Eat to Live 87
COUNTRY
ANIMAL PROTEIN INTAKE
(APPROXIMATE G/DAY)HIP FRACTURE RATE
(PER 100,000 PEOPLE)South Africa (blacks) 10.4 6.8
New Guinea 16.4 3.1
Singapore 24.7 21.6
Yugoslavia 27.3 27.6
Hong Kong 34.6 45.6
Israel 42.5 93.2Spain 47.6 42.4
Netherlands 54.3 87.7
United Kingdom 56.6 118.2
Demark 58 165.3Sweden 59.4 187.8
Finland 60.5 111.2
Ireland 61.4 76Norway 66.6 190.4
United States (^72) 144.9
New Zealand 77.8 119
vegetables can help buffer the acid load from all the animal protein
and reduce calcium loss.^74 So we need to consume a lot more cal-
cium to make up for the powerful combination of factors that induce
calcium loss in the urine.
Some researchers believe it is possible to compensate for our
high protein intake just by consuming more calcium.^75 This might be
the case if the only thing we did to excess was consume a little too
much animal protein, but in the context of everything else we do
wrong in the American diet and lifestyle, it just doesn't fly.
Drinking more milk is simply not protective. Taking extra cal-
cium supplements may help trim the calcium loss a little and slow
the rate of bone loss, but not enough. We need to reduce the other
causes, too. We even add vitamin A to milk, and many women take
vitamin A supplements, which contributes further to more calcium
loss.^76
All these factors help explain why calcium intake does not corre-
late well with reduced hip-facture rates around the globe. The Eski-
mos are a perfect example. They consume a huge amount of calcium,
over 2,000 mg a day, from all the soft fish bones they eat, yet they
have the highest hip-fracture rate in the world because they con-
sume so much animal protein from fish.^77