Neal D. Barnard, MD
Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine
Washington, DC 20016
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In Reply.
We thank Dr Hanley and Ms Fenton for their thoughtful comments on our review. By way of clarification, of the 58 studies that we reviewed, 11 were excluded for not controlling for weight, pubertal status, or exercise, and 10 focused specifically on the effects of calcium supplements.1 Of the remaining 37 studies, 4 had prospective designs that specifically addressed the effects of dairy calcium rather than total dietary calcium on bone health in children and young adults.25 Of these, 3 were randomized, controlled trials and 1 was a cohort study. In a 2-year trial that doubled calcium intake from 750 to 1640 mg of calcium per day with additional servings of dairy products, no difference was observed in bone mineral density (BMD) or change in bone density over time with the dairy-product treatment.2
In the cohort study, no
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