Are dairy products "natural" for us?

Where did it all begin?

The history of milk consumption by humans isn’t actually that long. About 10,000 years ago,archaeologists say, since then our ancestors began domesticating the “horned-hoofed” animals, realizing that this is not only “raw power” and valuable fur, but also tasty milk.

However, for an adult body, consuming milk is not a simple matter. After all, milk contains milk sugar — lactose, and to break it down and absorb it you need to produce the enzyme lactase. Otherwise the sugar cannot be absorbed in the small intestine, and our microbes will take over, producing a lot of carbon dioxide (and more) gas, which will make life a bit uncomfortable.

Lactase is produced in early life in all mammals, but its activity often decreases with age. However — not in everyone.

Genetic studies indicate that a beneficial mutation, which gave many of us a wonderful opportunity in adulthood to comfortably consume milk, arose right around the same period as the domestication of goats and cows.

This immediately provided a bunch of survival bonuses — for the inhabitants of Northern Europe — an additional source of vitamin D, which was scarce due to climate conditions, and for the inhabitants of Africa — an additional source of calories.

Our possibilities today

Today, in different regions there is a very colorful picture of lactose tolerance. Lactose intolerance is characteristic for more than 90% of people in North America and China, whereas, for example, in northern Europe, including Denmark and the United Kingdom, such people are few — 1-15%. In total, about 75% of the planet’s population has trouble digesting lactose.

Therefore, about the “naturalness” of such food for us can be argued. For some it is natural, for others not so much. Some can digest it, others find it harder.

However, if you approach the question of “naturalness” rigorously, many of our products are far from “natural” :). But this topic will probably be the subject of a separate post (or, perhaps, someone will ahead of us — we’d be happy to read it :))

... So if you are a happy lactase producer — feel free to drink milk and dairy products.

One more glance at the last point — how much is recommended to drink?

And if you are a proud representative of the majority, there is nothing scary about that! Here is your view — lactose-free products, including lactose-free milk. By the way, nothing in common with caffeine-free coffee or alcohol-free beer — in taste you won’t discern it — only a little more expensive. Also remember that the highest lactose content is in milk, and in fermented dairy products it is much less.

Another good news — experts from the American National Institutes of Health (the same organization that initiated the world-famous “Microbiome” project HMP) say that if you consume no more than 12 g of lactose per one meal (which is about 1 cup of milk, or 2 cups of yogurt), the symptoms of lactose intolerance will be minimal or not observed. But you should carefully monitor your diet, because lactose isn’t present only in milk; it is also a popular food additive and appears in sausages, pâtés, bread, chips, chocolate bars, and even beer!

Moreover, there is a view that our gut microbiota can negotiate a bit on this issue as well — if you regularly feed it a small amount of lactose-containing products (and preferably these should be fermented products containing living Lactobacilli and Bifidobacteria, because they, harmlessly for our well-being and reputation, can eat lactose with minimal gas production). Therefore, it makes sense to consume dairy products often, but in moderate amounts — and not avoid them altogether, and then suddenly stuff yourself with cakes with condensed milk.

And now about the important thing — how much?

We know well that dairy products are a good source of protein and calcium (we can’t resist dispelling a popular myth — in curd cheese or in cottage cheese, unlike all other dairy products, there is not much calcium — it remains in the whey during cheese production).

But we should also not forget that dairy products contain saturated fats, cholesterol, and hormones (no, this is not so scary — the meat we eat also contains them).

Thus, dairy products can and should be consumed, but they should not be the basis of the diet!

In the so-called food pyramid, which was one of the main guidelines in nutrition until 2011, dairy products together with meat products occupy the third — before the last rung. The quantitative interpretation sounds like 2-3 servings per day (a serving, or a cup, which, in this case, are equivalent to about 240 ml for liquid products, or 40 g for hard cheese). In the recommendations MyPlate, which replaced the pyramid, dairy products are not included in the main diet at all, and are depicted on the diagram as an additional circle, interpreted as “a glass of skimmed milk or yogurt.” In expanded recommendations, it looks quantitatively the same — up to 3 servings per day.

The Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (USDA) in its scientific report for 2015 emphasizes that “we should be moderate in consuming dairy products and avoid high-fat dairy products.” It also emphasizes that “for the health of people and the well-being of the environment, plant-based foods should form the basis of the human diet.”

In Ukrainian dietary recommendations, which came into force at the end of 2017, it is recommended to consume 2-3 servings of dairy and fermented dairy products daily.

OUR COMMENT: undoubtedly — these recommendations are very generalized. People have different weight and height, activity, and metabolism. Therefore, the presented data should be treated as a guide, not a strict protocol. And, of course, move more and smile more :)