The surprising impact of dairy in perimenopause and menopause

Dairy and menopause

We've been taught over the years that dairy is really good for us and we need it in order to have healthy bones. This is all certainly true, but things can change during perimenopause and menopause.

Things to be aware of when eating dairy during perimenopause and menopause

While you may have happily consumed dairy with no issues before, during perimenopause and menopause a few things can occur that make this food group a bit more troublesome than before. Here are a few issues to be aware of:

1. Digestive issues / Dairy intolerance

One of the things we know is that digestion can be impacted in perimenopause and menopause. So, you could have spent, many, many years having no issues at all with any dairy products whatsoever. You find them helpful. You get on fine consuming this food group with no digestive problems; then suddenly, your digestion starts to change.

You may develop a dairy intolerance. This can be when your digestive system starts to become really sensitive to either the milk proteins or the milk sugar, lactose. With this, you can very often get symptoms such as cramping, bloating, and diarrhoea. And these symptoms often come along really quickly after you've eaten that particular food.

2. Dairy & mucus

Dairy can be mucus-forming, so it can cause things like catarrh and blocked sinuses to worsen. You might find that you get bunged up all the time. It could be that your ears start to be affected as well. It could be that you develop something called postnasal drip, which is basically, a feeling of catarrh dripping down the back of your throat most of the time.

3. Dairy & bone health

Dairy is a good source of calcium, but you also need other minerals and vitamins to help the body use calcium for your bones, so a huge amount of calcium-only food may not be particularly beneficial.

The problem with dairy is that it's high in calcium but relatively low in magnesium and other important nutrients for your bones. So, you need to look at having more magnesium, vitamin D, vitamin K2 and boron as well. All of these are needed and work synergistically with calcium in order to retain really good, healthy bones.

4. High sugar content

You may need to watch the types of dairy foods that you are eating such as flavoured yoghurt. So, you may think to yourself, "Oh, yogurt is really good for me because it contains friendly bacteria." But it could contain high amounts of sugar, which isn't very good for your friendly bacteria, or it could contain artificial sweeteners. And artificial sweeteners can cause all sorts of issues in perimenopause and menopause, and I really don't advise them in any shape or form at all.

How to identify if dairy could be triggering some of your symptoms

The first thing to do is keep a food/symptom diary for maybe two or three weeks. List in the diary all the dairy foods that you eat daily, including when you eat them, and when and if you get any specific symptoms.

Remember that dairy is in a lot of prepackaged foods. You might have a nice biscuit and not realise there's lactose or milk powder in it. It may well be that you're eating loads of food containing this, because lactose is quite a common one to be added to all sorts of different foods.

So, there can be a lot of foods that you wouldn't normally think contain dairy, but which do. When you're doing the diary and you're buying prepackaged foods, remember to read the ingredient list.

Casein is also a dairy product. So, if anything has casein in it, or lactose in it, then you know that these are derived from dairy as well.

Keeping a food diary for a couple of weeks might give you an indication of what you're eating that’s causing problems.

What if dairy is an issue for you?

If you identify that dairy is an issue for you, there are a few things to do…

You could try to limit or cut out dairy foods altogether for a month. Now, remember, casein is milk protein, lactose is milk sugar, so check any foods that you're buying for these. The other thing to bear in mind if you're eating sweetened yoghurt is that it could be the artificial sweeteners that are causing the problem and not actually the dairy itself.

It is known that sheep and goat milk cause fewer reactions, so if you find you can't do without dairy, maybe swap over to those. I've also read some research showing that full-fat milk from Jersey or Guernsey cows, as long as it's the real stuff, seems to cause fewer reactions as well. So, you could maybe try just swapping those over.

To go completely dairy-free, you would be looking at almond milk, oat milk, and coconut milk. I tend not to recommend soya milk for various reasons. One is that it's so highly processed. If you have a minute, Google how soya milk is made and you will be absolutely astonished. And the other thing is if your digestion is already really sensitive, unfermented soya products can sometimes cause bloating and an upset stomach.

Maybe you're worried, and thinking, "Yes, but if I cut out dairy, where am I going to get calcium from, for my bones?" Loads of natural foods contain calcium, so you can increase your intake of dark green leafy vegetables, nuts and seeds, and things like lentils as well.

You can look at supplements such as our Balance Perimenopause Multi-nutrient drink, which contains calcium, magnesium and vitamin D. You could take that daily.

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And remember that elephants are totally vegetarian. Look at the amount of calcium they need to keep their huge bones strong and healthy - and they don't consume dairy! So, don't panic if you have to give it up, because you can get your calcium from all sorts of different sources.

Look at supporting your gut health as well. If your gut is playing up, if it's already a bit sensitive, then maybe doing a short course of a good general probiotic could be really helpful.

I hope you found this one helpful. I was talking to someone the other day, and although it wasn't about dairy, they hadn't actually clicked that their soya milk was causing their bloating and digestive discomfort. So, sometimes, it can be something really simple that's upsetting you, and a food diary for two to three weeks can be really helpful in pinpointing what you might be taking that's causing these problems.

For any of you out there who've been in this particular situation, how did you find out? What did you do to stop it? Please share your stories. You know I love reading all about them and your little tips could help so many other people too.

Until next time, take care and have a lovely week.

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