Dairy Alarmism

As to the common argument that we are the only species that consume milk from other species, there's also some evidence to refute that as well: http://www.mastozoologiamexicana.org/doi/10.12933/therya-10-14/therya-10-14

Dairy is fine if your body produces the enzyme lactase. The very recent evolution of the ability to digest dairy products in adulthood is fascinating... this trait has evolved in populations with a long history of dairy farming/herding, e.g. Europeans, Masai (in Africa)... what's most interesting is that this trait evolved at least twice, i.e. separately in both those populations, and it may be the case that it's evolved separately in other dairy/herding populations (the alternative is that gene flow between populations resulted in the trait spreading from one population to another,but it's been demonstrated in scientific studies that the European mutation and Masai mutation for digesting dairy as adults are different and arose separately).

Anyway, whether you find that kind of thing interesting or not, the ability to digest lactose is quite closely tied to ethnic origin (although it's not 100% because of gene flow and archaic genes sticking around) so if your ancestors over the last few thousand years were dairy farmers or herders, chances are you can digest dairy just fine, and there's no reason to avoid it. If your ancestors from this time period didn't have anything to do with dairy, then there's a high probability that you can't digest dairy and in that case you should avoid it. But usually people who are lactose intolerant know about it without being told this information due to getting sick when they eat dairy.

Dairy allergy is separate to lactose intolerance and while I'd love to know the evolutionary history of allergy (which is probably a defence against parasitic infection) I don't know much about it or examples of any particular populations it evolved in. But if you're allergic to milk that's another reason not to drink it.

Unfortunately there's a lot of pseudoscience against milk because both the vegan crowd and the paleo crowd hate on it. There are few things that these two groups agree on, but hatred of dairy products is one. And both groups will tell you "milk is for baby cows not for humans" they also both tend to ignore or be unaware of the fact that humans are highly adaptable in terms of diet, and the ability to digest dairy products has evolved in populations with a long enough history of dairy farming/herding.

I, personally, am from the British Isles and the Britain a history of dairy farming going back at least 5000 years; I can digest dairy just fine and will continue to consume dairy products

:drinker: @ dairy products and the lactase persistence gene






tl;dr: if dairy makes you sick don't eat/drink it, if it doesn't and you like it then eat/drink it

I'm not aware of any evidence that dairy is arbitrarily bad for people who can tolerate it.

I'm aware of multiple sources of evidence that it may be beneficial, some of which has been posted earlier in this thread.

However as with pretty much any individual food source, you can freely select foods that fit your preferences and/or ethics as long as you can find a way to meet your nutrient needs.

Just be careful not to make stuff up about that food item just because it doesn't fit your code of ethics.

As to the common argument that we are the only species that consume milk from other species, there's also some evidence to refute that as well: http://www.mastozoologiamexicana.org/doi/10.12933/therya-10-14/therya-10-14

As to the common argument that we are the only species that consume milk from other species, there's also some evidence to refute that as well: http://www.mastozoologiamexicana.org/doi/10.12933/therya-10-14/therya-10-14

Dairy isn't NEEDED in the human diet. Calcium and other nutrients can be attained through other sources. That said, there's no ****ing way I'm giving up cheese, yogurt, and ice cream.

No specific food is NEEDED for the diet but variety IS the spice of life.

Help a man out. Are there any legitimate dairy concerns, backed by a consensus of good research?

Unless you have an intolerance, no. I haven't seen anything beyond alarmism and agenda-pushing.

^ This. The arguments against dairy seem to range from the mildly amusing to the truly laughable.

My only question about dairy (and I am a huge ice cream lover) is that, at its foremost, it is food intended for a baby cow. Humans, as should come as no surprise, have nutrition requirements that are MILES away from a cow. Take a look at the constituents of bovine milk vs. human milk. It is pretty interesting. Is it the best thing to use dairy products formulated for a species so vastly different from our own? That is what makes me wonder. Of course, not when I eat my appropriate serving of Ben & Jerry's ice cream!

