eliminating dairy products

[nhockaday]

I got this email from the IAHP a few weeks ago, and I was wondering what everyone else thought about it. Would you try eliminating dairy from your child's diet? I must say that I absolutely love cheese, yogurt, and ice cream. I do not drink milk though. I cannot imagine my life without the dairy products that I like.

Why Dairy Products are Harmful to Your Child
Children's health often improves dramatically when dairy is eliminated

Some of our favorite "comfort foods" turn out to be very uncomfortable for the human body. When mothers come to us for nutritional help, the first thing we do is eliminate all dairy products. This rarely makes us popular, but once mother sees the improvement in her children's health she becomes a strong advocate of a dairy-free nutritional program.
 
Why are dairy products such a problem for the human body?
 
Dairy products are derived from cow's milk, which is a highly specialized baby formula designed for baby cows but not for baby human beings (or adults). It contains special hormones for baby cows that are not good for humans, which is why even "organic milk" is not good for your child. 
 
Cow's milk that is not "organic" contains antibiotics and growth hormones to increase milk production. These are especially bad for very young human beings whose immune systems can be fragile.
 
Cow's milk contains casein. This may react with the opiate receptors in the temporal lobes of the brain, which are involved with speech and auditory integration. This reaction can mimic the effect of opiate drugs and can negatively impact speech and auditory integration. It is worth noting that the peptide from milk is called casomorphin.
 
Initially, mothers are afraid to stop dairy products, but they soon discover that noses stop running, chronic ear infections disappear, and those black circles under their children's eyes go away. The trips to the doctor decrease and appetite, sleep, and behavior often improve. For some children, understanding and language improve as well.

Here is a challenge: Put a dot on your calendar today and another one exactly six weeks from now.

Eliminate all dairy products starting today, and when you come to that second dot six weeks from now, ask yourself what changed. If there are clear changes for the better, you have your answer.
 
You will have taken the first step in creating a much better nutritional program for your child. Keep it up, and let us know how you are doing.

[DomanMom]

I got this too and am not totally sure what to think about it - although since I read it I have way cut-down on Hunter's dairy. He used to eat cheese all the time (cheese sticks were his favorite food and he sometimes would eat several a day). I've also stopped giving him much milk (eat oatmeal and eggs and stuff for breakfast instead of cereal and milk and don't serve milk as a beverage anymore). But I can't say that I've totally eliminated dairy from his diet - there's dairy products in a lot of the foods we eat.

And although, like I said, I'm "not totally sure what to think about it", I know it can't hurt to cut down on the dairy and would really like to try their experiment (going without for six weeks and seeing any changes). He does have dark circles under his eyes and although he's a happy, healthy little boy, I know there's room for improvement in his diet. And I know that the IAHP is very knowledgeable and have done so many amazing things with brain-injured children, and a huge part of their program with them is nutrition. I have heard many times of things like autism and ADHD improving drastically just by changing the child's diet. It makes sense as, it is literally true that, "We are what we eat". Looking forward to everyone else's thoughts on this.

[kmum]

I have heard quite often that milk products are not healthy.

One thing to keep in mind when avoiding dairy is that it is in many different foods so you will have to read labels carefully to completely avoid it.  Some things that contain milk are very surprising - some brands of french fries, salad dressings & even prescription drugs.

Dairy products are also listed under different names such as whey, curds, milk products etc.

If you are looking for a milk alternative please do some research if you are considering soy.  I googled the words soy & health & the results were scary!

Thanks for bringing up this subject.

[winth]

Both my boys are dairy-free, at least until they reach toddler stage.
Both are on soy milk.

It does seem to be different as both had very little visits to the doctors, except for some virus-caused flu or fever. They have good physics too.

Had tried to switch my older boy to dairy milk powder when he was about 2.5 and he ended up having diarrhea and his stool grew very smelly and darker (in colour). We had to make the switch straightaway and his diarrhea episode ended almost instantly.

In comparison, their cousins who had dairy diet since birth went on (literally) weekly visits to the doctors. Their complaints were usually weak tummies and high fevers. Their parents spent hundreds of dollars on medical bills on the girls. Both grew up quite frail and pale (might be genetic too).

