High levels of protein, especially animal protein, may cause the kidneys to excrete large amounts of calcium, creating a negative calcium balance. If there is too much protein in your child s body, it may not matter how much calcium goes in. The more protein in the diet, the more calcium is lost. A report from the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine says that this is a common myth. These doctors say that keeping strong bones depends more on preventing calcium loss than on increasing calcium intake.
Many parents are worried about their children getting enough protein.
The World Health Organization, the Food and Nutrition Board of the National Academy of Sciences, and the National Research Council say we need only eight percent of our total daily calories from protein. They arrive at this figure by adding a safety factor of an extra 30 percent. Human mother s milk provides 5 percent of its calories as protein. Be Fed, Diet for a New World points out the wisdom of nature. Nature seems to be telling us that little babies, whose bodies are growing the fastest they will ever grow in their lives, and whose protein needs are maximum, are best served when 5 percent of their food calories come as protein.