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Dairy allergies and intolerances have been linked to many other health problems, including behavioural problems like ADHD and to dangerous cancers like colon cancer. Excessive dairy in the diet has even been linked to Parkinson's disease. There are a handful of studies suggesting Autism may be linked to dairy in the diet. I read a study that said reducing dairy consumption was important for treating Diabetes (but also several studies saying dairy can help prevent diabetes). I have the personal experience to say that dairy can be linked to allergies, asthma, and chronic sinusitis.
All that said: Am I anti-dairy? No. And neither should you be. For every study finding links between dairy intake and some negative health effect, you will find a study linking dairy to a positive health effect. Dairy in the diet can lower blood pressure. The calcium promotes strong bones and teeth. Cows milk is an excellent source of protein to promote muscle growth. Low fat dairy may reduce the risk of diabetes in women and may decrease the risk of metabolic syndrome in both men and women. Dairy foods may in fact even reduce the possibility of wieght gain and obesity.
If you have been diagnosed with a health problem that is linked to dairy, then you should absolutely avoid dairy products. If you have a family history of diseases that have been linked to dairy, then perhaps you should consider eliminating dairy products from your diet. However, dairy products are indeed part of a healthy diet for the average person. Even though milk might be bad for some people (like me), I do not beleive it is bad for everyone.
If you need to eliminate dairy from your diet, do so wisely. Visit with your doctor and have your M.D. refer you to a nutritionist. Many of the positive things in milk can be replaced with other foods. It isn't always easy, though. You can read every web page on the topic and you can buy every cookbook... No matter how informed you become nor how well equipped wtih recipes etc, it isn't a simple matter to create a healthy diet for you and your family. Professional nutritionists are worth their weight in gold.
If you have no specific need to remove cows milk from your diet, then don't. I've read a few thousand web pages and several hundred books. I've found the anti-dairy crowd to have motives that are either emotionally or politically charged. You'll find anti-dairy literature that was written because some dairy-linked disease touched the life of the author. You'll find anti-dairy rhetoric written by people who beleive that cows are bad for the environment. You'll find animal rights activists writing negativley about the dairy industry and generating propoganda about the negative health aspects of cows milk. You might even find a link or two right here on this site to other sites that are written by people with ulterior motives.
I will say this, however: I think that modern society is careless with our food supply. Milk from cows exposed to pesticides, or given sterioids, or treated with antibiodics may well be a problem. Furthermore, it seems counter-intuitive to feed herbavours animal proteins as suppliment to their diet... But along with that, our food industry is also genetically engineering plants and using dangerous chemicals for pest control and refined chemical fertilizers to grow "better" wheat, oats, soybeans etc etc etc. I worry about all of those things.
My final words on this matter: You can read information from hundreds of thousands of sources. You can have whatever political ideas involving the dairy industry you want. You might need to eliminate dairy from your diet or maybe you just want to. I can tell you all day long how to substitute ingredients and modify recipes to eliminate dairy. There is no substitute for a healthy, well balanced diet coupled with regular exercise. Talk to your doctor. Visit a nutritionist no matter your reasons for eliminating dairy.
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