I have irritable bowel syndrome. My doctor has advised me to cut all dairy products out of my diet. (I’ve always been a cheese-lover.) I’ve often heard, as conventional wisdom, that cheese causes constipation and bowel problems – but why?
You might want to give raw milk a try. The bacteria in the milk will help to fight the bacteria in your colon (link). It also tastes fantastic. We buy ours from Organic Pastures.
Easier to find than raw milk are raw cheeses. Check your local Whole Foods Market (if you have one); they have a pretty good selection. It may be that the raw dairy products will be less irritating (and possibly even beneficial) to your insides.
Good luck!
I mean no disrespect, but I’m not sure **Suburban Plankton ** really answered the question. Dairy products are hard on your bowels because they so many types of sugars that your normal (and healthy) flora of bacteria gobble them up and in the process grow in numbers while producing an excess of gaseous waste. Usually your body does a good job of absorbing these before they get that far to your colon, but if you have an irritable bowel you may not absorb them as well as a normal person. This is what makes dairys so bad for someone who is lactose intolerant. Those people lack the enzyme to break down lactose into something they can absorb, but what makes everything go bad is that the bacteria will then feast on all this sugar in an almost violent reaction.
As far as eating dairy to reestablish a normal flora, I think yougurt is the most commonly recommended. Such as after taking an antibiotic and accidentally wiping them out. But that really wasn’t what your question asked.
Fergawdsakes **NO! ** Raw milk (unpastuerized) is very dangerous. If anything, they will be more irritating, and possibly dangerous.
http://www.milkismilk.com/2005/01/pure-raw-milk-pure-ignorance-and.html
*Here in the United States we’ve been restricting the sale of raw milk products since the 1940s. Dr. John Sheehan, Director of the FDA’s Division of Dairy and Egg Safety says drinking raw milk is “like playing Russian roulette with your health.” In 1986 a judge went so far as to order the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to ban the interstate shipment of raw milk. Why? Because people, especially children or others with weak immune systems, can die from consuming dairy products tainted with bacteria commonly found in raw, unpasteurized dairy products: Campylobacter jejuni, Escherichia coli O157:H7, Salmonella (over 1600 types) and Listeria monocytogenes. People, this stuff isn’t for kids or anyone else, unless you enjoy muscle pain followed by diarrhea (sometimes bloody), acute kidney failure, high fever, headache, nausea, vomiting, meningitis, spontaneous abortion (in pregnant women) or death. Those are just some of the symptoms associated with the types of food poisoning that can be caused by drinking raw milk.
An article co-authored by Senator Rudy Boschwitz points out that the U.S. Public Health Service says four of these bacteria (Campylobacter jejuni, Salmonella typhimurium, Listeria monocytogenes and E. coli O157:H7) are the most serious foodborne pathogens in America. Five kids in Vancouver, Canada, were poisoned by drinking raw milk from a cooperative farm; two suffered permanent liver damage. In the 1990s, Massachusetts even reported two incidents of potential mass raw-milk exposures to rabies! Two different cows in different herds were diagnosed with rabies, and 80 people who drank their raw milk had to take the painful series of rabies shots. In Wisconsin, some 70 people got sick from drinking illegal raw milk tainted with campylobacter bacteria… Further, in 1989 the California Superior Court ruled against Alta Dena dairy, who was selling and promoting raw milk as healthier, and found that: (a) “overwhelming evidence proved that Alta-Dena’s raw (unpasteurized) milk frequently contains dangerous bacteria that can cause serious illness”; and (b) the company must stop its false advertising. …Dr. William Jarvis of The National Council Against Health Fraud addresses the issue of raw milk effectively and to the point: “The evidence is clear. Milk is a wholesome food, but there is nothing to be gained from drinking it in its raw, natural form. (Raw milk) poses a serious health risk to significant segments of the population. Only pasteurized milk should be sold for general public consumption.”
