Why Dairy is the Enemy - An Ode to Un-Inflamed Guts and Calcium-replete Bones
I don’t often prescribe radical or highly restrictive diets. Come to think of it, I don’t remember the last time I did so. What I am doing constantly though is noticing, and bearing the bad news to my clients, that dairy is a big part of ‘the problem’ with a wide range of health conditions and presentations. I don’t like being ‘that guy’, pointing out that the fun things you like to eat are causing your eczema, or contributing to candida, or are at the root of undiagnosed bowel problems… but I DO like to be the guy a few weeks on the other side of that message delivery, where we can see so much change for the better. Even for those of us that aren’t strictly lactose intolerant, or that may not show symptoms with dairy incorporated into their diet, reducing or removing dairy entirely could be a boon for not just your gut, hormones, skin, bones, metabolism, mucous membranes and microbiome… but other unexpected areas and processes too.
Let’s begin with an incomplete list of some of the more typical or obvious issues that Dairy can contribute towards driving -
· Digestive issues such as IBS, Crohns, ulcerative colitis, bloating, indigestion, excessive flatulence, diarrhoea or frequent loose stools, constipation, reflux and heartburn
· Compromised immunity, throat and respiratory infections, recurring infection or difficult infection resolution, hay-fever and allergies
· Chronic or recurring candida infections, UTI’s or bacterial vaginosis
· Eczema, dermatitis, psoriasis, acne, and other skin disorders and symptoms
· Dysfunctions of the mucous membranes such as post-nasal drips, sinus issues, persistent coughs and/or phlegm production in the lungs
· Better stability of blood sugar and insulin management
· Lymphatic stagnation, general internal ‘dampness’ and fluid retention
· Period pain and a wide range of PMS issues
· Thyroid and metabolism dysfunctions such as Hashimoto’s thyroiditis
· Musculoskeletal and dental health, low vitamin D status and parathyroid dysfunction
Fairly comprehensive list, right? Perhaps it’s an important moment to differentiate that while dairy may not be the cause of each of these things, there’s a strong chance it’s a primary driver of them. We can see with this list why someone who is sensitive, intolerant or allergic to dairy would be better off without it. But those of us who aren’t sensitive, you may be thinking - ‘if I don’t have a dairy/lactose allergy, why should I avoid it in my diet?’ There are a few issues our body’s can have with dairy and dairy containing foods, even if there isn’t a classic allergic immune response being triggered by dairy proteins/lactose.
The basic inflammatory, damp-producing nature of dairy can significantly alter the health of our gut and microbiome in particular. This can then have a knock on effect to almost any area or system of the body, and will most likely affect your ‘constitutional weak spots’ first. For instance, if you tend to have psoriasis or eczema, the inflammatory load from dairy can worsen this. If you have severe period pain, particularly pain that worsens right before a bleed and that moves heavy thick or clotted blood, then the effects of dairy will feed that already problematic pattern playing out. The gut and the microbiome really is the seat of all health. And if the foods we eat are aggravating the tissue that is supposed to digest, assimilate and eliminate our food, while also bring responsible for things like our mental health, hormones and immunity, then of course those parts of us become even more vulnerable to dysfunction and difficulty.
From here I’m going to get a little bit more technical, so bear with me. It’s important though that we flesh out the relationship between dairy and our body’s blood pH, and the line of crap we’ve been sold about dairy being a quality source of calcium.
Dairy, usually in excess or in combination with other acid-forming foods (such as all animal products, grains, and legumes - high protein or inflammatory foods in general), can disrupt the pH balance of the digestive system, particularly the small and large intestines, and occasionally the esophagus, bladder and urethra. When I say ‘acid-forming’, I’m referring to the end product of food-based metabolism having an acidic, rather than alkaline, effect in the body, and am not referring to whether a food is more acidic than alkaline or vice versa. A great example of this is a lemon – itself, it is an acidic food, but its end product is an alkaline one – which may seem like a counter-intuitive concept at first! It’s not so much about the pH state the food begins with, as it is the pH affected by the processes that occurred throughout that foods metabolism that we are looking at here.
Our body keeps tight regulatory control of its blood pH balance (usually between about 7.35-7.45), as blood that is too acidic or to alkaline can be life threatening. Eating acid-forming foods will most definitely NOT be a big enough trigger to cause high blood acidity, or ‘acidosis’, nor will eating predominantly alkaline foods lead to ‘alkalosis’. It is however enough to trigger the body to counteract the acidity with alkalizing minerals and compounds. The types of alkalizing compounds used are typically the carbonate forms of calcium, potassium, magnesium and sodium, amongst others. And if these minerals are not found in the food we’re eating in abundant enough quantities (of which they typically are not in our modern diets), they are taken from storage areas within the body – usually our bones. It is obvious that our bones are important in terms of structure and mobility, but they are also organs of storage for minerals like calcium, magnesium and boron. And when the body needs an alkalizing buffer to keep the pH balance within its strict limits, this is where it gets what it needs. The body will always prioritise your internal acid-base balance over the health of your bones. This is a leading factor in bone pathology such as osteoporosis. It’s not so much a lack of calcium in the diet, as it is too many acid-forming foods that require high amounts of calcium to keep our blood pH buffered and safe. Interesting, right?!
