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Dairy: Yes or No?

10/20/2011

8 Comments

 
While I can't deny the benefits of our ancestral diet, I'll be the first to admit that I don't follow every Paleo protocol (as described in Loren Cordain's The Paleo Diet and Robb Wolf's The Paleo Solution) .  I consider myself more Primal (based on Mark Sisson's Primal Blueprint) than Paleo. But recently I've been giving some thought to giving up dairy, if only temporarily. I currently eat organic Greek yogurt and cheese a few times a week, which is a lot less than than the two to three servings I used to have every day. I stopped drinking milk months ago. From everything I've read lately, going dairy-free makes sense for a lot of people, particularly those with autoimmune conditions like celiac disease, Type 1 diabetes, lupus, and Hashimoto's thyroiditis. I don't appear to have any of these, although I do have impaired blood sugar control,  hypothyroidism, and mild adrenal issues. Dairy has some strikes against it; however, it offers benefits as well.  I'm a list maker by nature,  so I decided to make a  pros vs. cons list (although not an exhaustive one) for organic  and/or raw dairy products:

Reasons to eliminate dairy:

1. Contains lectins:  Lectins are small  carbohydrate-binding proteins that protect plant and animal species but can damage our intestinal cell lining if consumed in excess.  Virtually all foods contain some lectins, and although not the largest offender (grains, legumes, and nuts have that honor), dairy has an appreciable amount of these potentially harmful substances.

2 It's insulinotropic: Milk's intended purpose is to promote growth in young mammals, and it's believed that   the protein casein is responsible for this effect.Because casein is present in all dairy products, consumption of even low-carbohydrate forms  such as cheese may cause insulin spikes which promote anabolism and weight gain.  (However, I have read blog posts from many who stopped drinking milk for 30 days or more and noticed no difference in weight or body composition).

3. Promotes a net acid load:  Our bodies desire homeostasis, or a balance in our blood between acid and alkaline of pH 7.3 to 7.4.  Acidic foods include meat, fish, eggs, and dairy;  fruits and vegetables are alkaline. On low-carb/Paleo diets, animal protein consumption is fairly high, so getting calcium from plant sources (leafy greens, seeds and nuts)  makes sense.

I won't go into the many issues I have with conventional dairy other than to say it contains residual hormones, antibiotics, and pesticides that can cause or aggravate many health problems.

On the other hand...

1. Contains conjugated linoleic acid (CLA): CLA has been credited with promoting weight loss, improving blood sugar control in persons with diabetes, lowering serum triglycerides, and decreasing cancer risk.  Dairy is one of the best sources of this fatty acid. The higher the fat content the better, particularly if it comes from  grass-fed cows.

2. Raw dairy is a whole food: While pasteurized, homogenized milk is technically a processed food, raw dairy exists in its natural state and has been consumed for thousands of years by certain nomadic and agrarian groups, many of whom have enjoyed long, healthy lives.

3. Excellent source of many nutrients: Milk products contains all the macronutrients (protein, carbohydrate, and fat)  and many micronutrients (all the vitamins, along with calcium, magnesium,  phosphorus, and potassium, to name a few) that are essential to health.

4. High satiety value:  Goat cheese, whole Greek yogurt, buffalo mozzarella, and cream cheese  just plain taste good!

So should we consume dairy or not?  There are some strong opinions on both sides of this debate, but I believe that it's a highly personal choice. I recommend going without dairy for at least 30 days (This is what I plan to do in the near future). If you have more energy, fewer allergies, improved skin quality, and feel better overall on a dairy-free diet, then certainly that's the best eating plan for you.  If you notice no difference in your symptoms, then eating dairy is probably fine and possibly beneficial. Again, we are all unique in our genetic and biochemical makeup; what works for one person may not work for another.  For optimal well-being, we need to be attuned to the state of our health and make dietary and other changes accordingly. By the way, acording to a recent post on Mark's Daily Apple, even Robb Wolf consumes some dairy and admits he follows a primal way of eating :)

References
1. Rabinowitz D, Merimee TJ, Maffezzoli R, Burgess JA. Patterns of hormonal release after glucose, protein, and glucose plus protein. Lancet 1966;2:454–6]
2. Josse A, Atkinson SA, Tarnopolsky MA, Phillips SM. Increased consumption of dairy foods and protein during diet- and exercise-induced weight loss promotes fat mass loss and lean mass gain in overweight and obese premenopausal women. J.Nutr September 1, 2011 vol. 141 no. 9 1626-1634
3. Cesano A, Visonneau S, Scimeca JA, et al. Opposite effects of linoleic acid and conjugated linoleic acid on human prostatic cancer in SCID mice. Anticancer Res 1998;18:1429-34.

