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They do not eat beef and dairy together. At least she does not. It doesn't matter if the dairy is kosher or not, the two are not mixed.


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This religious rule comes from a well known scientific observation: meat blocks calcium absorption.

> well known scientific observation

Is it though? I tried to find a source for your claim but came up with inconclusive studies, at best. Do you have any sources for this or is it just a well known myth?


Well, any overlap with that scientific observation is, I'm sure, a happy accident.

No. That's an extrapolation protein blocking calcium absorption. But unless you eat fake American dairy products like yogurt or "American cheese", there tends to be protein in that cheese.

Incidentally, oxalic acid found in spinach also blocks calcium. Also beans and such have similar effect.


American cheese and yogurt have significant protein. American-produced fat free Greek yogurt particularly is high in protein.

You may be thinking of Velveeta and Kraft Singles but they don’t qualify by the FDA to be called processed cheese, they’re a cheese product. But even they have significant protein, albeit less.

https://boarshead.com/products/detail/652-american-cheese-lo...

https://usa.fage/products/yogurt/fage-total-0


I've also heard the argument that it comes from an animal welfare perspective:

It seems a little ghoulish to eat a calf with its mother's milk.


That doesn't explain the rule as practiced.

Good point.

I'm definitely not an expert on Jewish law (my exposure to it is through reading Leviticus as a Christian). I suppose it's possible that the reason changed over time. However, now that I think about it the health reasons that others have pointed out seem to make more sense. Especially since I would presume that a cow wouldn't have the intelligence to actually be concerned about the precise manner in which you eat it.


Per Wikipedia (and also this one time I was chatting with a Rabbi), the rule comes from a prohibition against ritual magic:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milk_and_meat_in_Jewish_law#Ex...


Uh, check your sources. History suggests a ~5000 year old document probably had little to say about calcium absorbtion.

https://hermeneutics.stackexchange.com/questions/15/why-does...


Of course not, but rituals that survive probably have some kind of objective survival value, so it's reasonable to try to figure out what these ancient food taboos origin really are.

For example, shell fish were probably or average unhealthy to eat back in the day. So claiming God commanded The People to not eat it was the FDA implementation of its time.


You mean calcium blocks iron absorption. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1600930

Yes.

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