My 18 month old is almost as tall as their 30 month old girl. No joke!

My doctor had discouraged me from having dairy products too as he said it's the cause for my 'very persistent' head-aches and weak tummy. After reducing my dairy dosage (though not completely), my headaches do come on less often! 

[winth]

If you are looking for a milk alternative please do some research if you are considering soy.  I googled the words soy & health & the results were scary!

I have read emails before on soy products too and it is not encouraged to completely turn to soy products as there had been cases in China where a woman switched to soy drink and soy-only food in her diet. She developed a medical condition where lumps start to grow in her body (everywhere) - mostly cancerous. It was found that such coagulation had been a result of over-dosage in soy products. It does scare the hell out of me as both my boys are on soy milk.

Luckily, they seem okay, as of now, and I'm quickly introducing them other solid foods and weaning them off their milk.

Attached is an article of why soy beans are poisonous. Fyi.

[nohayo]

hmmm this is very strange this is the first time i hear about eliminating diary products completely for everyone...I know some people are intolerant for it, some get colon discomforts, but there are other benefits to them as well, aren't there?

I actually just read a study, i don't remember where now, about how eating dairy products 3 times a day is optimum for your health!

Also my doctor keeps stressing how important it is for me to eat yogurt for my bones

Now this is all for adults, not children, but I understood that that email was talking about both, right?

hmmm I don't know what to believe 

Talk about mixed messages !

[kmum]

Winth - thanks for the link - that was interesting.

I was talking about other effects though. 

I'm in a rush this morning, so don't have more time to find the link I was looking for, but this one has quite a bit of info.

http://www.healingcrow.com/soy/soy.html

Soy can have an affect on thyroid, increase cancer risk, & may be of more concern to infant boys because of the phytoesrogens (female hormones).

The National Institutes of health is even doing a study on soy formula which will follow children into their child bearing years.

[nhockaday]

hmmm this is very strange this is the first time i hear about eliminating diary products completely for everyone...I know some people are intolerant for it, some get colon discomforts, but there are other benefits to them as well, aren't there?

I actually just read a study, i don't remember where now, about how eating dairy products 3 times a day is optimum for your health!

Also my doctor keeps stressing how important it is for me to eat yogurt for my bones

Now this is all for adults, not children, but I understood that that email was talking about both, right?

hmmm I don't know what to believe 

Talk about mixed messages !

The only benefit that dairy has is vitamin D and calcium, both of which you can take in pill form. Adults are really supposed to stay away from any dairy unless it is fat free (skim) because the fats in dairy are too much for adults.

Oh, and the enzymes in yogurt are very beneficial, but you can also take those in pill form.

[Jake]

I  am  not giving my grandson fresh milk .From blood tests it result that he has lactose intollerance of cow's milk {local}.I have noticed that his stool is better he is not having diarrhea any more. He likes to drink tea and hot stuffs ,what do you do instead of milk? .The doctor told me to give him goat's or sheep's milk .Is it good then to give powder milk for a boy who is 5??At the moment I'm giving him long life milk and he has improved a lot.......

[kmum]

Jake - What is long life milk? I have not heard of this before.  Powdered milk usually still has lactose in it.  I know that goats milk is lower in lactose, & the proteins are more digestable for some people who are lactose intolerant but not always.  I think it is probably better but not ideal.

You can get calcium from food sources such as brocoli, almonds & turnip greens or by supplement.

[tatianna]

first off i totally agree with the IAHP about pasteurized milk it is bad for you
but raw milk is a very different story please think twice before you swear of milk for you kids

raw milk

Clean raw milk from pastured cows is a complete and properly balanced food. You could live on it exclusively if you had to. Indeed, published accounts exist of people who have done just that. What's in it that makes it so great? Let's look at the ingredients to see what makes it such a powerful food.

Proteins

Our bodies use amino acids as building blocks for protein. Depending on who you ask, we need 20-22 of them for this task. Eight of them are considered essential, in that we have to get them from our food. The remaining 12-14 we can make from the first eight in the chemical factories of our bodies.

