Health buzz: Milk linked to increased risk of death

Cut Back on the Calcium

Think milk is good for you? You might want to think again – especially if you're a woman, according to a new study published in the British Medical Journal. Researchers from Uppsala University in Sweden found that women who drank three glasses or more of milk per day were at double the risk of dying as women who didn't, and also had a 50 percent higher risk of fractures.

The researchers began examining the diets of 61,400 women between 1987 and 1990, and then followed them for 20 years, while also tracking 45,300 men for 11 years. While men showed a small increased risk of death, the risk in women was much higher. While the researchers aren't sure what caused the link between milk consumption and higher mortality risk, they think it might have to do with lactose, the primary sugar in milk, causing oxidative stress in the body.

Although the results sound scary, the researchers are urging people to take them with a grain of salt, saying more research is needed before the recommend less milk consumption. However, lead author Karl Michaelsson, a professor in the department of surgical sciences at Uppsala University, admitted he's already started drinking less. "The study findings have, for myself, been strong enough to cut down on my milk consumption," he said, according to HealthDay.

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The Great Potato Debate: Healthy or Not?

When Jeff Nimoy "cheats" on his paleo diet, he almost always goes for pizza or a cheeseburger – with a side of French fries. But most days of the week, "I'm definitely anti-potato," says the 48-year-old Los Angeles writer, who blogs about his food choices at CookingCaveman.com.

Nimoy is in good company, particularly among his paleo brethren who follow a diet built on lean meats, fruits and vegetables, and healthy fats, and eschew foods including grains, dairy and legumes. Even though potatoes are technically vegetables, their high glycemic load – or their ability to cause blood sugar and insulin levels to spike and plummet rapidly – is enough for some dedicated dieters to put them on the "do not eat" list.

"It's just pure sugar once it enters your system," says Nimoy, who's been following the paleo diet for almost five years. "It's not as bad as maybe some grains like wheat, but when you also add on top of it that it just turns to sugar because of the high glycemic load and the insulin spike it causes, then it's just not great for you." [Read more: The Great Potato Debate: Healthy or Not?]

See the original article here.

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