As an enthusiastic consumer of cheese, yogurt, butter, buttermilk and all things dairy, I’m dismayed that so many people consider these products unwholesome. I associate dairy foods with Heidi, happy cows, spring grass and strong bones. I eat cheese every day and—not boasting here, just saying—I can still fit into my decades-old wedding dress. (Why I know this is another story.) So it was unsettling to read that a majority of respondents in a survey of New Englanders agreed that “dairy products are bad for my health” or were uncertain. Maybe you are uncertain, too.

America’s dairy farmers are feeling threatened by the growing interest in plant-based alternatives to milk like soy, almond and oat milks. Lab-engineered “cheese” is also on the horizon. No wonder the American Dairy Science Association titled its recent conference “Why Cheese from Milk?” and summoned experts to make the case for dairy products. The American Cheese Society collaborated with ASDA on the conference.

I couldn’t attend the conference, but I did listen to some of the recorded presentations and wanted to share a few thought-provoking comments I heard about dairy products and health. Email me at janet@janetfletcher.com if you’d like citations for any of these statements.

Mammals have produced milk for their young for millions of years, with clear evolutionary benefit. Milk is designed for optimum nutrition. Humans are the only mammals that drink milk as adults but we’ve been doing it for thousands of years. Could such long-term behavior be bad for us?

Dairy foods provide essential nutrients, like calcium, phosphorus and potassium, that aren’t easily replaced without supplements. As for calcium, our bodies absorb it better in small doses thoughout the day rather than as a single daily supplement.
Nut milks provide little or no potassium and phosphorus. It’s not easy to achieve a dairy-free diet that provides enough of these essential micronutrients.
For all age groups in the U.S., total dairy consumption is dropping. Yet dairy foods are vital for bone health. Calcium helps build bone mass in young people and protects against bone loss in older adults. Adolescents who don’t build enough bone mass are at high risk of fractures later in life.
Our bodies don’t absorb all the nutrients we ingest, and what’s important for health is absorption. Here’s an interesting chart comparing calcium absorption of several calcium-rich foods. Cheese isn’t on the chart but it is comparable to milk.

Source: Connie Weaver, Distinguished Research Professor in Exercise and Nutritional Sciences, San Diego State University

Our bodies don’t actually need protein. They need the amino acids that are the building blocks of protein. And our bodies do a far better job of absorbing the amino acids from milk protein than from plant protein.
Cheese concentrates the health-promoting components of milk, such as calcium and protein. In rennet-coagulated cheeses—which is most cheese apart from some soft types, like fresh goat cheese—calcium and protein are much higher in the cheese than in the milk. (Alas, cheese also concentrates the calories.)
Contrary to what many people think, consuming whole dairy foods correlates with positive health outcomes. A British post-mortem study found that dairy consumers have a significantly lower risk of cardiovascular mortality and stroke than dairy avoiders.

Personally, I don’t eat cheese for my health. I eat it because I like it and because I enjoy the ritual of the cheese course. But it’s good to know that nutition science provides no compelling reason to stop.