Is Dairy Or People's Reactions To Dairy A Cause Of Its Lymphatic Congestion?

[FinnRooney]

It always confused me that dairy was supposedly causing some level of lymphatic congestion. If you look up information about diet and lymph you'll always see dairy pop up..
It confused me mainly because (and forgive me for being ideological) if it was meant for infants, why would it cause congestion.
I recently heard that histamine and the gut bacteria can cause fluid retention and swelling in response to certain foods. Is it the intolerance of dairy that is in fact leading to its effects on the lymphatic system?

 

[Goobz]

It always confused me that dairy was supposedly causing some level of lymphatic congestion. If you look up information about diet and lymph you'll always see dairy pop up..
It confused me mainly because (and forgive me for being ideological) if it was meant for infants, why would it cause congestion.
I recently heard that histamine and the gut bacteria can cause fluid retention and swelling in response to certain foods. Is it the intolerance of dairy that is in fact leading to its effects on the lymphatic system?

That may be why. Yes it was "meant" for infants as you put it, but infant... cows. The calf recieves immunoglobulins and other things in mothers milk. The bovine immunoglobulins may be similar enough to human ones to cause a reaction from your own immune system. I have no idea if this causes congestion, but it's a possibility.

 

[LUH 3417]

I don’t know but it seems that cutting out wheat and dairy are the first things most alternative and even some allopathic doctors recommend.
Giving Out Bad Advice? Why Natural Health Care Practitioners Need To Be Careful About Recommending Restricting Dairy Products.

Lactose intolerance increases with aging and this is because the enzyme is primarily found in the tips of the intestinal villi, which may become damaged as a result of chronic intestinal diseases; temporary lactose intolerance may occur following a bout of gastroenteritis. The estimated incidence of lactose intolerance in the American population is as high as 11-22% of adults. Absence of sufficient lactase results in undigested lactose passing into the intestines where it becomes a food source for bacteria, the primary cause of the reactions (e.g., gas and bloating). If very large amounts of lactose are consumed, the high content in the intestines can also contribute to loose stool or diarrhea. However, these intestinal reactions are generally the entire spectrum of lactose reactions, so lactose intolerance is not a usual source of other symptoms or diseases a person may be experiencing. Consuming small amounts of dairy products will usually not cause any problems for those with "lactose intolerance." Even with significant lactase deficiency, approximately 8 ounces of milk per day (which provides about 12 g lactose) is rarely enough to cause symptoms (symptoms may appear if this amount is consumed rapidly at one sitting). By reading the literature from alternative medicine sources, you would expect the incidence of these types of reactions to be far higher than they are, more systemic, and generated by even tiny amounts of dairy, but the claims are not based on reliable data.

It seems that compromised gut function makes dairy problematic for people but I don’t think dairy is what causes the damage in the first place.

 

[moa]

What does lymphatic congestion means translated to scientific understanding ?

What is usually called lymphatic congestion is in fact what Ray peat calls swelling, especially swelling and cramps driven by nitric oxyde and low CO2. It does tend to increase lactic acid in muscles and increase lymph acidity as a side effect.

So what in milk is causing nitric oxyde production ?

Also the idea of congestion really points to the fact that it is happening in time, days or weeks, why the congestion is used and not a word like poisoning. So it is not the lactate causing this (dairy also is supposed to be congestive, and yogourt even more than milk). It could be lactic acid from yogurt, but the main cause may be related to the amino acids in milk, or in whey.

It seems that dairy with a more of starch does not have this effect on people consuming a lot of polenta with a small quantity of dairy, a good carbs to dairy ratio seems to alleviate all congestion from dairy, thus it might be the protein composition of dairy that is the problem, to much tryptophan.