Shedding Some Light On Dairy
The second most frequent question I hear when I tell someone I eat a primarily raw vegan diet or suggest one of my patients try it is, “Don’t you need milk for your bones?” If you don’t want to read all the way through the blog to get the answer, I’ll give it away right now: No!
Why would someone choose to stay away from dairy when ice cream and cheese taste so good and it’s supposed to be healthy? Even the government says we should be eating it. One reason to avoid dairy is based purely on logic, not science. It makes no evolutionary sense. No other mammal drinks milk after infancy, and certainly not the milk of a different species. In addition, although most people of European descent have adapted over the years so that they don’t lose the enzyme (lactase) necessary to digest dairy, more than half of the world’s population is lactose intolerant and can’t digest it.
But if those reasons aren’t convincing enough, here is a list of problems that have been shown in scientific studies to be associated with eating dairy: constipation, acne, asthma, and eczema. With regard to cancer, the evidence indicates dairy may be linked to a decreased risk of some cancers and increased risk of others. But it definitely increases a hormone called IGF-1 (insulin-like growth factor-1) which is a tumor promoter – something we cancer survivors would just as soon avoid. Finally, it is full of antibiotics, dioxin and hormones. Even if you are drinking organic milk from a cow who was never injected with bovine growth hormone, the milk is still full of the hormones she produced naturally.
So there are a lot of reasons to stay away from dairy. But doesn’t it help make your bones stronger? How else can you get enough calcium in your diet? The US RDA for calcium is 1000-1300mg/day, depending on your age and gender. In fact, it is hard to consume that much calcium if you are not eating dairy. This may be where the confusion begins. In a study that compared calcium consumption in different countries, the countries with the lowest calcium intake, about 500-1000mg/day, had lower rates of hip fractures (the dreaded outcome of low bone density) than the countries with the highest calcium intake (over 1000mg/day). Another study showed that countries with the highest consumption of animal protein intake had the most hip fractures, whereas the countries with the highest vegetable protein intake had the fewest hip fractures.
Although a number of studies show that eating dairy is associated with a decreased risk for fractures, a similar number of studies show it makes no difference. One of the major obstacles to getting a true picture of the importance of dairy for bone strength is the way the studies are done. Study participants are asked what they usually eat and then followed to see how many end up with broken bones. Since milk is touted as a healthy food, the people who eat the best and exercise the most are also the ones likely to be eating the most dairy. Curiously, of the scientific review articles about dairy and osteoporosis, most of the ones that showed a favorable association between dairy and bone health were sponsored by the National Dairy Council.
Since people from other countries who eat much less calcium than we eat have fewer fractures, maybe it’s not all about how much calcium we eat. Actually, more important is how much we keep. There are two other nutrients, in particular, which affect how much calcium we hold onto: protein and sodium. The more protein and sodium we eat, the more calcium we urinate out. So if we eat less protein and sodium (which are all too commonly consumed in a Western diet), we probably don’t need to eat as much calcium.
The other side of the equation is the absorption of calcium. It is better absorbed in an acidic environment, such as with vitamin C. That means that the lemon juice on your green leafy vegetable is helping you absorb the vegetable’s calcium. And vitamin D also increases the amount of calcium absorbed by the body.
Finally, it is becoming increasingly clear that there are other nutrients that are also very important for bone formation, such as vitamin K (high in dark green vegetables) and magnesium (high in green vegetables and seeds).
If you are wondering if a raw vegan diet can be okay for your bones, there has actually been a small study which suggests that it is. In this study, the people following the raw vegan diet were much thinner and had lower bone density (which goes along with being thinner). The reassuring part of the study was that the blood markers of bone turnover (i.e., how much bone was formed and broken down) showed no difference between those who followed the raw vegan diet and those who followed a typical American diet that contained almost twice the amount of calcium as the raw vegan diet.
Perhaps you are starting to think you might like to take dairy out of your diet, and you want to be sure you are still getting enough calcium. Good sources are dark green vegetables, nuts and seeds. Especially good foods are collard greens, kale, almonds and sunflower seeds.
