Is it a good idea to stop eating dairy products?

i keep hearing about the many evils of cows milk and diary products, eg they have hormones, and are generally bad for you, but would it be healthy or practical to completely cut it out of the diet, do the benefits of milk outweigh its disadvantages? surely milk has many nutrients which are hard to get elsewhere

Reply 1

high priestess fnord

9

milk, eggs etc are very good for you. if you are worried about whats in your milk then just buy organic.

in fact my bfs mum was seriously ill recently and her doctor told her than if she hadnt drunk so much milk she would probably be dead.

Reply 2

ISH

9

diary products? Yeah, that much paper will kill you. :p:

Reply 3

ic1male

There is really only calcium in milk that is beneficial (as I understand it) but as the OP said, I also read all sorts of horror stories about how milk is meant for calves and we are brainwashed to believe it is good for us. Things like the calcium is chemically bonded in such a way that is if difficult for us to extract it and that milk contains casein which is like a glue that sticks to all our innards, etc. etc.

I myself have soya milk fortified with calcium so I prefer not to have cow's milk.

Reply 4

abacab

well i can tell you from experience don't overdo sweetened soya products, i had to have 3 fillings after less than a year on soya. :frown:

Reply 5

King Hippo

9

Is it a good idea to stop eating diary products?

Yes. I started eating a 2004 Page-To-View A5 diary and got as far as April before I started coughing up blood.

Reply 6

Rouge

OP

I_Surf_Hawaii

diary products? Yeah, that much paper will kill you. :p:

yes, obviously i was enquiring about the health benefits of eating diaries, I think they contain some minerals not found in normal food right?

Reply 7

HeadShock

I love milk and go through loads, and i seem to have perfect health.

Reply 8

joetheeskimo

I don't think its a good idea to eat diaries

Reply 9

Jennybean

13

Well first off don't eat your journal. I'm really surprised Tibia hasn't popped up in here to say "milk is for baby cow's not ppl lol". No you should not cut dairy products out of your diet, at any point in your life, but especially not during your teenage years. Your bones are growing and need calcium and phosphorous to mineralise properly. If you don't get the calcium now then your bone density will be compromised to some extent for the rest of your life and believe me osteoporosis is no fun at all. If you were allergic to something like lactose you would have to find a way round it but as long as you are tolerant of dairy, keep eating it. In fact, everyone should eat more. The current recommendations by medical professionals is three portions a day. Calcium is found added into various other foods apart from dairy but in rubbishly small quantities and will not be absorbed as effectively as in its naturally occurring form. If you want to take a supplement, make sure it has Vitamin D thrown in as this is necessary to facilitate the uptake of calcium into your body. Alternatively, sunbathe for 15 mins a day so your body can make its own Vit D. But it's still not as good as just getting your dairy. If you're worried about hormones and all that malarkey drink organic milk instead, or better still find a local farm shop and buy it from there.

Reply 10

wiwarin_mir

Rouge

i keep hearing about the many evils of cows milk and diary products, eg they have hormones, and are generally bad for you, but would it be healthy or practical to completely cut it out of the diet, do the benefits of milk outweigh its disadvantages? surely milk has many nutrients which are hard to get elsewhere

It is entirely up to you if you decide to cut out dairy products, but remember, milk and eggs (as well as cream and cheese) are found in an awful lot of things that you might not know about.

Reply 11

hippieglitter

19

I dunno how bad dairy products are for you but they inlcude a lot of calcium which is essential for strengthening you bones, i am lactose intolerant so cannot have dairy products anyway plus being a singer and singers are advised to avoid dairy products like the plague, i have alwasy been lectured about the dangers of not having dairy products. if i could have them i wouldn't give them up.

Reply 12

suicidal_dream

1

dairy products are one of the main food groups and you are recommended to intake at least some each day.
I drink so much milk its crazy and i'm rarely ill... blah blah blah...

therefore i swear by milk as an amazing cure for everything... and it tastes pretty awesome too

Reply 13

TheThirdMan

1

Dairy is really only a western thing, or at least only so present in the western diet. The japanese dont have much, nor do many other countries. The calcium thing is thought to be balls by many scientists, because as someone said before, its milk for calves, not for grown people. You can get calcium from loads of other places other than dairy.

I dont drink milk cos i think its like still drinking breast milk but worse, but then i love cheese and butter...

Reply 14

Jennybean

13

suicidal_dream

dairy products are one of the main food groups and you are recommended to intake at least some each day.
I drink so much milk its crazy and i'm rarely ill... blah blah blah...

therefore i swear by milk as an amazing cure for everything... and it tastes pretty awesome too

Lol brill, but as far as I know calcium cannot really improve your immune system....hmm might just have to go and check that.