Edited to add: be wary when using the UDSA to evaluate meat and milk. The USDA's mission (at least one of them) is to promote our over-consumption of meat and dairy. That is why our food pyramids, for so long, has pushed meat, dairy, and cheese as particularly healthy. They are all loaded with saturated fats! There is a really good study out there about dairy, but I don't have my notes in front of me. I think it was the Nurses Heart research study or something like that. Try googling it. It is a real an eye opener about dairy.

That's just downright logical. How dare you bring logic into a MFP forum. Be prepared, the dairy industry plants are about to try and discredit you......

The "dairy industry plants" Oh my gosh I am dying right now. Seriously, this is solid gold, the word logic next to such blatant conspiracy nonsense. God, I wish I was being paid by big dairy to sit around reading this crap on MFP.

I've heard a lot of the arguments against dairy milk, and I think some of them make sense. But I'm not so sure. So I started drinking less dairy milk. Instead of 3 to 5 cups daily, I now drink 1.5 cups in my morning smoothie. I then drink almond milk, coconut milk and soy milk the rest of the day.

Note: Soy milk was supposed to be good for you until it was supposed to be bad for you but now it's supposed to be good for you again unless maybe you're a female in which case it might still be bad for you. Unless it's not.

I don't want to drink too much of a bad thing. I would rather drink a little bit of a bad thing here and a little bit of a bad thing there.


Another note: The argument that dairy milk was intended for baby cows does make some sense to me, and that gets compounded when you consider the treatment of factory farmed animals. What I'm not clear on is coconut milk. Was my coconut milk supposed to go to baby coconuts?

I love chocolate soy milk, but discovered I can't digest it. Apparently that's a big problem for a lot of people.

Almond milk is low calorie but doesn't have the protein of dairy -- it's okay if you just want some liquid on your cereal, etc.

I don't have problems digesting dairy milk, but stopped drinking it because Georgetown Hospital doctors said a longterm diet raised your cancer risk (detailed in my post above).

I also agree with the baby cow statements -- dairy contains hormones intended for animals, plus I don't like the way factory farm animals are treated. I don't have to consume dairy. There are plenty of other foods out there.

If you can't go dairy, chocolate hemp milk FTW!

Note: Soy milk was supposed to be good for you until it was supposed to be bad for you but now it's supposed to be good for you again unless maybe you're a female in which case it might still be bad for you. Unless it's not.

Lol...I swear every other day on Yahoo health or whatever they call it, they have this kind of contradicting information. One day eggs will kill you, the next day they make you live forever. I just don't care anymore. I'll do what I want, see how it affects me, and go from there.

My only question about dairy (and I am a huge ice cream lover) is that, at its foremost, it is food intended for a baby cow. Humans, as should come as no surprise, have nutrition requirements that are MILES away from a cow. Take a look at the constituents of bovine milk vs. human milk. It is pretty interesting. Is it the best thing to use dairy products formulated for a species so vastly different from our own? That is what makes me wonder. Of course, not when I eat my appropriate serving of Ben & Jerry's ice cream!

Edited to add: be wary when using the UDSA to evaluate meat and milk. The USDA's mission (at least one of them) is to promote our over-consumption of meat and dairy. That is why our food pyramids, for so long, has pushed meat, dairy, and cheese as particularly healthy. They are all loaded with saturated fats! There is a really good study out there about dairy, but I don't have my notes in front of me. I think it was the Nurses Heart research study or something like that. Try googling it. It is a real an eye opener about dairy.

That's just downright logical. How dare you bring logic into a MFP forum. Be prepared, the dairy industry plants are about to try and discredit you......

The "dairy industry plants" Oh my gosh I am dying right now. Seriously, this is solid gold, the word logic next to such blatant conspiracy nonsense. God, I wish I was being paid by big dairy to sit around reading this crap on MFP.

it is in fact the dairy industry that is agenda-pushing by making people believe dairy is good for them. oh the money that can be made off gambling with other peoples health!

it is in fact the dairy industry that is agenda-pushing by making people believe dairy is good for them. oh the money that can be made off gambling with other peoples health!

*giggles*

in all seriousness though, people will always have different opinions, people will always put their trust and believes in different things. i can accept that and live with it so long as noone offends others too much!