Now if you are interested, theoretically, in cutting dairy out from your diet, but need some added incentive, read on. (If you still want to enjoy your milk, however, I suggest you stop reading now!) As a result of the milking process, cows often have mastitis (an infection of the udder), making dairy full of white blood cells, aka, pus. This means your yogurt, cottage cheese, ice cream, etc., are also full of pus.
It’s been 10 years since I have had dairy of any kind, and at this point I no longer even miss the cheese that sits on top of my former favorite food: pizza. But if you think you need some milk or cheese substitutes there are plenty of vegan (e.g., soy or rice-based) and raw (e.g., nut or seed-based) options to satisfy your palate!
32 Comments
Completely agree. I too find this a incredibly common question in my business.
Thanks for putting it so well for us all.
Cheers
Casey
thanks for the info-was just diagnosed with endo. adenocarcinoma- I have been looking for facts surrounding the great cheese debate-and living in wisconsin, there is a lot of dairy! I have switched to soymilk (that takes a LOT of getting used to) minimizing meat- dont eat beef anyway, but venison is part of our diet at home. and LOTs more veggies. again, thanks for the facts!
Great, great article! I just read about this (relating to an issue) on someone else’s blog. I plan to send this link to her. Thank you!
Thanks for the info – I’ve recently decided to cut dairy out because I figured out I am intolerant to it. But I am having difficulty identifying dairy in products. What words do I need to look out for? I had a yummy aloe and wheatgrass drink yesterday and I looked and it had calcium lactate – is that from dairy? can someone point me to where I can learn about this?
I love your blog! My 16 year old daughter has cut out all meat and dairy: she feels great, skin is clear, hair is shiny and BONES are healthy!! Don’t ya just love those “milk moustache” ads!
Very well written but I think I’ll hold onto my cheese just a little longer :)
Jess~
avoid anything that also says “whey” and “caseinate”
these are other names for dairy… you’d be very surprised to see that many things contain hidden dairy like crackers, soups, breads,snack foods, chips, even healthy powders/protein stuff,vitamins,health bars etc.. reading labels is a must! :)
April~
Try ricemilk (‘rice dream’brand i think is the best), also give almond milk a try, and hazelnut milk a try…they all are very good, and much much more tasty then soy milk…not to mention they are not mucus forming…soymilk is mucus forming and acidic..a long time ago Kris was supposed to do a whole post on the bad stuff of soy but i think she forgot lol, shes a busy lady :)
read one of kris’ old posts for a bit more info-
http://crazysexylife.com/2007/got-mucus/
I’ve cut down on dairy products for health reasons, but I’ve never heard about the pus. That definitely has given me the kick to kick dairy out for good!
Hallelujah! I have to say though, even being allergic to it and having a lovely inflammatory immune response after ingesting any, dairy has been the hardest thing for me to transition away from. Soy puts me into full on hives and asthma attacks….nasty stuff!
P.S. Almond milk is THE BEST, and low on the cals too which is nice :)
Awesome post!
I’m in medical school and have the hardest time convincing my classmates that many of the traditional ideas about diet are not evidence based and, in many cases, in contradiction to what the evidence actually shows. This is a well written article that should stimulate their thinky muscles. Maybe I’ll send it to the class list serve.
Awesome post, Lilli. Thanks!
It would be great for all of us if when you directly reference a study, you also note the author and journal, or better yet, simply link to the actual study. PubMed has abstracts for studies from all the major publications and these days the publications themselves will likely have their own website along with a free full-text version or an abstract page. In mainstream media, the lack of citing a directly referenced study is a sure sign of subterfuge or sloppiness, but I know that’s not the case here.
Thanks again!
Great article, just wanted to add that there isn’t only pus in milk when cows have mastitis. There are always white blood cells in milk (which make up pus), to the extent that there is a maximum number (somatic cell count) that the milk is allowed to have. This is due to both inflammation from being milked too often (which all commercial dairy cows are) and due to the fact that some (or many) cows will have mastitis, and all the milk gets mixed together so that all the milk has white blood cells in it in the end. So the government has decided what maximum amount of pus is legally allowed in your milk is, but there’s always some!
