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Is Dairy Scary?
Plus: statins may lower your cholesterol... at a price
The 10almonds Team
March 24, 2023
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⏰ IN A RUSH?
Today’s Key Learnings:
Flying by? Here are some key take-away facts from today’s newsletter:
Some supplements you’re taking may interfere with each other! For example, magnesium and calcium are best taken at opposite ends of the day, lest they compete for absorption.
Not all multivitamins are created equal. Whole food sources of nutrients are best!
Moderate consumption of dairy products is almost certainly fine
More specifically: it probably has some (small) pros and some (small) cons
Yogurt is almost certainly healthier than other dairy products, and is almost universally considered a healthy food (assuming not being full of added sugar etc, of course)
If you’re going to have non-dairy alternatives to milk, choose wisely!
Statins may lower your cholesterol… But taking them may mask (or cause!) other problems.
Read on to learn more…
👀 WATCH AND LEARN
Are These Supplements Unhealthy?
Do you ever wonder how carefully we check the things we share with you? Well, while we can’t promise to never make a mistake, we certainly do our best. Take this for example:
The title here is a little misleading! She’s not saying that they’re actually unhealthy. Rather, she’s saying you need to take care about how and when you take them, as taking them could be counterproductive otherwise:
❝In this video, Dr. Janine shares three supplements you thought were healthy but aren’t. She talks about how taking vitamin D and vitamin K in the same supplement is not healthy. Yes, they should be taken in the same 24-hour period but not in the same supplement. She looks at how calcium and magnesium should not be taken in the same supplement as they fight for absorption in the cells. Lastly, Dr. Janine explains why synthetically made multivitamins are not healthy and should be avoided. She recommends looking for whole-food supplements made without fillers or flow agents like magnesium stearate❞
Further to that:
She does suggest for example that magnesium should be taken in the morning, calcium in the evening.
Most popular advice says the contrary—especially if you’re taking magnesium for restful sleep.
She doesn’t actually explain why synthetically made multivitamins are nor healthy, but rather says that there is a correlation between their consumption and cancer.
It is reasonable that whole-food supplements may be better, but whether cheap supplements are better or worse than no supplements is far from a closed case.
Timestamp Menu:
Links to supplements mentioned in this video
Enjoy!
🥛 MAIN FEATURE
Is Dairy Scary?
Is Dairy Scary?
Milk and milk products are popularly enjoyed as a good source of calcium and vitamin D.
In contrast, critics of dairy products (for medical reasons, rather than ethical, which is another matter entirely and beyond the scope of this article) point to risks of cancer, heart disease, and—counterintuitively—osteoporosis. We’ll focus more on the former, but touch on the latter two before closing.
Dairy & Cancer
Evidence is highly conflicting. There are so many studies with so many different results. This is partially explicable by noting that not only is cancer a many-headed beast that comes in more than a hundred different forms and all or any of them may be affected one way or another by a given dietary element, but also… Not all milk is created equal, either!
Joanna Lampe, of the Public Health Sciences division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, writes:
❝Dairy products are a complex group of foods and composition varies by region, which makes evaluation of their association with disease risk difficult. For most cancers, associations between cancer risk and intake of milk and dairy products have been examined only in a small number of cohort studies, and data are inconsistent or lacking❞
In her systematic review of studies, she noted, for example, that:
Milk and dairy products contain micronutrients and several bioactive constituents that may influence cancer risk and progression
There's probable association between milk intake and lower risk of colorectal cancer
There's a probable association between diets high in calcium and increased risk of prostate cancer
Some studies show an inverse association between intake of cultured dairy products and bladder cancer (i.e., if you eat yogurt you're less likely to get bladder cancer)
Since that systemic review was undertaken, more research has been conducted, and the results are… Not conclusive, but converging towards a conclusion:
Dairy products can increase or decrease cancer risk
The increase in cancer risk seems strongest when milk is consumed in quantities that result in too much calcium. When it comes to calcium, you can absolutely have too much of a good thing—just ask your arteries!
The decrease in cancer seems to be mostly, if not exclusively, from fermented dairy products. This usually means yogurts. The benefit here is not from the milk itself, but rather from the gut-friendly bacteria.
You may be wondering: “Hardened arteries, gut microbiome health? I thought we were talking about cancer?” and yes we are. No part of your health is an island unrelated to other parts of your health. One thing can lead to another. Sometimes we know how and why, sometimes we don’t, but it’s best to not ignore the data.
Consuming dairy products in general is probably fine
Yogurt, specifically, is probably beneficial
Dairy and Heart Disease
The reason for the concern is clear enough: it’s largely assumed to be a matter of saturated fat intake.
The best combination of “large” and “recent” that we found was a three-cohort longitudinal study in 2019, which pretty much confirms what was found in smaller or less recent studies:
There is some evidence to suggest that consumption of dairy can increase all-cause mortality in general, and death from (cancer and) cardiovascular disease in particular
The evidence is not, however, overwhelming. It is marginal.
Dairy and Osteoporosis
Does dairy cause osteoporosis? Research here tends to fall into one of two categories when it comes to conclusions, so we’ll give an example of each:
“Results are conflicting, saying yes/no/maybe, and basically we just don’t know”
“Results are conflicting, but look: cross-sectional and case-control studies say yes; cohort studies say maybe or no; we prefer the cohort studies”
See them for yourself:
Conclusion: really, the jury is very much still out on this one
Summary:
Moderate consumption of dairy products is almost certainly fine
More specifically: it probably has some (small) pros and some (small) cons
Yogurt is almost certainly healthier than other dairy products, and is almost universally considered a healthy food (assuming not being full of added sugar etc, of course)
If you’re going to have non-dairy alternatives to milk, choose wisely!
That’s all we have time for today, but perhaps in a future edition we’ll do a run-down of the pros and cons of various dairy alternatives!
📖 ONE-MINUTE BOOK REVIEW
The Truth About Statins - by Barbara H. Roberts, M.D.
All too often, doctors looking to dispense a "quick fix" will prescribe from their playbook of a dozen or so "this will get you out of my office" drugs. Most commonly, things that treat symptoms rather than the cause. Sometimes, this can be fine! For example, in some cases, painkillers and antidepressants can make a big improvement to people's lives. What about statins, though?
Prescribed to lower cholesterol, they broadly do exactly that. However…
Dr. Roberts wants us to know that we could be missing the big picture of heart health, and making a potentially fatal mistake.
This is not to say that the book argues that statins are necessarily terrible, or that they don't have their place. Just, we need to understand what they will and won't do, and make an informed choice.
To which end, she does advise regards when statins can help the most, and when they may not help at all. She also covers the questions to ask if your doctor wants to prescribe them. And—all so frequently overlooked—the important differences between men's and women's heart health, and the implications these have for the efficacy (or not) of statins.
With regard to the "alternatives to cholesterol-lowering drugs" promised in the subtitle... we won't keep any secrets here:
Dr. Roberts (uncontroversially) recommends the Mediterranean diet. She also provides two weeks' worth of recipes for such, in the final part of the book.
All in all, an important book to read if you or a loved one are taking, or thinking of taking, statins.
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Wishing you strength and health,
The 10almonds Team