Reply 15

Hev456

11

Well from the point of view of a lactose intolerant who doesn't drink any milk, the only advice I can give is that if you do decide to give up milk just make sure you substitute the lack of calcium with tablets. I dont' think there's any actual 'benefits' of drinking or not drinking milk, i'm perfectly healthy despite not drinking it for about 2 years, but as i said i do make sure i top up my calcium with calcuim tablets which the hospital has said is fine.

You've got to take new food 'worries' with a pinch of salt, i mean one day eggs are bad for you, now they're not, next week they might be. Just a question though, do you drink or smoke? Eat highly fatty foods? Because all those things will do you a lot more harm than drinking milk.

Reply 16

grace

15

erm, since when are eggs considered dairy products?!

personally i don't eat dairy, i have unsweetened soya milk fortified with calcium and soya yoghurts, sometimes goatscheese on special occasions, and don't feel any different then when i had cow's milk/butter/cheese - if anything, i feel better for it.

my bf on the other hand drinks at least 2pints of milk a day, bare minimum, plus cheese, yoghurt, icecream etc. He consumes crap loads of dairy and always has, and has never had any problems either.

i guess it's just down to personal choice, but you certainly can get calcium from other sources, which is pretty much the only benefit milk has.

Reply 17

Jennybean

13

TheThirdMan

Dairy is really only a western thing, or at least only so present in the western diet. The japanese dont have much, nor do many other countries. The calcium thing is thought to be balls by many scientists, because as someone said before, its milk for calves, not for grown people. You can get calcium from loads of other places other than dairy.

I dont drink milk cos i think its like still drinking breast milk but worse, but then i love cheese and butter...

Are you among these scientists? Last thing I read in the New Scientist was that the human adaptation of being tolerant to drinking milk after our infancy is one of the most effective survival techniques around. The calcium thing is not *******s, calcium is not just necessary for bone mineralisation, the ionic form is necessary for a plethora of body processes, from muscle contraction to the perpetuation of action potentials in conducting nervous impulses. Take away calcium and we'd all be dead. The "milk is for baby cows" thing was an ironic joke. If you truly believe that, do you also believe we shouldn't eat eggs because they are for developing chick embryos? If you eat cheese and butter then you are probably getting adequate calcium but it's really irresponsible (just like I told Tibia) to be spouting this "calcium is in loads of things" nonsense. Yes there are small amounts of calcium added to various foods but it would be nigh on impossible to get anything close to your RDA without ingesting some dairy every day. If you don't believe me, pick up one of these foods that has calcium in it, and check the RDA percentage it contains. I guarantee it will be something like 8% for the whole packet. Even drinking half a pint of milk doesn't fulfil your quota, so everyone should get three portions of different dairy products every day.

Edit: And as far as Japan and other countries where dairy intake is lower go, their statistics for bone fracture incidence and osteoporosis remain steady with those of Western countries due to other factors such as increased exposure to sunlight giving rise to higher levels of Vitamin D within the body, higher levels of weight-bearing exercise and diets lower in protein (a diet high in protein, as is often found among Westerners, can lead to calcium loss in bone). All of these things contribute to bone strength, it's multifactorial, but adequate, life long intake of calcium is a crucial part. If Japan et al had a calcium intake like the Western countries then their fracture rate etc would probably be teeny. I'm not saying stuff yourself with dairy products, they are after all quite high in saturated fats, especially cheese, but it's not a good idea to cut them out of your diet completely. You don't need to consume vast quantities - a portion of cheese as recommended by nutritionists is the size of one of those mini matchboxes, not a massive slab :p:

Another edit: I did some mooching through my notes and turns out calcium is also necessary for the correct absorption of Vitamin C so CAN have a beneficial effect on your immune system. You learn something new every day. Or in my case, you learn it only when you go trawling back through your lectures to make a point on TSR :s-smilie:

Reply 18

Hev456

11

grace

erm, since when are eggs considered dairy products?!

Erm, I never said they were. I used the example of eggs, which are known to be good then bad for you, as a food that can change at the drop of a hat, and therefore next week dairy products like milk might change and go 'actually they're alright for you'.

Reply 19

Jennybean

13

Hev456

Erm, I never said they were. I used the example of eggs, which are known to be good then bad for you, as a food that can change at the drop of a hat, and therefore next week dairy products like milk might change and go 'actually they're alright for you'.

You see, all this worrying about what you read in the media can just be avoided by doing science A Levels! Then you would KNOW what eggs, milk etc contain and how they affect your body, regardless of what the Daily Mail's "Science" Correspondent (an oxymoron if ever I saw one) has to say today :p:

Anyone seen that thing they run in the Private Eye, '"Something We Told You Was Bad For You Last Week Is Actually Really Good For You" by the Daily Mail' lol

Is it a good idea to stop eating dairy products?

Related discussions

Articles for you