To Dairy, or Not to Dairy? That is the Question!

When doing the detox program another thing I had to give up was dairy.  By dairy I mean specifically cow's dairy.

This is a controversial subject.  For years we've been told that dairy is essential to meet our daily calcium needs but now a number of people are suggesting that this is not the best source and in fact that long term consumption of dairy may be having detrimental effects on our health, actually contributing to osteoporosis and heart disease!  Here is some "food for thought":

Sally Joseph says:

"consider this, cow's dairy is not a traditional dietary staple for many cultures around the world - like Japan - traditionally one of the healthiest and longest living populations in the world, and if you look at the statistics, these non-cow's milk drinking cultures don't measure up with our rates of calcium deficient conditions like osteoporosis and yet we're the ones drinking all the cow's milk?  Furthermore, the countries who rank as the largest consumers of commercially produced cow's dairy, also take out the prize for the highest rate of heart disease!"

In her book "Make Peace With Your Plate" Jessica Ainscough tells us that dairy could be responsible for many of our unexplained health and weight issues.  She explains:

"Humans are the only species to drink the milk of other species and to drink milk at all past infancy."

"Cow's milk contains on average three times the amount of protein than human milk.  This creates metabolic disturbances in humans that have detrimental bone health consequences."

"Cow's milk is also designed to rapidly fatten up baby cows by filling up all of their four stomachs."

"Animal protein (found highly in dairy) increases the acid load in the body.  In order to neutralise the acid and bring the body back to an alkaline state, the body searches its own reserves for an alkaline mineral.  Enter Calcium.  But this calcium ends up being pulled from our bones in turn leading to bone-weakening."

Indeed for this reason www.helpguide.org warns us to avoid a high protein diet.

"The body needs protein to build healthy bones.  But as your body digests protein, it releases acids into the blood stream that the body neutralises by drawing calcium from the bones.  Following a high protein diet for a short time is unlikely to make much of a difference.  But over a long period of time, eating a lot of protein could weaken your bones".

So the body gets calcium in one of two ways.  From the foods we eat, or if we are not getting enough that way, by pulling it from our bones where it's stored.  Up until about age thirty the body is still building bone mass.  After that natural loss of bone mass begins to occur so it's vital to maintain a good intake of dietary calcium, and exercise, to maintain bone strength.  But as we have seen above, too much protein from animal sources may effect this.

www.helpguide.org also explains:

". . .calcium alone is not enough.  There are a number of other nutrients that help your body absorb and make use of calcium.  The most important of these are magnesium, vitamin D and vitamin K."

Some non-dairy sources of calcium also contain magnesium and vitamin K ie green leafy vegetables and broccoli.  Nuts and seeds and unrefined grains contain both calcium and magnesium.

As for the vitamin D, nutritionists now recommend that we get 15 minutes of sunshine every day to maintain a healthy supply.  This is an area where we have possibly taken things a little too far with the public health message about covering up.  I have heard recent news reports suggesting that a lack of vitamin D may be responsible for the increased amount of food allergies in children.

So getting back to dairy . . . there are many non-dairy sources of calcium and a few have been mentioned above.  It is true most of these do not contain the same level of calcium as dairy sources but perhaps we don't need so much if our bodies are able to absorb and retain it better?

The Harvard School of Public Health's website concedes:

"studies suggest that high calcium intake doesn’t actually appear to lower a person's risk for osteoporosis"

and

"Additional evidence supports the idea that American adults may not need as much calcium as is currently recommended.  For example in counties such as India, Japan and Peru where average daily calcium intake is as low as 300 milligrams per day (less than a third of the US recommendation for adults, aged 19-50), the incidence of bone fractures is quite low.  Of course these countries differ in other important bone-health factors as well - such as level of physical activity and amount of sunlight - which could account for their low fracture rates."

Confused yet?

Then there is the fact that commercially produced cow's milk is highly processed during pasteurisation and homogenisation and then often fortified to put back some of the nutrients this processing killed off.  The more I learn about processed foods and fortification of foods I'd rather steer clear of them all and have my food as close as possible to its natural state as I'm sure God intended.  Mankind's tampering with food is messing things up!

And my experience?  Well I'm looking forward to seeing if eliminating dairy and reducing consumption of animal protein will have had a positive effect on my cholesterol level when I have it checked again next year but in the meantime there is something else I've noticed.  Dairy products have also been linked to excess mucous production.  Now don't tell anyone, but apparently I used to snore a bit sometimes.  I know, I didn't believe it either!  I noticed after about 4 weeks off cow's dairy that my airways just felt so much clearer when I was lying down to go to sleep at night.  I asked my husband then if he'd heard me snoring lately and he said that he didn't think so.  It's now nearly 12 months later, I'm still off the cow's dairy (apart from a small amount of natural yoghurt I use to make my coconut yoghurt) and still apparently snore-free.  I knew it - I didn't really snore!

Sources/further reading:
Why you should give the (regular) cow juice the flick by Sally Joseph
http://www.sallyjoseph.com.au/blog/why-you-should-give-the-common-cow-juice-the-flick/

Make Peace With Your Plate by Jessica Ainscough

http://www.thewellnesswarrior.com.au/store/

wwwhelpguide.org

http://www.helpguide.org/life/healthy_diet_osteoporosis.htm

Harvard School of Public Health

http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/calcium-full-story/

~ take every opportunity to put the good stuff in ~

This blog is about me, what I'm doing, what's working for me, and what's not. It includes my experiences and opinions. It is for general information only and is in no way intended to replace the advice of a health care professional.