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Is whole milk better for Crohn's?

My boyfriend's previous GI told him, if he was going to drink milk, that whole milk is better than 1%. My boyfriend does not remember why this was, and I have doubts because his previous GI was not a good doctor.
At any rate, my boyfriend drinks whole milk now. And I wonder--is it really better for Crohn's? Or was the GI spouting nonsense?

EDIT: After doing some research, I think I found what that doctor was on about.
The fat soluble vitamins (A, D, E, K) are potentially easier to digest when taken with a higher-fat meal. Thus, the fat in whole milk might make it easier to digest the vitamin D in whole milk.
Fat soluble vitamins are of particular concern to my BF because he has the liver disease PSC as a manifestation of Crohn's... and PSC makes those vitamins harder to absorb as it progresses.

This leads me to a new question. Isn't there a healthier way to get fatty meals to help vitamin absorption? I mean, whole milk just has a lot of saturated fat. Wouldn't it be better to drink 1%, and get healthy fats through various oils, instead of using whole?
 
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Cross-stitch gal

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Vancouver,
A long time ago when I was growing up (boy do I sound old!!!). I forget when it was, but my mom had read something somewhere saying that whole milk is better for kids especially for some reason then 1% or 2%. Seems like I remember something about it building up the immune system against colds, flu and such. She put my sister and I on it and I drank it, I think pretty much until I got married when I was 21 if I remember right. And I'm still alive!

Now there's no way I'd do it because I don't do well with regular milk anymore. And, now drink almond milk along with coconut milk occasionally just like Ron does.
 

Bufford

Well-known member
Any kind of dairy gives me grief. I can tolerate small amounts of hard cheese. Its been difficult as I enjoyed cheese, ice cream and many others. Periodically I will have a small ice cream.
 
My boyfriend's previous GI told him, if he was going to drink milk, that whole milk is better than 1%. My boyfriend does not remember why this was, and I have doubts because his previous GI was not a good doctor.
At any rate, my boyfriend drinks whole milk now. And I wonder--is it really better for Crohn's? Or was the GI spouting nonsense?

EDIT: After doing some research, I think I found what that doctor was on about.
The fat soluble vitamins (A, D, E, K) are potentially easier to digest when taken with a higher-fat meal. Thus, the fat in whole milk might make it easier to digest the vitamin D in whole milk.
Fat soluble vitamins are of particular concern to my BF because he has the liver disease PSC as a manifestation of Crohn's... and PSC makes those vitamins harder to absorb as it progresses.

This leads me to a new question. Isn't there a healthier way to get fatty meals to help vitamin absorption? I mean, whole milk just has a lot of saturated fat. Wouldn't it be better to drink 1%, and get healthy fats through various oils, instead of using whole?
------------

I find whole milk to be beneficial, when it is an organic source. Regular, cheaper sources of milk bother me like crazy!
 
I don’t do dairy either anymore. Didn’t realize how intolerant I was to it until I was told to get off it. Was never one to suffer belly issues but I did always have a nasal drip. Any how, yes other sources of fat are fine. I use a lot of coconut oil or olive. I do supplement vit d
because I no long drink milk
 

Scipio

Well-known member
Location
San Diego
This leads me to a new question. Isn't there a healthier way to get fatty meals to help vitamin absorption? I mean, whole milk just has a lot of saturated fat. Wouldn't it be better to drink 1%, and get healthy fats through various oils, instead of using whole?
Yes, you are quite right. There are much healthier ways to get the proper amount of fat in your diet to ensure proper metabolism of fat-soluble vitamins. Monosaturated fats such as olive oil and oil from nuts are probably the healthiest bet. Plus, unless they are on a very fat-restricted diet for some reason, most people eating a western diet normally get more than enough fat just from routine consumption of meat, pastries, and fried foods to keep all their vitamins soluble. Adding extra milk fat is overkill.
 

Lady Organic

Moderator
Staff member
Yes, you are quite right. There are much healthier ways to get the proper amount of fat in your diet to ensure proper metabolism of fat-soluble vitamins. Monosaturated fats such as olive oil and oil from nuts are probably the healthiest bet. Plus, unless they are on a very fat-restricted diet for some reason, most people eating a western diet normally get more than enough fat just from routine consumption of meat, pastries, and fried foods to keep all their vitamins soluble. Adding extra milk fat is overkill.
I completely agree.
 
avoid milk altogether, lactose is a sugar that is in milk and can increase symptoms, cheese is extremely low in lactose, mozzerella may be the lowest, so I eat that and it gives me some calcium and protein.
 
Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (MAP) can be present in cows milk, and is very likely at least one of the pathogens involved with Crohn’s Disease. Given that, I wouldn’t drink milk at all.

Dan
 
It's likely assuming lactose intolerance - higher fat means less lactose.

When they skim the fat out they add back lactose to replace the flavor lost via removing the cream.

This is why some cheeses are lactose intolerant safe as well as butter, because they're almost all fat and no lactose.
 
Apologies if this is slightly off-topic, but a good alternative to milk could be kefir?

I started making it myself recently with whole milk. Although apparently you can make it with other types of milk, from what I've read it should be safe even if you are lactose intolerant as the lactose is lost during the fermentation process. As well as the benefits of milk like vitamin K and calcium, kefir is also probiotic.
(I can't post any URL's yet as I'm too new, but easy to google kefir if you want to read about it :) )
 
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