Dairy is extremely misunderstood and often picked on by the vegan and paleo communities. Many people think it’s deathly bad for you and mindlessly exclude it from their diets.
However, the only people who have to be careful with certain dairy products are lactose intolerant. Lactose intolerant individuals don’t produce enough lactase, an enzyme that breaks down milk sugar (1). In part 2 of this article, I’ll show you why lactose intolerance is usually very manageable, so you don’t have to give up on cheese forever.
But for this article, I’ll be discussing why dairy is generally healthy and why you should consume it if able to.
Oh yeah, and before I get into all the research, I just wanted to remind everyone eggs are not considered dairy. I don’t know how this rubbish myth even started because eggs are not a milk product. But anyways, now that we’re clear on logistics, onwards with the article!
The most common argument against dairy is the idea that humans should avoid it because no other animal consumes the milk of another creature. Anyone saying this to justify demonizing dairy should forever be labeled a dunce and screened for brain damage.
For starters, this argument is not true, a complete lie actually. Research has documented western gulls, sheathbills, and feral cats drinking milk from northern elephant seals (2).
Even if the argument was true, why would that affect human behavior? Are we suddenly going to stop driving cars, sharing memes, and taking gym selfies merely cause we’re the only species to do so?
People have been long been spoon-fed this irrational fear of the hormones from cow’s milk, but it’s honestly nothing to worry about.
The hormones given to cows to boost milk production don’t affect humans. Most of it is annihilated during pasteurization and the remaining amounts are so beyond small, not to mention they have no biological activity in humans (6,7).
Regardless, conspiracy theorists will yap on about how big dairy is trying to kill us. Let’s look at health results from multiple studies then, shall we?
A 2016 review looked at dairy’s risk for human health using observational studies and randomized controlled trials (3). It found dairy was associated with reduced childhood obesity, aided in adult body composition (muscle to fat ratio), improved bone mineral density, and protects against numerous prevalent diseases.
A 2019 multinational cohort study looked at cardiovascular disease and all-cause mortality in 21 different countries across 5 continents. It found dairy intake was associated with a lower risk of both (4). This means dairy consumers are probably less likely to die sooner and have fewer heart attacks.
A 2019 systematic review looked at dairy’s association with type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease risk (5). It found dairy intake was associated with a lower risk of both with a greater benefit towards women. My best explanation for the sex difference is probably because women tend to be more calcium deficient than men.
Another 2019 systematic review of randomized clinical trials found dairy intake, especially from low-fat sources has a beneficial effect on insulin resistance, waist size, and body weight (8). This is why dairy is deeply useful in aiding those with metabolic health issues (9).
Another 2019 systematic review looked at dairy and inflammation, testing a wide range of inflammatory markers. They not only found that dairy isn’t inflammatory as milk haters describe, but found dairy to be generally anti-inflammatory (10).
Another 2019 review found that dairy and saturated fat is not bad for you (11,12). Even based on total saturated fat and sodium content, dairy doesn’t produce any predicted detrimental effects even in full-fat products, particularly yogurt and cheese.
All the health arguments against dairy are not only non-existent, but studies consistently show dairy improves every health marker claimed against it. It’s one of those food group that’s shown to be so overwhelmingly beneficial, it’s hilarious how much backlash dairy gets.
Dairy is also one of the most potent muscle builders with protein supplements made primarily from dairy.
However, non-supplement dairy sources are better thanks to having a combination of both whey and casein protein along with having unique whole food benefits. Whole milk in particular is especially powerful. Even when compared to a higher protein skim milk condition, whole milk better stimulates the muscle building process (22).
Furthermore, greek yogurt has been shown to increase bone formation in strength training individuals (23).
Dairy can also be great for weight loss as well. One systematic review found increased dairy consumption without a caloric deficit doesn’t produce significant body composition change (obvi), but including it during caloric restriction enhances fat loss, muscle retention, and lowers waist circumference (13).
We know that a caloric deficit is required for fat loss and the reason dairy helps you reach a deficit easier is due to appetite suppression (14).
Calcium seems to be a big player in all this as it helps regulate and suppress appetite (15,16). Milk supplementation has also been shown to even suppress the increasing appetite of prolonged weight loss (17).
That being said, whole food sources are best. One study found whole dairy caused almost double the fat loss and more fat loss from the belly area when compared to a group with an equal deficit and calcium intake from supplementation (24).
Protein is another big player, particularly the dairy protein whey. Protein is a known appetite suppressant while fat is notoriously energy dense (more calories for less volume), so it’s a no brainer the best dairy foods for fat loss/appetite suppression are higher protein and lower fat sources like Greek yogurt and whey protein (18,19,20).
Another study showed, when calories, protein, and energy density are equated, whey is still more appetite suppressing than tuna, liquid egg, and turkey (21). This indicates dairy protein gram for gram, might be more appetite suppressing than other animal sources.
There are a couple of reasons why some people still think dairy is fattening.
The first reason people is because the average person eats the most calorically dense sources that are low protein and high fat. Sources like butter, sour cream, creamers, and cream cheese are commonly consumed. These sources are calorically dense meaning they’re high in calories while not filling you up much, not to mention they’re usually paired with even higher calorie foods.
Furthermore, dairy is used in so many common high calorie food creations like pastries, pizza, fried foods, and ice cream, thus eliminating dairy generally causes weight loss if your diet originally involved a lot of junk to start with, which in most people’s cases they are.
This is why people wrongly blame dairy after seeing success from eliminating it. They think the dairy originally got them fat, when in reality, eliminating dairy just unknowingly forced them to eat more like an adult and not swallow down a cheesecake every other night.
But anyways, the science is clear. Higher protein options like milk, low fat cheese, cottage cheese, yogurt, and whey protein are beneficial for fat loss goals. A little butter for cooking and creamer for your coffee probably won’t hurt either as long as you’re mindful of portions.
So as you can see, dairy isn’t some evil food group you have to anxiously avoid.
Just like an other food, dairy is not absolutely necessary to consume, but it’s a great source of protein, calcium, vitamin D, and other nutrients on top of having a host of juicy benefits.
Here are some adorable bullet points to sum everything up:
If you’re lactose intolerant and feeling depressed that you can’t have dairy, keep your chin up. You’re not doomed forever. I’ll teach you how to manage lactose intolerance in the second part of this article, so stay tuned.
Bridge AD;Brown J;Snider H;Ward WE;Roy BD;Josse AR; “Consumption of Greek Yogurt During 12 Weeks of High-Impact Loading Exercise Increases Bone Formation in Young, Adult Males – A Secondary Analysis From a Randomized Trial.” Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism = Physiologie Appliquee, Nutrition Et Metabolisme, U.S. National Library of Medicine, pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31652407/.
Zemel, Michael B, et al. “Dairy-Rich Diets Augment Fat Loss on an Energy-Restricted Diet: a Multicenter Trial.” Nutrients, Molecular Diversity Preservation International, Jan. 2009, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3257590/.
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