Should my daughter go dairy free?

[chuffinalong]

Hi, my 12 year old daughter is 5 foot 6 and is over weight by about 1 stone. She also gets spots and has frequent tummy aches. She is fully developed and started her periods over a year ago. I've been reading about the health implications of dairy, and think she would benefit from giving it up. I was going to do a trial for 3 months, then see if there is any difference in her skin, stomach aches and weight. I'm also doing it as I have PCOS, eczema and I get spots.
The problem is with my daughter, I think it's going to be really hard to get enough calcium into her. There isn't that much she will eat of the calcium rich non dairy foods. She'll eat baked beans, nuts, homies, dried fruit and she'll drink orange juice. Anything veg related would have to be blended so she couldn't see/ taste it. She has learning disabilities and possible autism and doesn't like change or trying new things. I don't know if I'm just going to end up making life extremely difficult for myself and weather or not it would be worth it?

[dementedpixie]

Should you not see the gp/speak to a dietician before cutting out a whole food group?

[Iamastonished]

What are homies?

[SerialReJoiner]

Dairy isn't a good source of calcium, inspire of what the dairy farmers may tell us. Have you researched vegan websites and recipes? Dairy free is possible, but not easy. Milk derivatives are in loads of things.

[SerialReJoiner]

*in spite

[highinthesky]

No, no, no.

She is a growing girl and her bones need all the help they can get. Withdraw dairy from your own diet if you want to, but not DD's. It is not causing her to be overweight, or her acne. Encourage her to exercise daily instead.

If she has a genuine intolerance to milk it will be the lactose in it.

[DrinkFeckArseGirls]

high dairy was definitely cause acne in my case! Only stopped eating/ drinking it last sept and the difference is amazing! I was on the pill for years to deal with acne and hen it turned out it was dairy.

[highinthesky]

SerialReJoiner - that's the classic line every vegan comes out with. Lack of accessible calcium and iron is what made me quit veganism after a year, and I went back to my veggie diet.

I believe the science before any vegan theory. And before you ask, yes I hate the fact that cows are kept gestational and their calves robbed of their mother's milk but nor do I want to end up osteoporotic. The answer is Ahimsa (cruelty-free) milk.

[highinthesky]

There is a difference between adult acne, and that in a 12 yo girl!

It's far more likely to be weight-related / hormonal so I would tackle this first through exercise.

[SerialReJoiner]

There are plenty of humans who are dairy free, aren't there?

I'm not vegan, for what it's worth.

[DrinkFeckArseGirls]

My DD is 6 and for the last year she's. Een dairy free. Before that we had switched to goat products because cow's ones were triggering her eczema. Last year it she started reacting to goat's products too. She's growing well, milk really isn't the be all and end all.

[Wolfiefan]

I wouldn't. Not without a dietician's help.

[WhatInTheWorldIsGoingOn]

The milk alternatives offer as much calcium as milk if she would drink those?

I am dairy free as is my daughter. My daughter is allergic to milk from birth so has never had it. There are a lot of ways to get calcium that aren't from dairy. You just need to try harder to find them!

[yumchoc]

But consult a dietitian first
Use a supplement for calcium and vitamin D and use dairy substitute like aplro soya yogurt and rice milk flora do a good butter substitute

[Ohyesiam]

In most of Asia dairy products are either not eaten at all, or in much lower amounts than in the west, and they have low incidence of bone problems later in life. Lots had been written about dairy containing lots of calcium, but not necessarily in a form that the body can use. Have a look at vegan websites.

I've had to change my diet and do lots of excluding things to get to the bottom of health problems, and I've found naturopaths are the practitioners who have the best grasp on how to get insight into diet related health problems.( but chat to them first, as there are some who specialise in diet) .in My experience dieticians and nutritionists have been much much less useful.

[chuffinalong]

Thank you, I think I'm going to let my daughter eat organic cheese and yogurt once a day. She likes almond milk in tea, so that's fine.
She was eating/ drinking a lot of dairy, so I researched it and thought that the growth hormones were probably to blame for her spots and weight.
I'm going to go dairy free to try to help my PCOS and to reduce my risk of ovarian cancer. (This has been documented in the BMJ) I've had as much fertility treatment as I'm allowed in a life time, so that may put me at a higher risk of ovarian cancer.

[chuffinalong]

I would also like my daughter to see a dietitian. I've been to see the GP to be put in touch with one, but he said he's not concerned about her weight, although she could do with loosing a stone to be in the middle of her healthy range.

[shewolfmum]

Don't go near soya or flora...awful stuff!

[chuffinalong]

Soya yogurt tastes lovely! I did try a coconut/ strawberry one but the taste of coconut is too strong

[shewolfmum]

Soya is not very good for hormones...best to avoid

[DrinkFeckArseGirls]

you can make your own yoghurt with "milk"
if your oreference if you xan be fucked unlike me.

We use cashew milk - expensive but I buy buy when on offer. True about going easy on soya but I'm happy to use soya yoghurt - the actual amount of soya is negligeable and it's fermented. I think yoi will just need to trial and error and come to your own conclusions, OP. It's an ongoing process for us.

[MedSchoolRat]

@chuffinalong, could you post a link to the BMJ research that links milk intake to risk of ovarian cancer? I couldn't find that quickly.

I'm curious what other bad health impacts you've read about, linked to drinking milk, and where you read them. Thanks!

[chuffinalong]

Hi, I can't do links, but I searched google, then BMJ dairy ovarian cancer, mortality. I also searched dairy intolerance BMJ. I hope this helps. I also looked on sites such as acne. Org.

[chuffinalong]

Cashew milk is our favourite so far! Too bad it's so blooming expensive!

Soya does have hormones, but at least they are not from an animal, that has been given extra hormones as well as its own, plus antibiotics...
I'm going to still have soya yogurt as the amount of soya is small and it's fermented. I'm going to research soya some more though.

[dementedpixie]

Cows in UK arent given growth hormones and those that have had antibiotics don't have their milk put in the food chain. Rules are different in usa to uk/Europe so I'd check the proper facts first

[MedSchoolRat]

The only BMJ article I could find linked to a Swedish cohort study in Nature, dated 2014.

There are many combined study reviews before & since that find that saturated fat has a clear (statistically proven) but small (almost tiny change in risk) link to ovarian cancer. The link between dairy intake & ovarian cancer does not seem to be due to lactose.

Like someone else said, if you're worried about pollutants in milk, you need to divide EU milk from rest of the world. Maybe that hasn't been done adequately in the systematic reviews. And don't forget about all the other pollutants in our diets & environment (including things like smellies we voluntarily put on our skin and hair).