*
http://www.wisc.edu/foodsafety/wffoodfactsforyoudec2003.htm
*Recent outbreaks of Salmonella Typhimurium associated with the consumption of raw, unpasteurized milk in four states (Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Tennessee) has prompted renewed concern from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Each year in the United States, foodborne disease causes an estimated 76 million illnesses. Of these, an estimated 1.4 million are caused by Salmonella, resulting in approximately 16,000 hospitalizations and 580 deaths. Raw bulk tank milk can contain one or more species of pathogenic bacteria, including Salmonella spp…During 1972–2000, a total of 58 raw milk–associated outbreaks were reported to CDC, of which 17 (29%) were caused by Salmonella spp. One outbreak occurred in Wisconsin in 2001, associated with Campylobacter jejuni. *
*Raw milk is milk in its natural (unpasteurized) state. Public health authorities advocate pasteurization to destroy any disease-producing bacteria that may be present. Health faddists claim that it destroys essential nutrients. Although about 10% to 30% of the heat-sensitive vitamins (vitamin C and thiamine) are destroyed in the pasteurizing process, milk is not a significant source of these nutrients. Contaminated raw milk can be a source of harmful bacteria, such as those that cause undulant fever, dysentery, salmonellosis, and tuberculosis. “Certified” milk, obtained from cows certified as healthy, is unpasteurized milk with a bacteria count below a specified standard, but it still can contain significant numbers of disease-producing organisms. *
**Raw Milk is dangerous. Do not consume it. ** If you want beneficial bacterial, get Acidolpholous Milk, or eat live Culure yogurt, or add a Probiotic supplement.
Back to the OP- Lactose is hard to digest by many dudes. Some dudes can eat dairy by adding Probiotic to their diets (which is often a good idea in any case- see any of my many posts on the subject 
), or by adding a Lactose digesting enzyeme, available in your drugstore.
In your case, I suggest you discuss adding Probiotics to your diet with your MD, see what he thinks.
Here are some cites- this first is a “must read” for IBS sufferers:
http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH/library/DS/00106.html
*Probiotics. Probiotics are “good” bacteria that normally live in your intestines and are found in certain foods, such as yogurt, and in dietary supplements. It’s been suggested that people with irritable bowel syndrome may not have enough good bacteria, and that adding probiotics to your diet may help ease your symptoms. Some studies have shown that probiotics can decrease IBS exacerbations. Not all studies on probiotics have had positive results, however. *
http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=55129
*Early studies show that some specific probiotics help some IBS patients – but not others, says gastroenterologist Jay W. Marks, MD. Marks is medical and pharmacy editor for MedicineNet.com, a WebMD company.
“Some patients with IBS respond to treatment with probiotics. But probiotics are clearly not a panacea,” Marks tells WebMD. “They are not all the same. Different probiotic bacteria have different effects on the intestine. So we expect it will be important to use the right probiotic for the right patient – which is not clear yet. We still don’t know which ones are appropriate for which patients.”
Even so, doctors are recommending probiotics to some IBS patients. That’s because the probiotics tested in clinical trials have done no harm, says probiotics researcher Eamon Quigley, MD, of the Alimentary Pharmabiotic Center at University Cork College, Ireland.*“If probiotics are as effective as we think, the great advantage is their safety,” Quigley tells WebMD. “There is no evidence of any safety issue. They have the potential to be an effective first-line therapy for IBS and other bowel symptoms in a very safe manner.”
(another “must read site”)
*Treatment: Probiotics
Probiotic therapy is a relatively new frontier of investigation whereby living, non-pathogenic “good” bacteria are ingested in order to prevent or relieve a variety of human ailments, including reduction of diarrhea. There is a wide array of probiotic products being marketed as treatments for gastrointestinal diseases, including ‘specially formulated’ yogurts. However, contrary to their claims, studies have demonstrated that many of these products may not have the capacity to exert a significant therapeutic benefit.
Probiotics are the microorganisms, or the flora, normally present in the human gut, and are essential in maintaining normal gastrointestinal function. Disturbances within the flora or the body’s ability to properly interact with the flora have been linked to the way various chronic intestinal disorders unfold. These results have prompted researchers to develop new ways of modifying the complex intestinal ecosystem as a means of therapy and prompted the medical community to step-up its efforts to reduce unnecessary use of antibiotics. Probiotics have particular appeal since the bacterial strains commonly used, Lactobacilli, Bifidobacteria, and Enterococci, are already present in the gut, thus attesting to their co-existence in humans. However, when consumed, these bacteria are usually completely destroyed in the stomach and never get to the colon where they can do their job. Some formulations will guarantee high quantities of the necessary bacteria and are available in conjunction with other bacteria that help them through the stomach. These formulas are very expensive and must be continually consumed to receive the benefit claimed.
