Dairy: Friend or Foe?

I’m going with friend. But there’s no denying the controversy. A fully plant‑based diet rules dairy out entirely. Two of my favorite experts — Dr. Walter Willett and Dr. Christopher Gardner — are both pretty “meh” on it. Meanwhile, I eat yogurt every day and pour a frankly embarrassing amount of milk into my coffee.

A Lifetime of Whiplash Advice

If you grew up in the 60s or 70s, you probably remember the “drink a glass of milk every day” era. I hated plain milk, so my mother let me drink chocolate milk — her logic was that any milk was better than none.

Then came the saturated‑fat scare. Suddenly whole milk was out, skim was in, and dairy was still considered essential — just the fat‑free kind. U.S. dietary guidelines have consistently recommended dairy (up to three servings a day), but they’ve swung back and forth on whether that dairy should be full‑fat or low‑fat.

By the time I was parenting in the 90s and early 2000s,  the dairy advice had become a jumble of mixed messages:

• Calcium good

• Protein good

• Vitamin D good

• Fat bad

• Lactose intolerance more common than we thought (up to 70% of the world!)

My Own Dairy Era(s)

For most of adulthood, I ate a bowl of Cheerios with milk for breakfast — usually 2%, sometimes skim, depending on which nutrition headline had most recently scared me. It was an easy, not‑terrible option for a full‑time working mom of three.

At home, we mostly drank water. I didn’t push milk, but I didn’t forbid it either. We ate some yogurt, and we all loved cheese. All the cheese.

And yes, I still put a ton of milk in my coffee. I once read a study suggesting that adding milk offset a tiny reduction in bone mineral density seen in women who drank black coffee. Whether that’s still true is… unclear, but the milk is staying.

A few years ago, I switched to old‑fashioned oatmeal and added a bowl of Greek yogurt with blueberries — partly to lower my cholesterol, partly for the protein, and partly because blueberries are delicious.

So What’s the “Healthy” Option Now?

Honestly? It depends who you ask.

Recent epidemiological studies show mixed results — but mostly either positive or neutral effects on major health outcomes like heart disease, hypertension, cancer, and diabetes. Full‑fat dairy specifically has produced inconsistent findings, which is why you’ll see experts disagree.

For me, dairy is a net positive: it’s an easy source of protein and calcium, and it fits my eating style.

My Full‑Fat Experiment

I switched to whole milk and full‑fat yogurt after reading a study - and then switched back when my cholesterol shot up 40 points. I also stopped using full‑fat butter and moved to Smart Balance.

Will this reverse my cholesterol? TBD. And if it does, I won’t know whether to credit the butter or the milk/yogurt. I hope it’s not the butter. I’m perfectly happy with 0% yogurt and could even go to 1% milk (not skim), but butter is… butter.

Cheese feels like its own topic. I love it, but I don’t eat huge amounts, so I’m not personally worried. That’s a post for another day.

Conclusion

Current research on dairy is somewhat mixed, though overall it leans positive. I haven’t seen convincing evidence that yogurt or milk pose health risks, despite concerns about added sugars in flavored yogurts. Dairy works for me: it provides protein and calcium, and I genuinely like it. So I'm going to stick with it but keep up to speed on latest research.

🧓🥛 A Brief History of U.S. Dairy Recommendations

• Pre–World War II: Milk as a Public Health Tool Before refrigeration and pasteurization were widespread, milk safety was a major concern. As these technologies improved, public health campaigns promoted milk as a reliable source of calories, protein, and nutrients for children — especially during periods of food insecurity. Dairy was framed as a foundational, affordable “growth food.”

  
  

• 1950s–1970s: Dairy as a Daily Essential - Drink Your Milk, Sweetie Postwar nutrition messaging strongly encouraged milk for bone health and development. Whole milk was standard, and dietary fat wasn’t yet viewed as a risk factor. School lunch programs and national campaigns reinforced milk as a staple. Whole milk, tall glass, no questions.

  
  

• 1980s: The Low‑Fat Era Begins – Fat is the Enemy! As research linked saturated fat to cardiovascular disease, guidelines shifted toward low‑fat and skim milk. Dairy remained recommended, but the emphasis moved to reducing fat content.

  
  

• 1990s: The Calcium and Vitamin D Push Dairy was promoted as a key source of calcium and vitamin D for bone health. At the same time, awareness grew that lactose intolerance was far more common globally than previously recognized.

  
  

• 2000s: Re‑evaluating Fat – Maybe Fat Isn’t the Villain? Emerging studies began questioning whether full‑fat dairy was as harmful as once believed. Recommendations became less uniform, and debates about fat quality versus fat quantity gained traction.

  
  

• 2010s: The Rise of Plant‑Based Alternatives Soy, almond, and later oat and other plant milks entered mainstream diets. Dairy stayed in federal guidelines, but consumers suddenly had a wide range of non‑dairy options with varying nutrient profiles.

  
  

• 2020s: Mixed Evidence, Nuanced Guidance Current research shows generally neutral or modestly positive associations between dairy and major health outcomes, though results vary by product type and fat content.