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Drinking Milk Causes Increased Mucus: Myth / UL Debunked

EnolaGaia

EnolaGaia

I knew the job was dangerous when I took it ...
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This is a new one on me ...

Does Drinking Milk Make Your Body Produce More Mucus?
A persistent myth about milk — that drinking it can lead to the production of more gooey mucus in your body's airways — is completely false, a new review finds.

The myth is so persistent that some parents have stopped giving milk to children with chronic respiratory conditions, such as asthma and cystic fibrosis, out of concern that drinking milk might make it harder for their children to breathe. [The 7 Perfect Survival Foods]

But the milk-mucus connection is simply a myth, said review author Dr. Ian Balfour-Lynn, a pediatric pulmonologist at Royal Brompton Hospital in London. And when people take this myth as true medical advice, it could have serious consequences: Not giving milk to children can make it challenging for them to get enough calcium, vitamins and calories, Balfour-Lynn said. Children who don't drink enough milk are also more prone to fractures and shorter stature, studies show.

It's unclear exactly when the milk myth got started. It's possible that it came from Moses Maimonides (1135-1204), a philosopher and doctor who wrote that milk causes "a stuffing in the head." Moreover, traditional Chinese medical texts have linked dairy consumption with "a humidifying effect and thicker phlegm," Balfour-Lynn wrote in the review, which was published online yesterday (Sept. 6) in the journal Archives of Disease in Childhood.

Even the influential "Dr. Spock's Baby and Child Care" book, of which more than 50 million copies have been sold since its publication in 1946, repeats this claim. A 2011 edition of the book states that "dairy products may cause more mucus complications and more discomfort with upper respiratory infections," Balfour-Lynn found while researching the myth.

Given the myth's reach, it's no surprise that in a study of 345 randomly selected shoppers in Australia, 51 (46 percent) of the 111 whole-milk drinkers "agreed" that milk causes mucus, according to research published in 2003 in the journal Appetite. However, the type of milk appeared to influence the shoppers' decision: Just 30 (25 percent) of the 121 reduced-fat-milk drinkers and only 12 (11 percent) of the 113 soy-milk drinkers agreed with this statement, the study found. ...
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SOURCE: https://www.livescience.com/63517-milk-does-not-create-mucus.html
 
I have problems if i drink a lot of milk, i feel like i have a bad cold I am all stuffy the next day, but i also have the same thing with soya milk
 
We don't drink full fat milk in our house, when I did I do remember feeling it created more mucus for me but only as I got into my 30's.
 
maximus otter said:
lt’s certainly produced a lot more Kate Bush since 1978.

maximus otter
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Haha, yes!
Why I mentioned that was that I remembered Kate talking about a track that she did where she put on a gravelly voice. To prepare for it, she ate a LOT of chocolate.
 
Kate_Bush_ticket_sterilised_edited_resized_for_email.jpg


*sigh*

maximus otter
 
I don't think this is a UL, it probably just depends on the person. Drinking milk and eating dairy products dramatically increases the amount of mucus in my sinuses for me (sorry for the detail). So do some other things like drinking strong coffee. It's probably to do with allergies or intolerances, but I like eating cheese and drinking tea with milk enough that I just ignore it.
 
James_H said:
I don't think this is a UL, it probably just depends on the person.
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Yes, this seems possible, especially as the evidence otherwise apparently comes from "small studies dating back to 1948". If the studies were small, they probably wouldn't find anything. Just because not everyone is affected by milk, doesn't mean no-one is. Not everyone is lactose intolerant either.
 
This morning Techy was a little chesty and I said 'You've been drinking milk!' :chuckle:

I was told this as a child. Milk was only used in tea or coffee and maybe custard or added sparingly to water-based porridge. We certainly never given milk to drink on its own. It was supposed to be bad for children as it gave them coughs.

Milk was relatively expensive back then. It became much cheaper in the early/mid '70s and we were encouraged to Drinka Pinta Milka Day! or summat.

If milk were so unhealthy Techy'd have no lungs left by now.
 
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escargot said:
This morning Techy was a little chesty and I said 'You've been drinking milk!' :chuckle:

I was told this as a child. Milk was only used in tea or coffee and maybe custard or added sparingly to water-based porridge. We certainly never milk to drink on its own. It was supposed to be bad for children as it gave them coughs.

Milk was relatively expensive back then. It became much cheaper in the early/mid '70s and we were encouraged to Drinka Pinta Milka Day! or summat.

If milk were so unhealthy Techy'd have no lungs left by now.
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I agree - it does cause a post nasal drip for me if I drink it straight. I don't want to deny the experimenters but it may just depend on personal metabolism.
 
When I was a kid it was put in my head you ate everything because there are starving people in the world.

When I married my wife she came up with this milk and mucus “ thing “ and I said WTF.

Even today she does not want me to drink too much milk.
 
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