Chinese Medicine and Dairy
Chinese Medicine and Dairy
Published on December 20th, 2009 @ 01:18:45 am , using 1135 words, 3905 views
by Eric Brand
In the West, we often hear people talk about dairy in the context of TCM, where it is invariably implicated as a number one culprit when it comes to dampness and phlegm. However, while I admit that I am no expert on this subject, I’ve never seen dairy singled out or specifically mentioned in Chinese texts in any way that mirrors the common Western assumption about it. Consequently, I can’t help but wonder if this common assumption is something that is getting superimposed on Chinese medicine by the Western mind. Is this idea about dairy and dampness an authentic TCM concept, or is it just something that got loosely assimilated into TCM by osmosis from popular ideas in the surrounding Western culture?
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I’m not an expert on dietary therapy in Chinese medicine. However, I love food and at one time I thought about doing a book on dietary therapy, so I read and amassed dozens of Chinese dietary materia medica texts. Throughout those texts and all the normal Chinese texts on internal medicine, gynecology, etc, I never saw any really distinctive discussion of dairy specifically, other than the actions of various dairy products themselves. Thus, I think that the Western idea about dairy may be a bit exaggerated in TCM terms, or at least it may be something that comes from Western observation but lacks detailed elaboration in Chinese source materials.
To be sure, the modern spectrum of dairy products is different than the dairy in days gone by. Things like yogurt, old-world cheeses, and even heated milk are thought to be easier on the digestion than straight up ultra-pasteurized half-and-half and ice cream in Western culture. In Chinese society, yogurt is one of the most common traditional dairy products (especially in the North), though now hot and cold milk are common in tea, milkshakes, coffee, etc.
Despite the fact that lactose intolerance should genetically be a bigger problem in Asia, the idea of lactose intolerance hardly even exists in China. Maybe they just don’t overdo it and maybe their natural immunity is higher because of the environment and the diversity of the diet, but for whatever reason lactose intolerance is just not on the radar. Tons of people down milkshakes without a care in the world.
In the old days, dairy wasn’t pasteurized and refrigerated, so it could be argued that Chinese medicine never traditionally had much experience with the products we now use (nor did they have the European culture of cheese). It could also be argued that they never ate way too much dairy, so they would have been unlikely to ascribe adverse effects to it.
Whatever the reason, dairy doesn’t seem to be specifically implicated in the primary Chinese literature at all, it isn’t singled out for dampness or phlegm or anything like that. Chinese books constantly talk about fatty, fried, sticky, rich and sweet foods as producing dampness and heat, and of course many dairy products fit into this category. But to the best of my knowledge, the idea that dairy is somehow in its own category or uniquely more problematic than other fatty and sweet foods is a Western concept, not a native TCM idea. Maybe this idea is totally valid or maybe it is exaggerated, but it merits further study (have any readers out there seen dairy singled out in the Chinese literature?).
In Chinese medicine, dairy is closely related to blood. Both hair and mother’s milk are said to be products produced from blood, and both hair and blood are ascribed actions that are related to the blood in TCM. There are many milk products listed in Chinese materia medica texts, for example:
Human Milk: Balanced; sweet and salty; nontoxic. Enters the heart, lung, and stomach channels. It supplements the blood and moistens dryness. Human milk treats vacuity taxation with marked emaciation; vacuity wind paralysis; dispersion-thirst; dysphagia and occlusion (ye ge); dry, bound stool; blood-vacuity amenorrhea; and red eyes. It is often dried to a powder before use.
Cow’s Milk: Balanced; sweet. Enters heart and lung channels. It supplements vacuity, boosts the lung and stomach, engenders liquid and moistens the intestines. Cow’s milk treats vacuity taxation; stomach reflux; dysphagia and occlusion (ye ge); dispersion-thirst; and constipation. Boil before use. Use with care in spleen-stomach vacuity cold diarrhea and in center phlegm-damp accumulations.
Goat’s Milk: Warm, sweet. It warms, moistens, and supplements vacuity, and treats vacuity taxation with marked emaciation; dispersion-thirst (xiao ke); stomach relux; hiccough; mouth sores; lacquer sores. Oral: drink boiled. Topical: apply to the affected area.