8 Comments
Rebecca
10/21/2011 11:54:13 pm

I was just listening to the podcast you did with Jimmy Moore on LLVLC, and wandered over to your blog.

I'm curious as to why you suggest that going dairy free might be of benefit to someone with auto-immune disease(s). I have Celiac disease, and Grave's disease (in remission), and I'm in the process of trying to figure out if there are possibly others as well (I've been tested for Lupus, Sjogren's, Systemic Sclerosis). How would eliminating dairy be helpful?

Reply
Franziska
10/22/2011 11:35:37 pm

Hi Rebecca,

Glad to hear that your Grave's is in remission :)

The casein in dairy is a poorly absorbed protein that, like gluten, can provoke an autoimmune attack in susceptible individuals. Many people with celiac disease are lactose intolerant, so that would be another reason to eliminate or at least sharply curtail dairy intake. Given your multiple autoimmune conditions, I'd definitely recommend eliminating dairy for a while, reintroducing a small amount, and assessing how you feel and whether any of your biomarkers have improved. Best of luck with everything :)

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Abel James link
10/23/2011 06:31:09 am

As an advocate for the primal lifestyle, dairy is tricky. Some people - myself included - seem to do well with dairy, while others have serious problems digesting it. The fact that it increases insulin can be problematic for fat loss, but also an effective aid for muscle gains. From a pure taste perspective, I find that I miss dairy immensely when I try to go without it!

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Franziska
10/23/2011 11:01:49 pm

Thanks for your response. Yes, casein and lactose tolerance are highly individualized. As I said in my post, dairy is delicious and has a high satiety value. I'm sure I'll have a tough time going dairy-free for even a month -- probably why I haven't set a start date for this yet :)

Reply
Natalie Sera
12/11/2011 10:19:57 am

Just one caution: if you eliminate dairy for a month, you may not ever be able to tolerate it again. The reason is that lactase production declines when there is no lactose to be processed, and then, when you start drinking milk again, your body is not able to process it. I learned this the hard way -- I gave up milk for about a month because someone suggested I might be allergic to it. But it made no difference in my symptoms, so I started drinking it again. However, I had severe cramps and diarrhea EVERY day about 4 hours after drinking milk. Because I was too stupid to associate the two facts, I kept drinking milk (and lost a job, because I couldn't teach a class while I was so sick), and eventually my body regained the ability to digest milk. But not everyone would be willing to go through the misery that I did, in order to be able to drink milk again. Another anecdotal story is that young Japanese are retaining the ability to digest milk into adulthood, because they are given milk to drink in school. Although scientists say it's genetic, there's more to lactose-intolerance than that. It seems to me that in order to retain the ability to digest lactose, you need to keep on ingesting it. So be really certain that you are OK with the possibility of having to give up lactose forever if you decide to stop drinking milk.

Reply
marymack
3/19/2012 02:51:52 am

I gave up dairy for 30 years and had no problem going on RAW MILK, RAW CHEESE

NO PROBLEM
It's Pasteurized and homo genized that's the problem

Reply
Franziska
3/19/2012 11:33:31 am

Agreed, marymack! I've really enjoyed adding raw cheese and cottage cheese to my diet. Healthy and dee-licious!

Franziska
12/11/2011 10:24:12 pm

Thanks for sharing your experience with giving up and reintroducing dairy. I'm so glad you eventually began producing lactase and can now consume dairy without symptoms. Terrible that you ended up losing your job due to intestinal issues. I think the extent to which one loses the ability to digest milk when it's taken out of the diet varies greatly, though. I didn't consume any dairy during a year devoted to veganism, 2001-2002. When I resumed drinking milk and eating dairy products, I didn't notice any problems digesting and absorbing lactose. While I believe that the adage "use it or lose it" applies with respect to lactase, the time frame over which it occurs appears to be highly individualized.

By the way, I've decided not to stop dairy products, but I'm sticking to organic only and plan to introduce raw dairy at some point in the near future.

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