July 11, 2016

Dairy consumption in the 1 year old and on group. After my most recent post on dairy interactions, I have received some requests for further information on dairy consumption in older toddlers who have no intolerance history.

If your child has never suffered from colic, eczema, reflux, constipation, allergic reactions or anemia related to dairy consumption, then it is ok to consume dairy as a part of healthy balanced diet. I do not favor high volumes of milk, cheese and yogurt daily. I think that a small glass of organic milk a day has not been proven to have a negative effect for many people that are not sensitized. There is little benefit that I can find to consuming more than that, however, there are two camps out there. Those that believe that it will help your bones and those that do not.

I fall into the "not" category as there are studies showing that people who consume little dairy but lots of calcium containing vegetables have much better bone health than western cultures that consume large volumes of dairy. The better bone health is likely multifactorial in that these cultures also consume less animal protein overall which can reduce the leak of calcium in the urine.

High quality cheeses and kefir style yogurts randomly are likely also healthy for a young child.

I think of it as a volume issue. A little dairy every day as really good cheese or kefir seems fine. After that, I am not sufficiently convinced to recommend it for those that are not sensitive.

Dr. M