Soy Milk (not dairy, I know!): Balanced, sweet. Supplements vacuity and moistens dryness; clears the lungs and transforms phlegm. Treats vacuity taxation cough; phlegm-fire wheezing and panting; constipation; strangury-turbidity. If it is burnt on the pot, it is a separate medicinal that opens the stomach, disperses stagnation, and expels accumulations, frees strangury, and supplements the blood. It treats stomach reflux; dysentery; blood and vacuity strangury; intestinal wind bleeding; blood wind sores.
Camel’s Milk: Warm, sweet, nontoxic. Supplements the center and boosts qi; strengthens the sinews and bones.
Donkey’s Milk: Cold, sweet. Treats dispersion-thirst (xiao ke); jaundice; child fright epilepsy; wind-heat red eyes.
Horse’s Milk: Cool, sweet, nontoxic. Supplements the blood and moistens dryness; clears heat and allays thirst. Treats blood vacuity; heat vexation; vacuity taxation steaming bone; dispersion-thirst (xiao ke); teeth “gan.”
Coconut Milk (not dairy but just for fun, yum): Warm, sweet, nontoxic. It treats dispersion-thirst (xiao ke); vomiting of blood; water swelling; and wind-heat.
Butter Oil (ghee, I assume): Sweet, balanced. Enriches yin, moistens dryness, and allays thirst. Treats lung wilting; coughing of pus and blood; dispersion-thirst (xiao ke); constipation; wind impediment; itchy skin.
Butter: Slightly cold, nontoxic. Treats liver, spleen, lung, kidney, and large intestine. Supplements the five viscera, boosts qi and blood, allays thirst and moistens dryness. Treats yin vacuity taxation fever; lung wilting with cough; blood ejection; dispersion-thirst; constipation; dry skin; mouth sores.
No cheese in the materia medica. A shame, because I’d like to know exactly how it is that manchego cures all that ails me.
All in all, cow’s milk appears to be the only product that is specifically contraindicated for dampness. Of course, any sweet food (warm or cold alike) should be used cautiously with dampness, but nonetheless TCM may not make dairy out to be the big evil source of phlegm that it is often associated with in the West. Obviously we will always joke about eating a pint of ice cream to “tonify dampness” amongst other acupuncturists, and indeed a pint of ice cream does surely produce some dampness. But more than normal fatty, sweet, and rich foods just because it is dairy? On this point, I’m not convinced.
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Great article! It seems as though the whole concept of TCM dietary therapy in the US is confounded by the popularity of Paul Pitchford's book and other macrobiotic writers. Of course that tradition is quite valuable, but should be distinguished from Chinese medicine. Manchego, eh? For me, the sweet blandness of mozzarella is a panacea!
Don't get me started on Paul Pitchford's book. It pains me to no end that people use that intensely biased, non-source-based lay text as a guide to what Chinese medicine has to say. We need authenticity and literature based on primary sources, it really bothers me when people sell their own personal agenda (anti-animal products, in this case) under the guise of Chinese medicine.
In India, unlike China, dairy products are abundant. Indeed, the products of the cow are worshipped, along with cows. According to Ayurveda, milk is a near perfect food for humans. However, it is recommended that it be taken warm, mixed with a bit of ghee (clarified butter), unheated honey, and some ginger. The recommendation is also not to eat more than about a half cup of yogurt a day, since it is quite sour instead of sweet like milk. Dairy in general soothes vata (air) and pitta (fire) doshas and increases kapha dosha (water and earth humor) so it is indeed dampness-inducing, aggravated kapha being indicated by phlegm. 
You are now officially my hero. I don't think there's been a day in my life when I didn't eat dairy in some form and I have never had a single problem with dampness. That includes the summer I spent in Europe nurturing a love-affair with wine, gelato, French and Italian foods in all their forms, and German beer. If a month solid of French pastry (along with a few more months of booze, cheese, pasta, and ice cream) doesn't create dampness, I'm not sure what will.I see your Manchego and raise you some cave-aged Gruyere. Yum.
