# Why no milk when you have a cold? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 27, 2008, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-milk-when-you-have-a-cold/442952 "2008-03-27T18:39:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Open\_Your\_Eyes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e8c25b/32.png) [@Open\_Your\_Eyes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Open_Your_Eyes)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2008, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-milk-when-you-have-a-cold/442952/21 "2008-03-28T18:17:44Z")
Hm. Seems like **Qadgop the Mercotan** ( nice name ) does make good points. I must admit, sometimes the milk does leaves my throat slimy when I have the slightest bit of mucus from allergies. More cereal and milk when I have colds! \ ---
**Author:** ![telecommunications](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ed8c4c/32.png) [@telecommunications](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/telecommunications)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2008, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-milk-when-you-have-a-cold/442952/22 "2008-03-28T21:37:09Z")
[QUOTE=Qadgop the Mercotan] **Open Your Eyes** , skip milk if you want to, when you have a cold. But there’s no credible evidence that it thickens secretions. > [@](#): > > many patients are convinced that milk ingestion induces respiratory “mucus.” However, post-nasal discharge or increased production of mucus are usually not considered as manifestations of true milk allergy (see enclosed abstract of a review of milk allergy). I think that some patients may associate milk ingestion with respiratory mucus mainly because some of the ingested milk adheres to mucus in the post-nasal discharge and a cause and effect association is considered. American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology. [http://www.aaaai.org/aadmc/ate/category.asp?cat=1071&s=20&keywords=](http://www.aaaai.org/aadmc/ate/category.asp?cat=1071&s=20&keywords=) [/QUOTE] the American Academy article you linked suggested > [@](#): > > a reasonable way of convincing yourself (and as a result, perhaps convincing the parent of the patient) whether milk is truly causing the post-nasal discharge is to do a challenge with increasing amounts of milk with observation by you of the throat before and 15-30 minutes after each milk dose for the presence of increased mucus. but according to this guy your proof may take up to a whole day before appearing. > [@](#): > > Robert Cohen: You know something interesting? The dairy industry sponsors studies, and as a researcher, I could design any study I want to and prove anything I want to based upon the parameters of the study and the species of mammal I use. But the dairy industry has done studies with humans, and they say, “Here’s a glass of milk. Drink the glass of milk.” And the subject does, and ten minutes later – “How do you feel? Do you have mucus? No? Great.” Headline in paper because they’ve got a great press conference: “Drinking milk does not cause mucus.” > > Now, you say that to any marathon runner or triathelete or opera singer or Broadway star, they know that using dairy products causes mucus. They have to stay away from it or they’re not going to be able to perform. And that’s not a scientific study, that’s just something they just know. It’s a given! Yet, the study, the science shows that drinking milk doesn’t cause mucus. Well, I told you the reaction to bovine serumlactobumin, to casein, the milk protein casein, the histamine production takes 12 to 15 hours. So, you’re not going to keep a subject in the laboratory for 12 to 15 hours. “Drink a glass of milk – do you have mucus? No? Great. Milk doesn’t cause mucus.” Of course it does! And it causes asthma attacks, and it causes these allergic reactions. [http://www.naturalnews.com/002701.html](http://www.naturalnews.com/002701.html) ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2008, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-milk-when-you-have-a-cold/442952/23 "2008-03-29T01:37:47Z")
Well, I drink milk, quite a lot. I don’t have any mucus, asthma or allergies, go figure. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2008, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-milk-when-you-have-a-cold/442952/24 "2008-03-29T01:42:28Z")
[QUOTE=telecommunications] . . . According to [Robert Cohen] your proof may take up to a whole day before appearing. [/quote] [More pearls of wisdom from Robert Cohen](http://www.notmilk.com/) ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2008, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-milk-when-you-have-a-cold/442952/25 "2008-03-29T12:28:04Z")
[QUOTE=Robert Cohen] Now, you say that to any marathon runner or triathelete or opera singer or **Broadway star** , they know that using dairy products causes mucus. They have to stay away from it or they’re not going to be able to perform. And that’s not a scientific study, that’s just something they just know. It’s a given! Yet, the study, the science shows that drinking milk doesn’t cause mucus. Well, I told you the reaction to bovine serumlactobumin, to casein, the milk protein casein, the histamine production takes 12 to 15 hours. So, you’re not going to keep a subject in the laboratory for 12 to 15 hours. “Drink a glass of milk – do you have mucus? No? Great. Milk doesn’t cause mucus.” Of course it does! And it causes asthma attacks, and it causes these allergic reactions. [/quote] I go to Broadway on Broadway every year, and some years I have gotton backstage to talk to the performers. There’s always a nice spread there–coffee with all the accompaniments, including milk & cream, fruit salad, vegetable salads and various meat & cheese sandwiches. These performers have to do a song at the show, then go and do two shows more. I have never noticed one of them refusing the milk products. I wonder how many Broadway stars Cohen actually knows. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2008, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-milk-when-you-have-a-cold/442952/26 "2008-03-29T14:02:00Z")
The bit that made me double take was where it says babies on cows milk always have runny noses because of the milk. Ah, no, they have runny noses because they are new people who are getting exposed to a shitload of bugs (unrelated to the millk) that they haven’t developed immunity to yet. When our wee girl was first in child-care she had some kind of cold every couple of weeks for a few months, then it stoppped, she never stopped drinking milk though. ---
**Author:** ![CC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2008, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-milk-when-you-have-a-cold/442952/27 "2008-03-29T14:13:52Z")
[QUOTE=Solfy] Tangentially related is the old wives’ tale that you shouldn’t drink milk when you have a fever. I never knew my spouse believed this until a few weeks ago when he wasn’t letting our feverish preschooler have any. Supposedly it will curdle in your stomach due to that extra few degrees F. [/QUOTE] Speaking of the sources of some of these old ideas, I wonder if this one derives from the days when digestion was thought to be a sort of cooking process. It wasn’t until William Beaumont did his amazing series of studies on Alexis St. Martin in the 1820’s that the idea became undermined. Just wonderin’ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-milk-when-you-have-a-cold/442952.md?page=1)