Is Dairy a Healthful Option?
Although the earliest versions of ancestral or paleo diets did not include dairy, dairy is one of the healthiest foods we can eat, as long as you don’t have any intolerances.
Dairy is a relatively recent entrant into the human diet, yet much of the world is populated by those who can utilize it. The Indo-European expansion, which changed the genetic and cultural makeup of Europe and Central and South Asia, was led by a small group of foragers who had learned animal husbandry and could call on a steady source of calories and nutrients in the form of dairy. Most reading this have a significant portion of ancestry attributed to these dairy-eating former foragers.
Studies show that those who consume the most full-fat dairy have lower heart disease rates and live longer than those who do not. This holds true even across cultures and ethnicities with little to no tradition of dairy consumption. Studies also show that giving people access to dairy improves markers of bone health, increases bone density, and aids recovery from training. Senior citizens who eat dairy live the longest and remain the most vigorous. Kids who eat dairy grow the tallest.
A high-meat diet, one especially rich in heme iron from red meat, must also be rich in dairy to provide the calcium needed to buffer the potentially carcinogenic effects of heme in the colon. Studies show that colon cancer only occurs in the absence of calcium.
Dairy is much more than fluid milk. It includes cheese, yogurt, kefir, whey protein, cream, and butter. Even if you’re lactose intolerant, you can probably eat cheese and yogurt, especially the harder cheeses and yogurt made by bacteria that consume lactose and convert it into lactic acid.
Specific interventions with cheeses have shown that cheese is an anti-inflammatory food, despite being rich in saturated fat, animal protein, and salt. Classic cheeses like pecorino Romano actually lower markers of atherosclerosis and inflammation.
Fermented milk like yogurt and kefir has unique attributes and an entire literature of health effects supporting its consumption.
I fully support the inclusion of dairy if it fits your goals, if you can tolerate it, and if you enjoy it. The only caveat…Quality!!!!!