Raw cow's milk has all 20 of the standard amino acids, saving our bodies the work of having to convert any into usable form. About 80% of the proteins in milk are caseins- reasonably heat stable but easy to digest. The remaining 20% or so fall into the class of whey proteins, many of which have important physiological effects (bioactivity). Also easy to digest, but very heat sensitive, these include key enzymes (specialized proteins) and enzyme inhibitors, immunoglobulins (antibodies), metal-binding proteins, vitamin binding proteins and several growth factors.

Current research is now focusing on fragments of protein (peptide segments) hidden in casein molecules that exhibit anti-microbial activity.

Lactoferrin, an iron-binding protein, has numerous beneficial properties including (as you might guess) improved absorption and assimilation of iron, anti-cancer properties and anti-microbial action against several species of bacteria responsible for dental cavities. Recent studies also reveal that it has powerful antiviral properties as well.

Two other players in raw milk's antibiotic protein/enzyme arsenal are lysozyme and lactoperoxidase. Lysozyme can actually break apart cell walls of certain undesirable bacteria, while lactoperoxidase teams up with other substances to help knock out unwanted microbes too.

The immunoglobulins, an extremely complex class of milk proteins also known as antibodies, provide resistance to many viruses, bacteria and bacterial toxins and may help reduce the severity of asthma symptoms. Studies have shown significant loss of these important disease fighters when milk is heated to normal processing temperatures.
 
Carbohydrates

Lactose, or milk sugar, is the primary carbohydrate in cow's milk. Made from one molecule each of the simple sugars glucose and galactose, it's known as a disaccharide. People with lactose intolerance for one reason or another (age, genetics, etc.), no longer make the enzyme lactase and so can't digest milk sugar. This leads to some unsavory symptoms, which, needless to say, the victims find rather unpleasant at best. Raw milk, with its lactose-digesting Lactobacilli bacteria intact, may allow people who traditionally have avoided milk to give it another try.

The end-result of lactose digestion is a substance called lactic acid (responsible for the sour taste in fermented dairy products). Besides having known inhibitory effects on harmful species of bacteria, lactic acid boosts the absorption of calcium, phosphorus and iron, and has been shown to make milk proteins more digestible by knocking them out of solution as fine curd particles.

Fats

Approximately two thirds of the fat in milk is saturated. Good or bad for you? Saturated fats play a number of key roles in our bodies: from construction of cell membranes and key hormones to providing energy storage and padding for delicate organs, to serving as a vehicle for important fat-soluble vitamins (see below).

All fats cause our stomach lining to secrete a hormone (cholecystokinin or CCK) which, aside from boosting production and secretion of digestive enzymes, let's us know we've eaten enough. With that trigger removed, non-fat dairy products and other fat-free foods can potentially help contribute to over-eating.

Consider that, for thousands of years before the introduction of the hydrogenation process (pumping hydrogen gas through oils to make them solids) and the use of canola oil (from genetically modified rapeseed), corn, cottonseed, safflower and soy oils, dietary fats were largely saturated and often animal based. Healthy cultures all over the world thrived on the use of butter, lard, tallows, poultry fats, fish oils, tropical oils such as coconut and palm, and cold pressed olive oil.

Now consider that prior to 1900, very few people died from heart disease. The introduction of hydrogenated cottonseed oil in 1911 (as Crisco) helped begin the move away from healthy animal fats, and toward the slow, downward trend in cardiovascular health from which millions continue to suffer today.

CLA, short for conjugated linoleic acid and abundant in milk from grass-fed cows, is a heavily studied, polyunsaturated Omega-6 fatty acid with promising health benefits. It certainly does wonders for rodents, judging by the hundreds of journal articles I've come across! There's serious money behind CLA, so it's a sure bet there's something to it.
Blue sky and cow on grass Among CLA's many potential benefits: it raises metabolic rate, helps remove abdominal fat, boosts muscle growth, reduces resistance to insulin, strengthens the immune system and lowers food allergy reactions. As luck would have it, grass-fed raw milk has from 3-5 times the amount found in the milk from feed lot cows.

Vitamins

Volumes have been written about the two groups of vitamins, water and fat soluble, and their contribution to health. Whole raw milk has them all, and they're completely available for your body to use. Whether regulating your metabolism or helping the biochemical reactions that free energy from the food you eat, they're all present and ready to go to work for you.