The true potential of probiotics in GI health has yet to be determined. As our understanding of the intricate milieu of microorganisms within the human gut deepens, we may be able to further tailor probiotic therapies to be significant and effective alternatives, or additions, to conventional IBS treatments. *
So, I say- maybe Probiotics- they are at least harmless, according to the studies above and others. Discuss them with your Doctor, see what he thinks.
**Hell fucking NO ** to “raw milk”. :mad:
You’re right, I did not answer the question (a fact I didn’t realize until after I had already posted). I was responding more to the problem of a cheese-lover being told to cut out dairy.
DrDeth, I could cite you just as many cases of people getting sick from drinking pasturized milk. The problem, in most cases, is not with the milk itself, but with the handling, packing, bottling, shipping, storage, etc. If you would like to read some of the health benefits that can be gained from consuming raw dairy products, I can open another thread in GD (or the Pit, if you would prefer), and we can discuss the issue there.
simple answer…
cow’s milk is for baby cows.
Do you by any chance have any stake in ultra pasturization or something? I have used raw milk for years - and man has been using it for centuries or longer, and it is much tastier then the modified stuff - though I don’t suffer IBS, othes have reported that is easier to digest.
Just when you think you’ve posted a question in which no Doper could possibly have any emotional investment . . .
Please do cite cases. I worked on an epidemiological study for milk consumption convering a period of 22 years in Canada, and the results were overwhelmingly indicative that raw milk was a far greater health risk than pasteurized milk. And this study was sponsored by a group that really wanted to get Canada’s ban on raw milk overturned.
DAIRY FIGHT!! 
**Why are dairy products hard on the colon? **
I think the real question is: “Why is Ward so hard on the beaver?”.
The cheese/constipation link is contentious. There are those that say it is simply a lack of fiber (dairy products tend to have no fiber) and there are those that say it is the opioid peptides in milk products that cause the problem.
Personally, I’d follow the doctor’s recommendations and see for myself if it makes a difference.
My Google-fu is not working quite as well today as it was the other day, but here’s one link to get you started. See pages 7-9 for a number of cites.
http://www.karlloren.com/aajonus/p15.htm
As I stated before, in most cases it’s nothing inherent in the milk itself that makes people sick; the problem is almost always with the packaging, handling, or storage. The same is true for illnesses caused by canned foods. The food can be perfectly “clean”, but if it is kept in an “unclean” place, eating it will likely make you sick.
BrainGlutton, I hope you are doing well, and I’m very sorry for the inadvertent hijack. Take care.
OP: As people upthread have started in on, dairy can cause several problems. You can have trouble with the lactose, making you lactose intolerant; you can be allergic to it causing an inflammation reaction; you can have trouble with the nutrient balance with dairy being high in protein and fat and low in fiber; You can have a portion control problem where you just overdo it on the tasty cow juice. Many people have combinations of the above problems. You can rule out the allergy thing since you have a history of eating dairy without major reactions. IANAD, but I would recommend that you follow your doctor’s advice and cut out all dairy. Then, when your IBS is reasonably under control, add back a little cheese or milk. 28g or cheese is one serving. 240g of milk is a serving. If it is a lactose intolerance problem, try an aged cheese like an aged cheddar or parmesan or something. As cheese ages, the bacteria digest the lactose into lactic acid and some other things that you can digest more easily. You can also eat old yogurt for the same reason. I’d wait until cheese and yogurt go well until I try fluid milk since fluid milk has all the lactose there. Whatever you do, control your portion and eat a well balanced diet, like a cheese sandwich or cheese with crackers or cheese with apple to suppliment the fiber that is lacking in dairy products.