This makes for an interesting little conundrum – on the one hand, calcium is found in dairy and is advertised as an important source of calcium, of which it certainly contains. But too many acid loading foods (such as animal products like dairy) will trigger the body to draw alkalizing minerals such as calcium carbonate out of the bones, and into the blood, in order to manage important things like blood pH and heart contractions. This means that dairy products, and other acid-forming foods are actually weakening the bones by leeching out the minerals to be used to reduce overall acidity. The amount of Calcium found in milk does not make up for these losses. If you are wondering why you have been taught that dairy foods are an essential part of the diet, primarily due to their Calcium levels, you should know that the body responsible for creating nutritional guideline for calcium is actually the Dairy industry.
Chronic exposure to these acidic metabolic end products, while not necessarily going to alter the strictly regulated blood pH, can setup an environment suited to microbial overgrowth as found in thrush, recurrent Urinary Tract Infections (UTI)s, Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), Crohn’s, Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth (SIBO), recurrent cold or flu viruses. Microbial overgrowth can also be associated with a plethora of different conditions, from oestrogen dominance and hormonal imbalances, through to skin conditions and allergies. On a more serious level, this type of environment can cause chronic inflammation, increases our cardiovascular disease and diabetes risk factors, and sets us up for a long list of more serious chronic health conditions. It can be one of many contributing factors in our modern lifestyle creating disrupted gut, immune, metabolic, hormonal and skin health.
So in summary – excessive amounts of acid-forming foods, particularly foods high in proteins such as dairy and other animal products, has a huge amount of implications for the general state of inflammation in our body, and significantly contributes to microbial overgrowths of the digestive mucosa (as well as the esophagus, intestines, vagina and bladder). These acid-forming foods are also one of the primary drivers in conditions such as osteoporosis and hyperparathyroidism, as to the contrary of what the food pyramid told us in primary school, dairy is not a source of calcium, but a calcium leech, removing the already stored calcium in our bones and reducing their density. High intake of dairy can mess with our calcium and vitamin d levels, and have both acute effects on the gut as well as compounding or rolling effects on our health over time, chronically.
And this, dear friends, is why Dairy is the Enemy! A food we hate to love, that is doing very few of us any real good. And I haven’t even touched on the immense ethical considerations, or the fact that most milk is full of the antibiotics, hormones, and products of the poor nutrition eaten and taken by the dairy cows that produce it.
So what to do from here?
Firstly, if you are worried about Calcium, great news! You can quite easily meet your calcium requirements through plant foods such as dark leafy greens, brassicas, pulses and legumes (such as beans, chickpeas, lentils etc), animal meats, eggs and organ meats (sourced organically/grass-fed where possible), nuts, seeds and wholegrains. Calcium does require a healthy, warm digestion and a good amount of stomach acid to be utilised, so addressing issues such as reflux or low appetite can also help increase your calcium intake, and your protein/mineral intake overall. Calcium rich foods include dark leafy greens, brassicas, organic organ meats, pulses and legumes, nuts, seeds, wholegrains, chia seeds, and some seafood such as oysters.
If you are one of those people who seemingly has no problem digesting dairy, my advice is this - remove milk, cream and ice cream as much as possible, as these tend to be the most problematic dairy products, and occasionally enjoy some cheese or yoghurt. The fermentation processes cheese and yoghurt undergo make it a little more tolerable to humans, so have a few benefits that can outweigh their detriment when had in moderation.
Always source organically if you are going to eat it. Dairy products are rife with nasty chemicals, so the purer the product the better.
Consider your ancestral foods, geographic and cultural influences, as your ancestral diet may not have included much if any dairy. It is well known in scientific literature that those of Asian descent have a far higher incidence of lactose intolerance, for example, as it is only in more recent decades that dairy has entered into the daily diet. If you descend from European lands, you may have a more developed tolerance of lactose which makes digesting dairy a little easier when in moderation, as dairy has been a bigger part of the diet of your families lineage for a much longer time.
If you are someone who does react to dairy products, remove as much as you can. A great process can be to do a 3-4 week strict avoidance of all dairy, even small ingredients in packaged foods, and to then slowly reintroduce a couple of things and see how your body responds. Some of the small ingredients to look out for are casein and caseinates, galactose, hydrolysates, lactose, lactate solids, lactulose, lactuglobulin, lactalbumin etc, milk fat, anhydrous milk fat, milk powders and solids. This is not an exhaustive list, but a good place to start.
It is also important to be mindful that you don’t drop dairy for a bunch of ‘dairy replacement’ products - some of these are great, and again in moderation may be fine, but much of it is highly processed and synthetic food that would be far better traded out for more wholefoods and seasonal eating. There are some lovely plant milks and delicious treats like cashew cheese (seriously, so good) that can replace a little of the ingredients you love to use. I use nutritional yeast in a lot of cooking that typically requires parmesan and have never looked back!
This is just the beginning of this subject, and I hope that this has been illuminating and helpful. If you would love some deeper support around suspected food intolerances, or problems with your digestive, metabolic, skin or hormonal health, you can get in touch with me or make an appointment to see how your body might benefit from reducing or removing dairy from your diet. It would be my pleasure to take an holistic approach to helping you understand and apply the wisdom of how foods can both hinder and heal!
Rebecca Holly xx
hello@rebeccaholly.com.au
Rebecca van Horssen is a Naturopath, Kinesiologist, Tarot reader and Astrologer who specialises in truly holistic natural medicine, and re-weaving the needs of body and soul