Why dairy avoidance is now a public health risk

One in six Australian adults are avoiding milk and dairy foods — mostly without a medical diagnosis — leading to concerns over the public health impact, particularly for women.

A survey undertaken by CSIRO and the University of Adelaide found that the vast majority of dairy avoiders (74%) are making this choice to relieve adverse gastrointestinal symptoms such as cramps, bloating or wind. Far fewer participants said they exclude dairy because they don’t like the taste or because they think it’s fattening.

The study also revealed that the decision to avoid some or all dairy foods is influenced by a range of sources from outside medical practice such as the internet, media, friends or alternative practitioners.

“The scale of people restricting their diet without a medical reason is very concerning in terms of the public health implications, especially for women. It means there is potential for nutritional deficiencies or imbalances, or the risk that an underlying health condition could be going untreated,” said CSIRO’s Bella Yantcheva, behavioural scientist on the research team.

Dairy foods are especially important for women, owing to the calcium content; however, the study revealed that more women are avoiding milk and dairy foods than men.

These results follow the team’s similar findings on wheat avoidance, which showed around 10 times as many Australians than diagnosed with coeliac disease are avoiding wheat-based foods.

The study reveals that even more people are avoiding dairy products and, in fact, that around one third of the respondents avoiding dairy foods are also avoiding wheat-based foods.

“The numbers show that cutting out significant, basic food groups isn’t a fad but something far more serious,” said Yantcheva.

“It’s not just about missing out on the food type being avoided and risking your health, but also possibly overconsuming other foods to compensate as well.”

A paper on the study, ‘Food avoidance in an Australian adult population sample: the case of dairy products’, has been published in Public Health Nutrition.