What foods should you eliminate toreduce inflammation? You're not alone if dairy is the first thing that comes to mind, but does dairy cause inflammation? While a small percentage of the population benefits by avoiding dairy, research suggests that dairy products like yogurt may actually have an anti-inflammatory effect.
cauliflower soup with toppings
Pictured Recipe: Cauliflower Soup
So, what's the real story when it comes to dairy and inflammation? The quick answer is that it appears most people don't need to cut dairy out in order to improve health and reduce inflammation—at least not long-term. The longer answer is that there's not a lot of definitive research (good or bad) about dairy's effects on inflammation and overall health, and this gray area makes it easier for speculation and opinion to seem like fact. Here's what we know for sure about dairy and inflammation.
Related: 10 Ways to Reduce Inflammation
What We Know About Dairy & Inflammation
We dug into the research to see if dairy actually does cause inflammation. Here's what we found.
Dairy Has Anti-inflammatory Effects, but Be Mindful of Saturated Fat
Research suggests that saturated fats promote inflammation within the body. In fact, inflammation is considered to be the primary method by which heart disease and other chronic diseases develop. We get saturated fat from foods like meat, poultry, eggs and coconut oil, but also from higher-fat dairy products such as cheese, cream and whole milk.
Because of the inflammatory effects seen from saturated fat, higher-fat dairy products are considered inflammatory foods. Buta 2017 reviewpublished in Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition analyzing results from 52 human clinical trials looking at dairy and inflammation suggested that dairy appears to have a weak, yet statistically significant, anti-inflammatory effect in the body. And this effect was seen with full-fat dairy products as well.
What does this mean?Researchers aren't really sure. While saturated fat may not be as harmful and inflammatory as we once thought, that doesn't mean we're in the clear to eat loads of saturated fat-containing foods—especially people with type 2 diabetes or at an increased risk for heart disease. Until more is known, keep tabs on saturated fat, but feel free to work some cheese or milk into your diet.
Related: Healthy Cheese Recipes
Fermented Dairy Products May Reduce Inflammation
Improving gut health is an essential component ofreducing overall inflammationin the body, and regularly consuming a variety of good bacteria strains is one of the best ways to do this. Good bacteria, or probiotics, have many health benefits, including improving immune function and making the intestinal gut lining stronger and less permeable. This, in turn, means fewer irritants such as toxins, chemicals and other compounds are able to cross the gut lining and get into the body to trigger inflammation.
Fermented foods are primary sources of probiotics, including fermented dairy products like yogurt and kefir. Research published in2017in Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition andin 2018in The Journal of Nutrition suggests that regularly consuming fermented dairy may reduce or minimize inflammation by improving gut health. It is important to note the dairy industry may be behind the studies–both studies appear to be funded by the National Dairy Council.
What does this mean?Eating dairy products like yogurt with active, live bacteria cultures may help strengthen gut health to reduce inflammation.
Milk Allergies vs. Lactose Intolerance
As mentioned above, there's a small segment of the population thatdoesneed to eliminate most dairy foods—and that's people with a milk allergy: they're allergic to casein, a protein in dairy. For these individuals, milk consumption or consuming milk-based products triggers a direct inflammatory response from the immune system, the effects of which can be mild to life-threatening.
Lactose intoleranceis completely different, as it's not life-threatening or inflammation-based. Individuals with lactose intolerance lack the enzyme required to break down lactose, the natural sugar found in milk, so when they drink a glass of milk, the result is usually mild to moderate gastrointestinal symptoms like gas, bloating or diarrhea. But this is caused by the undigested sugars, not by any inflammation that dairy triggered. Typically, lactose-intolerant individuals opt to cut dairy consumption back greatly, but many can still consume small amounts of dairy or certain dairy products with no problem.
What does this mean?Even when the reaction is mild, consuming milk and foods containing milk will trigger an inflammatory immune response in people with a milk allergy. However, inflammation isn't the cause of lactose intolerance, so avoiding dairy may minimize symptoms but does little in regard to inflammation.
Dairy Sensitivities May Be Caused by Inflammation
A more controversial area of debate is dairy sensitivity, largely because food sensitivity is difficult to identify accurately. Food sensitivities aren't life-threatening and don't trigger a direct immune response as an allergen does, but many functional medicine practitioners and dietitians think food sensitivities are worth paying attention to from an inflammatory standpoint.
The reason is that existing low-grade inflammation appears to make some individuals hypersensitive or more susceptible to irritation from foods that normally wouldn't bother them. Anelimination dietwhere dairy intake is temporarily eliminated for several weeks (along with several other foods) is considered the best way to diagnose a sensitivity. When you slowly add those foods back, you watch for signs of irritation or inflammation to see if the body appears sensitive to a particular food.
What does this mean?Inflammation may cause the body to be hypersensitive to foods such as dairy, so it can be beneficial to temporarily eliminate it, with help from a dietitian or physician. Once the body has calmed down, slowly add it back and watch for reactions. You may find you have a dairy sensitivity or that you can consume dairy just fine now that the body has calmed down and isn't hypersensitive.
The Bottom Line
Unless you have a milk allergy, research suggests that dairy is not the root cause of low-grade inflammation in the body. In fact, consuming foods like yogurt may actually help toreduceinflammation. But, you may want to try temporarily cutting out both dairy and gluten for a few weeks if you have existing inflammation or irritations in the body. Focus on whole, minimally processed foods, de-stress and allow your body to calm down. Then, try adding dairy back to your diet. You may find that dairy isn't an issue when your body is in a healthy place.
