Stopping dairy can improve period problems, but not every time. It depends on the person, and it depends on the type of dairy.  It is known though that avoiding dairy can dramatically improve period pain, heavy periods, endometriosis, acne, and PMS. In a number of studies, dairy has been shown to increase infertility when consuming the low fat variety.

The 7 ways dairy is hurting your hormones

1. A1 casein dairy creates inflammation in the intestinal tract (for some people), which can hinder the balance of hormones and contribute to infertility, estrogen dominance, lowered testosterone.
2. Dairy can throw off your body’s own estrogen production by introducing artificial growth hormones.
3. Consumption of dairy can decrease progesterone, increase estrogens resulting in down regulation of lactose enzymes leading to intolerances.
4. Dairy containing antibiotics will negatively impact your microbiome thereby preventing estrogen metabolism.
5. Dairy depletes your magnesium stores which throws off your pituitary and the rest of the adrenal glands.
6. Dairy is mucous forming and a major cause of inflammation and allergies.
7. Dairy fat puts extra strain on liver and it’s this fat hat helps to breed viruses and bacteri

The biggest problem is a protein called A1 casein. In some people, A1 casein cleaves in the digestive tract to form a potent opiate-type molecule (called casomorphin or BCM7) that stimulates the production of inflammatory cytokines. These cytokines are responsible for immune function.

A1 casein is not inflammatory for everyone, typically you can tell is someone has a casein problem, by knowing typical childhood symptoms such as: recurring tonsillitis, chest or ear infections.  Those conditions were a sign of casein immune-disruption in childhood, and they manifest in adults as chronic inflammatory conditions such as period problems.

Consider avoiding dairy if you suffer from one or more of following period problems:

• Period pain
• Heavy periods (especially in teenagers)
• Fibroids
• Endometriosis
• Acne
• PMS
• Infertility
• Any inflammatory or auto-immune condition

But I Love Dairy – what can I have instead?

There is very little A1 casein in the milk from Jersey cows, goats, and sheep. Also there is very little A1 casein in heavy cream, butter, or ricotta (a whey cheese)—so those foods are usually Ok. However you really should test this out by avoiding for a minimum of 4 weeks then re-introducing to gauge your bodies reaction. A troublesome period with a re-introduction, means all dairy should be avoided.

But what about my bone health?

A recent large meta-analysis shows that milk-drinkers do not have better bones. In fact, some research shows that milk-drinkers may actually have worse bones. That makes sense when we consider that dairy is inflammatory, and that inflammation is a major cause of osteoporosis.

There are plenty of other sources of calcium including green vegetables, almonds, salmon with bones, and of course dairy such as Goat and sheep products.

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If you’re still getting issues with removal of dairy, how you considered also removing Gluten? See my post on “Why Gluten Impacts Your Health“, in my experience removing both of them together has the best results.