Can Milk Cause Heartburn?

I have heard mixed messages from various sources as it comes to drinking mild around cases of heartburn. Some people say that it helps to calm the symptoms while others disagree. Personally, I do not have good experiences around regular milk and have switched to almond milk. Soy also didn't settle with me, but even though I am only one person the following things I have learned might make you understand more about why this was the case.

When looking through the list of the danger foods for reflux there are three different categories. I have received a small brochure from the National Heartburn Alliance (call free 877-471-2081 to get one) which presented this very nicely.

The three categories are:

• red - stop, stay away from these 
• yellow - consume at your own risk 
• green - means go, little risk to heartburn 

This is how milk product fit into them:

• red - milk shake, sour cream, regular cottage cheese, sour cream. 
• yellow - frozen yogurt, yogurt, skim milk, 2% milk, low fat cottage cheese, mozzarella (pizza eaters beware), cheddar cheese. 
• green - low fat soy cheese, goat cheese, fat-free cream cheese, fat-free sour cream, feta cheese. 

If you look through this list, whole milk is nowhere to be found and yet that is what most people drink. As it is full of fat content, the place on the list where it fits in is the red category.

A bit more about milk, these days what we can find in the stores contains antibiotics, hormones, immuno globulins and lactoferrins. This is a lot more than people used to get with their milk a century ago but is now a part of our every day lives and virtually all regulated milk production.

You can type in "raw milk seizures" into google and easily see just how much FDA forces us to drink what they feel is right... but that is getting a bit of topic.

Think of the actual function of milk, it is designed to feed and raise infants by its mother. This would suggest that milk is meant to be taken on en empty stomach and without other types of food whether it is greens or meat. Since milk delivers proteins and other nutrition meant to be absorbed by the stomach...this signals the body to stop acid production. When other food is combined with the milk, the acidity is in a way neutralized and that allows for the food to stay within the stomach untouched and begin to rot.

Try and eat all meals without any dairy products within them and see how you feel. Do the same the next day but this time add some dairy products to your food. This might take a bit of ingenuity but I believe is worth testing. There are no harmful side effects from such an experiment and this will allow for you to see exactly how your body reacts and functions. It might just stop the indigestion which could be the cause of heartburn as you have created a different condition within which your digestive system can function. Most people do not realize just how often dairy products sneak into the meals, and this might be a sort of an awakening to them.

Always contact a dietician before changing your diet.