The dairy debate

LATimes covers the debate over whether dairy products build stronger bones.

T. Colin Campbell, professor emeritus of nutritional biochemistry at Cornell University, also questions dairy's place in the dietary guidelines. "I like dairy. I grew up on a farm. But one has to look at the facts," he says. "Dairy has been considered a health food, and that's an unfortunate myth."

Campbell's views come from observations he and his colleagues made during a series of nutritional studies that began in 1983 and are collectively known as the China Study. In these studies, Campbell found that Asians, who consume far less dietary calcium than Americans, have one-fifth the bone fracture rate of Americans.