On a tangent:
DrDeth et al. are right. If you have IBS, the last thing you should be doing is eating raw milk products. Raw milk is illegal in most states because you can get seriously ill and die from drinking raw milk. I analyse milk for a living. You can trust me when I tell you that you don’t want to know what is in raw milk. Lactic acid bacteria are good for you. Coliforms are not. Tuburculosis and Brucelosis are bad things. Listeria is bad for you. Salmonella is bad for you. If you wouldn’t eat raw beef, don’t drink raw milk. The bacterial contaminants are one and the same. I have an interesting article called “Pasteurised Milk: a National Menace” that was published in 1943 in the Kingston Chronicle. It is funny because it reads exactly like most pro-raw milk articles of today. Bad statistical analysis, bad control of variables, and alot of anecdotal evidence. Pasteurization kills most of the bacteria in milk, but cheese and yogurt and sour cream, etc. are cultured, so Lactic acid bacteria are added back into the product in an amount that may actually be beneficial and are known strains that are not likely to make you evacuate your digestive system. The problem with raw milk consumption these days is that all milk is pooled, meaning milk from multiple cows on multiple farms is mixed together. In the history of mankind, this is a new development. It used to be that you had a cow and you milked her by hand twice a day and put the milk into a pail and dipped your milk out of the pail all quaint and rustic-like. You knew if your cow was sick, because you spent an hour or so a day with her. And if your cow was sick, your milk would spoil rapidly, since you didn’t refrigerate your pail and you wouldn’t drink it. With modern sanitation, there are fewer spoilage organisms to indicate poor milk quality. Without spoilage, there is no indication you shouldn’t drink the milk. It is a paradox of food sanitation, the cleaner you are, the less you know about the food quality and the more likely you are to transmit a deadly pathogen to an unsuspecting consumer. Organic doesn’t mean clean.
The author of that report has a members only website that provides the information about “natural medicine” and promotes, amongst other dubious treatments, photoluminesence. His use of positive adjectives for evidence that supports his ideas and downplaying or rationalizing away (often with eyebrow-rising conclusions) evidence that undermines his position calls into question his objectivity. As well, a few of his cites that I looked at completely contradict his assertions about them. Offering anything by Dr. Douglass as a cite in support of raw milk completely annihilates any credibility of the argument.
Sorry, what’s your point exactly? Raw milk is easily contaminated, which is… exactly why it’s illegal in so many jurisdictions?
That website offers some seriously fucked up and potentially dangerous advice:
Here he states that niacin flush (the rash caused by high doses of niacin) is a good thing for you. Not so-it’s a sign of an overdose of niacin, which can cause liver damage.
Sorry, to double post, but apparently, Loren is a Scientologist.
I think that thorougly confirms that anything he has to say about raw milk is bullshit, along with everything else.
The author of this site is obviously a moron. I didn’t get past the summary where he was discussing bacterial contamination in units of ml, which I’m assuming was actually mL, or milliliters. You can’t measure bacterial concentration in a volume unit, you must discuss concentration in terms of units per unit of volume. In bacteriology, it it cfu/mL. Oh, and again, the questionable statistics:
um, no. That is actually taught on the second day of a basic college statistics class. I would actually venture to say that these two numbers are statistically insignificantly different. Of course, had they provided the complete statistics, like standard error or p values or something, then we would know.
And I’m not impressed by statistics from 1945 anyway…science, like, um, progresses, and stuff. Pasteurzation guidlines and controls and plant construction and sanitation are much improved from 61 years ago. Back then, you could still serve Grade A milk from a 20 gallon can and milk came in glass or paper.
Oh, and anytime you cite the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, you lose the argument. PCRM is the laughing stock of real science.
I haven’t been able to drink milk for years. Non even fat free or Lactaid. I tried raw milk and no problems, other than a little gas.
Now is raw milk more dangerous? I would certainly think so. But, assuming it’s fresh and haas been handled properly it is more digestible than anything else I’ve tried. And that includes soy milk, as well.
Raw milk is like steak tartare and sashimi - there IS a real health risk there. Don’t kid yourself.
IF you are a healthy adult AND IF you are not pregnant AND IF you are not immune-suppressed AND IF the food product is produced AND handled AND stored AND served properly… yes, you can usually get away with it.
BUT – that’s a long chain that has to be intact.
Saying “But – but – it’s the storage and handling!” merely proves the point.
IF you owned your own cow AND IF you milked that cow every day while monitoring her health AND IF you very very carefully sanitized equipment every time you used it… it’s probably not a wildly unreasonable risk… except when people did just that in the old days they got sick from drinking raw milk from time to time even with the best of care.
With the modern methods of “pooling” milk - one ill cow contaminates the whole batch.
Folks, cows are animals. They will cheerfully lie in filth, they don’t take baths of their own accord, and are prey to parasites and illness. Thus, they can easily contaminate themselves with one pathogen or another.