Pitchford's book was a required text for my TCM nutrition class. One day, while bombing down Boulder canyon, my car's brakes went out. Relying on my agile mind and nerves of steel, I quickly tied a rope around my copy of "Healing with Whole Foods" and threw it out the window. Acting as a land anchor, the massive text brought my car to a shuddering halt, proving that the text is somewhat practically, if not clinically, useful. I see your Manchego, your Mozzarella, and your Gruyere, and raise you a Brie.
Hi Eric,To question the reasoning behind TCM practitioners’ oft given advice to our patients; to avoid cow’s milk dairy and cow’s milk dairy products, is an important conversation for we professionals to engage in. Subhuti Dharmananda wrote an excellent article on this subject published online entitled, “Giving Out Bad Advice? Why Natural Health Care Practitioners Need To Be Careful About Recommending Restricting Dairy Products”. His list of “Avoidance Problems” should be carefully considered by practitioners. As a published author who writes widely about TCM dietary therapy and modern nutrition, I’d like to add my professional voice to this important discussion based on my research and on my clinical experience.
Over my 20 years in scholarly food research, and nearly 10 years in clinical practice as a TCM practitioner, I have changed my tune a about the big “avoid all dairy” advice I used to dole out to nearly all of my patients. There are numerous patients whom I treat that I advise not to go near dairy. They are usually cow’s milk protein allergic (as Dx’d by a blood test), have severe unrelenting eczema, and have severe spleen qi vacuity dampness. While I advise some patients to avoid it for a therapeutic amount of time, for others I advise avoidance forever, and for some not avoidance is needed (however I suggest they only take organic cows milk products). As I said to practitioners in my book, and as I tell all of my patients, “Let this be your mantra, “Moderation in Everything”. That said the definition of moderation should be different for each patient based on numerous factors, such as constitution, pattern Dx, treatment Rx, therapeutic goals, and the presence of lactose intolerance or milk protein allergy. The latter is very common in my patient population, and in many cultures such as: Italians, Africans, Middle Easterners, Latinos and Asians, and in premature infants. In fact cow’s milk allergy is the most common allergy found in infants and young children. Luckily, most kids will outgrow the allergy and be able to enjoy ice cream parties and pizza with their friends! I also see many patients who have a milk protein allergy.
I agree with the classification of cow’s milk’s properties that Eric published, that is, if the cows you are talking about were raised hormones and antibiotics free, were grass fed and ingested as raw. Because this is how it the ancient Chinese took milk, unprocessed and raw straight from the organic grass fed cow, within hours of the milking. But I have to argue appoint with you Eric, in terms of the nature of the food, we have to compare apples to apples here. In these modern times, with the questionable modern “feed” used for cows (rather grass grazing), the ample use of antibiotics and hormones and the pasteurization process, your comparison is apples to oranges. Pasteurization processing removes much of Cow’s milk nutritive properties (although Dharmananda disagrees that the science behind this claim is valid), and it kills most digestive enzymes which die at a temperature above 115 degrees Fahrenheit. And very importantly, antibiotics are largely considered as cold natured within the TCM community, that said, the cows treated with antibiotics are likely producing, not neutral natured, but cool natured milks. I do not know how, nor do I have a theory about the hormones might effect cow’s milk nature. Anyone got any ideas?
