Luise and ALL, from my reading I believe that the "dogma" in the US now among those in the know is that inflammation of the arteries is responsible for creating a situation where excess cholesterol is caught and trapped, thus creating plaque on artery walls etc, etc. So not the consumption of fat per se, but the inflammatory process causes many heart problems.

Moreover, I have read since the late 80s or before that one of our chief problems (in the US anyway) is the homogenization of the milk we drink. Not the pasteurization, which is necessary if you don't have a healthy cow at home. :) Homogenization renders the fat molecules indigestible, non? So maybe they mount up?

That makes a whole lot of sense to me. Fortunately, we stopped drinking milk almost completely when we lived in Africa and have never taken up the habit again. I take calcium/mag. supplements, and so does my family when they think of it. We shall see, but I think--the Milk Lobby be damned (literally!!)--that we are healthier for it. At 62 (and with lots of exercise) I have only mild osteopenia on two scans, even though I have used only a bit of milk in tea for years. Several of my friends who drank milk and sodas and ate lots of milk have osteoporosis at my age.

Also there is the point about protein needing to bind to calcium (I think that is it) to be excreted, so a high protein (or high phosphorus--i.e. soft drink) diet relieves one of calcium.

And surely it is true that if you don't balance the calcium intake with magnesium (in fruits and veggies, but certainly not in milk, I believe) then you can't absorb the calcium even in the presence of fat.

Yet another point: calcium is not absorbed in the absence of fat, apparently. So the Milk Lobby is really doing us Americans a disservice by promoting 4 glasses a day of skim or 1% milk that gives a protein overload and unabsorbable calcium.

I would LOVE to stand corrected on any of these issues, if someone has more up to date information, of course.

BTW the first website you put on, Luise, is not accessibly written for the layperson, IMO. I did get the point that perhaps protein over-consumption is the reason why Dr. Atkins (at over 200 lbs--at least) died of congestive heart failure at an early age. There again, I would love to be corrected, as my son lives by the Atkins diet--and weighs 300 lbs. Is pre-diabetic. Makes me want to cry for us and for all of America...and sometimes wish we had stayed in Africa, endemic diseases and all.

Teresa (in VA)