Is Periodic Abstinence from Dairy Products for Half a Year, Detrimental to Bone Health of Children and Adolescents?

The question of "What's the best diet for children and adolescents which ensures their optimum bone health?" has triggered this review study of all nutritional habits including the Christian Orthodox Church's diet with its particular periods of fasting. In order to evaluate the abstinence from dairy products in childhood and adolescence for more than 180 days per year, we assessed the relative knowledge on vegans and vegetarians in relation to calcium intake. We researched the world-wide published experience as well as studies focused on Christian Orthodox Church's fasting and its contribution to bone health status in children and teenagers with at least one year follow-up randomized controlled trials. During the last 30 years, more than 120 published studies all over the world dispute the generalization that milk consumption during childhood and adolescence relates to "strong bones". World-wide research experience on vegans and vegetarians reveals that non-diary food resources of calcium fortify the bones, ensure their integrity and development and that calcium daily intake, essential for the bone health, and can be gained from foods other than dairy. Abstinence from dairy products in childhood and adolescence for about 180 days per year -as proposed by the Christian Orthodox Church-seems to act as a means to bone integrity and optimal development.