With the absence or significant reduction of proteins, and digestive enzymes in most non-organic cow’s milk, and the possibility that this milk is actually cool in nature should change the course of our conversation about which patients should avoid cows’ milk, at least for a course of therapy, or for overall health reasons, that patients avoid non-organic milk and if it is at all safe possible, to drink raw cow’s milk. Drinking raw cow’s milk is a responsibility that should only be taken on by patients who live on a dairy farm, or very nearby to one so that they can quickly consume the milk before bad bacteria grows in it. Author and proponent of raw cow’s milk of raw milk is Nina Planck, who penned Real Food and Real Food for Mother and Baby discuss how to obtain and properly store raw milk. I recommended the latter book to all female patients under my care for fertility and during pregnancy. And, admittedly I have never advised a patient to drink raw milk, because we live in NYC and I am concerned that the raw milk we get here might have already spoiled, so the risks seem greater then the benefits. I am down with her argument for drinking raw milk, and wish I had room for a cow to graze in my NYC apartment so that I could procure fresh, raw milk for my family. We would eat crème fraiche atop fresh berries daily! LOL. Of course, I also wish that my son was not severely allergic to cow’s milk protein, so our family could all benefit from the full fat, enzymes and minerals found in cow’s milk, yogurts and cheeses, but we keep all the foods he allergic to out of the home –okay-okay- I admit I keep organic half and half in the home for my morning organic, free-trade dark coffee and eat Greek strained yogurt twice a week at work, but I fully avoided dairy whilst breast-feeding which cured his severe eczema. Once I eliminated the dairy, I also lost the baby weight in a snap. At home, we get necessary nutrients found in cow’s milk from other sources. But, statistics are on our side that our son will grow out of this health problem in a few years. Keep your fingers crossed for him! Anyway, in closing, I want to reiterate, “Everything in Moderation”!
Truly,
Juliette Aiyana, Author of Chinese Medicine & Healthy Weight Management An Evidence-based Integrated Approach.
Shawn, you never cease to crack me the hell up!!! LMAO!!! Dear Juliette, thanks for the great feedback. I tried to make the point that we can't compare apples to oranges by assuming that modern pasteurized milk would be comparable to the traditional Chinese product, and I agree with your assessment. Modern milk may indeed be problematic for many patients, especially with cold-damp conditions and spleen vacuity. However, I was just trying to point out that this understanding is probably a modern one that may be related to Western cultural influence rather than traditional theory. Of course, that doesn't make it any less valid but it may be an area where there is not yet complete consensus. 
Only one person seems to have made a tangential remark to dairy consumed in other countries. I have lived and traveled in nearly 30 countries around the world. My experience of consuming rich food in general and dairy in particular, leads me to believe that the quality of these foods that we consume in the USA is somehow harder to digest than that in other countries. This conclusion is from my personal experience, and that of many of my patients who have had extended travels abroad. Possible culprits? Excessive pesticide use, herbicide use, homogenization, antibiotic use, as well as an industry-wide lack of green grass grazing (most dairy cattle are fed grains). The stuff we're consuming isn't really what they body wants or needs. Add to that over-consumption and less physical activity, and pathogenic dampness becomes a reality. Also, when I do manage to get patients to cut back on dairy (who are usually excessive consumers), the dampness usually subsides. We may be over-exaggerating its significance, but I don't think it's without reason. Finally, you mention that dairy may create dampness "But more than normal fatty, sweet, and rich foods just because it is dairy? On this point, I’m not convinced." Of course, everybody is unique, but I think that dairy may be the most often consumed food in the "fatty, sweet, and rich food" category in the U.S. (for instance, research the average per-person intake of cheese and ice cream in the U.S.) 
Excellent post Eric. Very informative! I always thought coconut milk was cooling...glad to read it wasnt. Thanks for the well researched post. 
Interesting topic, as well as responses.Guys I think that we all are missing the point. Please return to basics: "Everything is related to everything". I nature does not exist chemistry, physics, electricity or any other human "sciences" separately. In old times natural (healthy) bacterias in the milk worked as digeestive enzymes and when you heat the milk before drinking you obviously growing them more, therefore making it easy to digest. When I grew up in Europe i remember (jeez I must be old) that if you boght the milk and did not drink it in one or two days it went sour (as those healthy bacterias worked) and gain even different properties while it was even easier to digest (sort of yoghurt kind). These days milk survive weeks, but then it will rot. You think that this is natural process? Again back to basics. Same as in our bodies we contain prenatal and postnatal energy, so does everything in the nature. Unfortunately that postnatal energy due to "unfinitive wisdom of humankind" and alterations by pasterisation, chemical additives, mechanical disturbing and do not forget the feeding and anvironment of cows is very altered and definitely not healthy.
