, Abby Phillip, http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2014/10/31/study-milk-may-not-be-very-good-for-bones-or-the-body/