Is Milk Good for Me?
Milk Myths and Facts
Ever since the first paleo book we’ve seen resurgence in scapegoating milk. Milk (and dairy) get blamed for mucus, weight gain, and even osteoporosis.
Is Milk Good for Me? –> Reality is this:
- Low fat dairy products are a convenient way to get a lot of protein and calcium for very few calories.
- Demonizing food groups is a time tested strategy to sell clicks and books.
Myth #1: Milk and dairy cause a build up of mucus in all people.
Facts:
- Snot production does not increase by drinking more milk. If you give 60 people a cold and then varying amounts of milk (up to 11 glasses per day) and then carefully measure the amount of snot they produce for 10 days (gross) you will find that the amount of snot (mucus) they produce will not vary with milk intake. Meaning they will make the same quantity of snot on a zero glass day as they will on an 11 glass day.
- 99.5% of adults can safely consume dairy. About 0.49% of adults have a clinical food allergy for milk protein, and in these people it might cause mucus production, nausea, diarrhea, difficulty swallowing, etc. However, this is not something unique to milk, but the symptoms of any food allergy – eggs, corn, soy, etc. This is not the same as lactose intolerance which is a reduced ability to digest the specific carbohydrate in dairy. That is easily overcome with Lactaid or lactose-free milk.
Myth #2: Milk (and dairy) make you fat, or the key to losing weight is to cut out dairy. If I had a dollar for every time I heard a trainer tell someone struggling with weight loss to “cut out dairy”…. What’s important to note is that the “blame” is placed on dairy products as a category.
There is no distinction is made between high calorie and low calorie options such fat-free Greek yogurt, or Fair Life 0% fat milk and gruyere cheese*, or triple cream yogurt**.
*(sadly) Gruyere is the highest fat and calorie cheese, which must be why I love it.
**Triple cream yogurt is when you take full fat yogurt and triple the fat content which means it tastes like ice cream you only need to refrigerate. It also leaves this yogurt with 2.6x the calories of fat free Greek, and more calories than most ice creams.
Facts:
- Low fat or fat-free dairy products provide a lot of protein for very few calories, and protein is the most filling nutrient there is. Which is to say that low fat dairy products are exactly what most people need when trying to manage their weight.
- High fat dairy products have tons of calories, but so do all high fat foods with or without dairy. Ben & Jerry’s non-dairy chocolate chip cookie dough is 350 calories per 2/3rd cup serving and the regular is 380 calories per 2/3rd cup serving. Both pack a ton of calories in a small space.
Myth #3: Milk causes osteoporosis. I think this is an example of gaslighting. I don’t want to link to any of the sites that repeat this counter-to-reality claim because I do not want to send any traffic their way.
Facts:
- Drinking milk increases bone density in the hips and spine. This is from multiple randomized controlled trials (RTC) vs from questionnaire. There is a BIG difference:
- In the RTC you randomly assign people to dairy or no-dairy, and then you watch them for months or years to measure what happens.
- In the “questionnaire,” or looking back kind of study you ask people how much milk they have consumed for the past decade, assume their memory is stellar, and measure their bone density today. You also pretend that everyone started with the same bone density, and that you can “adjust” for smoking, various medications, how much people exercise, etc.
- When you add strength training to dairy or calcium supplementation it works even better. Our bones need access to calcium to be strong/get stronger, but they also need a reason to add that calcium. If your bones are never overloaded* then it makes no sense for your body to waste calories now in making new bone, nor calories later in carrying around heavier bones. Two hands clap louder than one.
*Bones need to be stressed until the crystals in them change shape to signal your body to build them up. The moving of the crystals (deformation) leaves an electrical charge on your bone, and it’s this charge that tells the bone machinery (osteoclasts and osteoblasts) to increase the density and strength of that area.
Bottom Line, Is Milk Good for Me?
Remember, the internet is not reality when asking if, Is Milk Good for Me?
Josef Brandenburg, best selling author, is the co-owner and a coach at True 180 Personal Training, Charlotte’s most effective personal training studio for women since 2016. With decades of experience and multiple certifications, he shares his expertise with you. Please let us know what other questions you have!