I heard these facts about dairy products about a year ago and I have been primarily dairy free ever since. I noticed I would break out after having anything with Dairy. I have been eating 80/20% Raw/Vegan and my acne as been going away. Today marks my 6th day completly raw and my acne is basically gone!! Thank you people who aren’t afraid to say no to the food pyramid!! The government is who decided what was on the food pyramid not people who are looking out for your health. WOuld you want someone who decided to go to war to decide what we should eat… DOn’t think so…
Thanks Lilli! Great post!
You really put it well Lilli! However, I have a question: if you were talking about raw milk from a biodynamic farm instead of pasteurized milk, how much of that information would still hold true? I have read of raw milk’s benefits, like helping with candida infections, strengthening the immune system, and providing omega-3 and a variety of vitamins. I don’t eat any pasteurized dairy…the stuff is horrible! But I wonder if a raw diet would include raw milk? It would make sense, wouldn’t it…?
Thanks, everyone, for the kind comments. Here are some answers to those of you who had questions:
Comment 5. In terms of hidden names for dairy, whey and casein are derived from dairy, as Jess noted. Other less obvious ingredients that come from dairy include kefir, rennet, ghee (often used in Indian food), lactalbumin and lactose. There is an even longer list of foods that come from dairy, but once you get into names that are so unfamiliar (and hard to pronounce!), you probably shouldn’t be eating that product. The best is to buy the whole food and then you don’t have to worry about what goes into the food you are eating.
Comment 14. Great idea about citing references for the post. I make a point of differentiating my opinion formed from peer-reviewed studies vs. that based on anecdotal evidence. I will plan to include citations for future posts and check with Kris about adding the references for this one.
Comment 19. Whether there is a difference between fresh-from-the-cow (or goat), raw milk compared with pasteurized milk is an excellent question. I am pretty sure that the studies of dairy represent pasteurized milk only. But I am not aware of any studies of raw milk. I personally don’t think it makes sense to be drinking the milk of any mammal after we are weaned as infants, and it is certainly not important to include it in our diets, but I can’t say, for a fact, whether the raw milk is healthy or has the same health concerns that pasteurized milk has. Finally, the potential for harmful bacteria in raw milk, though I recognize is small, does make me nervous. Perhaps someone can explain to me how one can be confident that these bacteria are not in some raw milk.
Thanks again for all the comments.
Lilli
I thought this was a great article so I sent it around to some friends. I got some pretty harsh replies from some friends who study science, saying that this article was full of lies.
From one person, I got this in response:
An article that states “It makes no evolutionary sense.” and then attempts to promote veganism cannot be taken seriously. If you want to use evolution as an argument you should acknowledge that human beings are the product of thousands of years of eating meat. Based on scientific evidence humans could not have reached the level of neurological development which we have reached on a pure vegan diet. We would still be “primitive” hominids like gorillas, chimpanzees, or orangutans if we ate only vegetable matter – Oh wait, all those animals eat meat too!
IGF-1 is a naturally occurring hormone that is critical in human development, without it your body wouldn’t be able to create muscle and other tissues. It acts as a signal to make cells in your body do a variety of normal activities, mostly grow and replicate. A tumor is actually made up of cells which have mutated to a point at which they are still capable of replication (i.e. being “alive”) but do not respond in the way they are suppose to. Although they don’t act in the same way as before tumor cells still need the same nutrients that a normal cell needs. In this way IGF-1 can be defined as a tumor promoter, but so can glucose, calcium, sodium, oxygen, and anything else a normal cell needs to grow. This so-called “MD” author is misrepresenting facts to make ignorant readers believe IGF-1 promotes the formation of tumors, when in reality IGF-1 merely promotes the growth of a tumor which already exists.
This pus in milk bullshit has been killed by science on so many levels I don’t understand why anyone with a medical degree would even bother to include it, unless of course they don’t have a medical degree or have been paid enough to say whatever someone else is telling them to say. All milk in North America goes through inspection processes which evaluate the quality of the milk, including checking for “pus” (which is a test for somatic cell count). So unless there is a government conspiracy to feed us “pus” filled milk, mastitis is not an argument for why we shouldn’t ingest milk.