So back to original topic. Were dairy products in the old times phlegm forming? Yes, but nature provided naturaly ways how to help to balance this property. Today the balance does not exist and unless my patients do not have fresh milk from the farm where the cows are naturally raised I will still advise my patients not to take it.
By the way exactly for this reason I am looking for farmer who will sell me fresh milk, so I can make dairy products myself (including cheese). Despite the fact that I am living in the central Alberta (famous for beef industry) I did not find anyone (Hint enyone?).
Thanks for the great blogs! Any comments on the recent cow's milk A1/A2 protein controversy in "Devil in the Milk" by Keith Woodford? He claims most dairy cow breeds in North America produce the toxic A1 protein. http://www.chelseagreen.com/bookstore/item/devil_in_the_milk:paperback/foreword 
Hey Folks! This intelligent, lighthearted, and useful dialogue makes mehappy. I love to see TCM, OB-Gyn, pediatric, toxicological, genetic,
epigenitic, and nutritional perspectives come together, especially when it
comes to something as contentious as dairy--an often soured staple of our
land of milk and Honey-Nut-Cheerios. After hearing one particular Macro
lecturer basically claim all milk is evil no matter what/where/who and claim
this came from TCM, I became very suspicious.
Thanks for doing the legwork and checking the source texts Eric.
As a TCM practitioner and "Foodie," dietary therapy is a large part of my
practice. My personal clinical approach with dairy--as with anything else
really,--is to use food avoidance as a last resort. That is, bascially push
good/great foods and arm Pt's with info about the nature/effect of foods to
which they show high sensitivity--both from a TCM as well as S-IgA or IgG
standpoint. This way they restrict themselves, and it's not me keeping them
from their manchego. And if (or when) they do have some, they know to wash
it down with some hot ginger tea instead of ice cold Coke.
To sum up what I--and probably everyone else is trying to say--it's all
about the POSITIVE and INDIVIDUALIZED moderation! :)
Check out this short bit on dairy:
www.AcuAtlanta.net/really-want-milk-a-219.html
I studied acupuncture in Zhegiang Provence in 1984. In the local Hangzhou markets near where I lived I could purchase milk directly from large metal containers. It was ladled out into a cup for either 2 fen or 10 fen or something a little bit expensive for the locals, and was in short supply, as was everything else. It was sweetened with sugar or something as well. Another thought. Here in Australia I think the way milk is being processed has changed over the last 20 years. Also, you can purchase over 30 variations of milk now.
As a child I avoided milk, dairy products, sweets and fats. Now, since I take Chinese herbs and have had many years of acupuncture I can eat these things in moderation, and drink alcohol as well, but unfortunately I still gain weight. So I'll raise you my spare tyre!
nice and informative post!! 
The best thing to do is just have people eliminate dairy totally for a week and see if their symptoms improve. Then have them reintroduce dairy for a couple days and see if they reappear. If symptoms don't get better dairy isn't much of an issue for that person. If they do, that's when you recommend they switch to camel's milk. Otherwise there's no point to singling out dairy over other damp foods. 
I am not a TCM practitioner, however I am a patient. I hope you don't mind me commenting here. I have read he Pitchford book. I am on of the many who have food intolerances after getting a parasite from travel. I proceeded to avoid milk, sugar, gluten, and now am going light on rice and corn - All but rice I have been diagnosed as intolerant to. After I recently had a breakthrough using a Fruehoff type Gu formula, I could suddenly digest milk and other things much better. Eating a simple vegetable and meat diet left me unsatisfied and feeling tired. I feel the milk is helping my deficiency and moistening my body. My skin looks better and more radiant. I absolutely crave milk- which I drink warm with honey or ghee (organic lowest heat pasteurized grassfed milk - I'd get raw if I could). I thought I was lactose intolerant for 14 years and have avoided milk for many years. I now drink it with no upset stomach or elimination problems. To me this this shows that our food allergies our more complex and what could be a poison to a person, can be medicine to that same person at a different time in their treatment depending on the "weather" in their body. I am going to continue with it and see if it continues to make me feel good. 
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