Remarkably enough, if dairy has any effect, both clinical and population evidence strongly implicate dairy in causing, rather than preventing, osteoporosis. That the dairy industry would lull unsuspecting women and children into complacency by telling them, essentially, drink more milk and your bones will be fine, may make good business sense, but it does the public a grave disservice.
Most of the world's peoples do not consume cow's milk, and yet most of the world does not experience the high rates of osteoporosis found in the West. In Asian countries, for example, where consumption of dairy foods is low (and where women tend to be thin and small-boned, universally accepted risk factors for osteoporosis), fracture rates are much lower than they are in the United States and in Scandinavian countries, where consumption of dairy products is considerably higher.