Lastly, I would argue that “independent” studies don’t actually exist and they are a marketing gimmick used to fool people. It’s hugely hypocritical, and unfounded, to use an argument that Dairy Producers funded some studies that show positive effects. It’s unfounded because unless the author grabbed some backwater studies from the internet, the studies she talks about should only have been published in peer-reviewed journals, meaning that other phd’s from around the world who aren’t funded by the Dairy industry look over and analyze the results. And it’s obviously hypocritical because the author is 100% biased and is writing with an agenda.
Thoughts????
Great article! I am raising my two boys, ages 3 and 6, on a meat-free, dairy-free diet since birth. Fruits, vegetables, seeds, and legumes are a big part of their diet. They are the only kids in their classes that don’t have runny noses all winter long and they hardly know who their doctor is. Now when I’m asked by other parents, “Why not dairy?” I’ll just refer them to your article. We need more doctors like you who are willing to think outside the box.
I was under the impression that lemons, while being acicic actually turn alkaline during digestion. Please comment on this.
Thank you, Sue
(sp) acidic
It’s a relief to see such a cogent discussion of diet by an MD. I am a breast cancer survivor who was treated at a top institution, and none of my docs have said anything to me about anything dietary. Guidance in this area is severely lacking.
Thank you!
Dear Sylvia who posted her friends response on April 10, 2009: I think that one important book your friend should consider reading if they are looking for hard evidence is The China Study by T. Colin Campbell Ph.D. It’s based on the most comprehensive nutritional study ever done and comes up with some pretty profound conclusions about the protein we consume from meat and dairy and what it does to our bodies. BTW T. Colin Campbell Ph.D. was raised on a dairy farm and was a strong supporter of dairy and meat until he started to discover startling results in his various studies. He is renowned in the field of nutrition science.
Comment 20:
I agree that T. Colin Campbell’s book is great. If you or your friend would like more information about IGF-1 and the risks associated with elevated levels of it, particularly with regard to cancer, there are 100’s of articles about it on pubmed (www.pubmed.gov), the search engine for medical journals. Here are some sample references of review articles that you could look at:
The role of endocrine insulin-like growth factor-I and insulin in breast cancer. Lann D, LeRoith D. J Mammary Gland Biol Neoplasia. 2008 Dec;13(4):371-9.
Diet, lifestyle and risk of prostate cancer. Wolk A. Acta Oncol. 2005;44(3):277-81.
In terms of the white blood cells in milk (also called somatic cells), here is a link to a USDA document reporting levels of the white blood cells in milk.
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/vs/ceah/ncahs/nahms/dairy/dairy_monitoring/dryscc.pdf
Comment 22:
It is also my understanding that lemons are acidic, but become alkaline when digested. However, since I haven’t read the original scientific evidence to support this (though it may very well exist), I can’t say for sure.
Lilli
What is the most common question you are asked, Lilli, if the one about milk and calcium is the second most common?
Of course, everything what you say about milk is true, in my view.
Alexa Fleckenstein M.D, physician, author.
The most common question is…How do I get enough protein?
With regard to bone fractures, it seems logical to me that you see fewer fractures in communities with lower dairy consumption because those are poorer communities where people do not live as long. Hip fractures occur in old age. Africans do not generally live ling enough for hip problems to develop. So it seems there is a faulty premise when comparing roils in this way.
One may question Lilli Link’s ideas, knowledge, or her point of view, but what you should not do is question her honesty and integrity. I know, I am her uncle.
I have just been diagnosed with DCIS. Can you recommend a book(s)on nutrition/and-or diet for cancer patients! Thx!
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15562830?dopt=Abstract
What effect would a colostrum supplement have on one’s potential to develop prostate cancer. It seems that taking this would increase IGF-1. Would it be advisable or very ill advised for someone with a family history of prostate cancer to take this supplement? I posted the above article as it is being touted to support colostrum as an anticancer supplement but I read it as quite the opposite. I am confused as was planning on taking this for general protective health and longevity, but have put it on hold after reading this blog and then this article.
Any advice from the community would be appreciated.
I spend so much time explaining this very thing to my clients. Most people are so programmed to believe that we need dairy for calcium. As if there would be only one food on this earth that we would HAVE to eat in order to get a single nutrient. No no no. I’ll take sesame seeds, parsley and rhubarb over milk.
April 8, 2009