Just to repeat, nothing needs to be added to raw milk, especially that from grass-fed cows, to make it whole or better. No vitamins. No minerals. No enriching. It's a complete food.

Minerals

Our bodies, each with a biochemistry as unique as our fingerprints, are incredibly complex, so discussions of minerals, or any nutrients for that matter, must deal with ranges rather than specific amounts. Raw milk contains a broad selection of completely available minerals ranging from the familiar calcium and phosphorus on down to trace elements, the function of some as yet still rather unclear.

A sampling of the health benefits of calcium, a 'macronutrient' abundant in raw milk includes: reduction in cancers, particularly of the colon; higher bone mineral density in people of every age, lower risk of osteoporosis and fractures in older adults; lowered risk of kidney stones; formation of strong teeth and reduction of dental cavities, to name a few.

An interesting feature of minerals as nutrients is the delicate balance they require with other minerals to function properly. For instance, calcium needs a proper ratio of two other macronutrients, phosphorus and magnesium, to be properly utilized by our bodies. Guess what? Nature codes for the entire array of minerals in raw milk to be in proper balance to one another thus optimizing their benefit to us.

Enzymes

The 60 plus (known) fully intact and functional enzymes in raw milk have an amazing array of tasks to perform, each one of them essential for one key task or another. Some of them are native to milk, and others come from beneficial bacteria growing in the milk. Just keeping track of them would require a post-doctoral degree!

To me, the most significant health benefit derived from food enzymes is the burden they take off our body. When we eat a food that contains enzymes devoted to its own digestion, it's that much less work for our pancreas. Given the choice, I'll bet that busy organ would rather occupy itself with making metabolic enzymes, letting food digest itself.

The amylase, bacterially-produced lactase, lipase and phosphatase in raw milk, break down starch, lactose (milk sugar), fat (triglycerides) and phosphate compounds respectively, making milk more digestible and freeing up key minerals. Other enzymes, like catalase, lysozyme and lactoperoxidase help to protect milk from unwanted bacterial infection, making it safer for us to drink.

Cholesterol

Milk contains about 3mg of cholesterol per gram - a decent amount. Our bodies make most of what we need, that amount fluctuating by what we get from our food. Eat more, make less. Either way, we need it. Why not let raw milk be one source?

Cholesterol is a protective/repair substance. A waxy plant steroid (often lumped in with the fats), our body uses it as a form of water-proofing, and as a building block for a number of key hormones.

It's natural, normal and essential to find it in our brain, liver, nerves, blood, bile, indeed, every cell membrane.

for more information you can look up raw milk on the internet
or look up Weston A. Price 

[nhockaday]

Yeah, but is it safe for children to drink like that?

[kmum]

I do use raw milk on occasion, I get it from a friend who gives me some when she has extra.  Her cow is very healthy, & she is very careful when washing & milking the cow to make sure it is safe.  I don't think I would use raw milk from just anyone. 

I think it is a personal choice to drink raw milk, but I honestly think if proper sanitation is used it is healthier than pasteurized milk & the case of my friends cow it has not been given any chemicals which is probably not the case with a commercial herd of cows.

Because raw milk can not be legally sold it is not easily accessible, so most people will not be able to have this option.

[savvyjul]

my daughter has an allergic reaction if she consumes too much dairy (rash around mouth)
I have found the only milk I can give her is milk Whey in australia there is a site wheylite.com.au (available from woolworths also) have also ordered another brand think it's made in new zealand from brighterlife.com.au.
Whey is pretty much a break down of the milk with the majority of allergens taken out haven't had a problem giving her this at all. She hated rice milk can't blame her I didn't like the taste either, Will not touch soy have read sooo many bad things and feel terrible that I used to give it to her when she was younger hopefully didn't do any damage.
Hope this is a help to anyone out there needing a safe alternative.

[winth]

Hi there, sheep milk sounds like the next big thing.
The only thing is the smell and taste.

Actually I have been told by the doctor (who discouraged me from diary products) is that milk will actually reduce your calcium level in your bones, it's quite different from what research papers say. He recommended us to take pure calcium pills or from fresh foods like spinach rather than get calcium from milk powder.

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