# What's the skinny on calcium?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-skinny-on-calcium/358044>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 24, 2006, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-skinny-on-calcium/358044 "2006-05-24T16:56:03Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\
**Post date:** [May 24, 2006, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-skinny-on-calcium/358044/1 "2006-05-24T16:56:03Z")

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Years ago, in a knock-down-drag-out in the Pit, which concerned weight loss (do those thread ever go well?), **Lord Ashtar** mentioned that calcium aided weight loss. After giving him a whatchutalkinaboutwillis, he e-mailed me a white paper explaining the benefits of calcium. Shortly thereafter, I began to see approximately 3248506 commercials for deep-fried cheese a la mode, claiming that science shows that such things are now good for you.

But all that has stopped. I have now heard that dairy (and calcium) are not the slenderizers they were yesteryear. What’s up with that? Is there some new evidence that refutes the old? I can’t find much on the web.

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**Author:** ![Podkayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Podkayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Podkayne)\
**Post date:** [May 24, 2006, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-skinny-on-calcium/358044/2 "2006-05-24T18:27:57Z")

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Within the last mont hor so, I’ve been seeing a LOT of tv commercials urging one to drink three 8-oz. glasses of lowfat or skim milk a day, 24 ounces in 24 hours. It features an curvy milk glass.

[A USA Today story, discussing the science behind the 24/24 campaign.](http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2006-03-08-got-milk_x.htm)

All I have to say is 24 ounces _every day_? _urk!_ I like milk, but I can’t imagine sucking down that much! Having to consume so much of _any_ single food as part of your weight-loss plan is just a recipe for failure.

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**Author:** ![groman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/73ab20/32.png) [@groman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/groman)\
**Post date:** [May 24, 2006, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-skinny-on-calcium/358044/3 "2006-05-24T18:37:52Z")

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> [@Podkayne](#):
>
> All I have to say is 24 ounces _every day_? _urk!_ I like milk, but I can’t imagine sucking down that much! Having to consume so much of _any_ single food as part of your weight-loss plan is just a recipe for failure.

I don’t think having milk being the bulk of your diet is a big problem if that’s the way you likes it 😉