Winters in Chicago are legendary: in addition to freezing temperatures, there are gusts of icy wind and the occasional slap in the face from a slimy snowstorm. So I was sure my sinus infections were a result of living and working in the middle of the Windy City and maybe a bit of bad luck or some weird genetic inclination to get sinus infections after every minor cold.
Doctors used to prescribe me different antibiotics, which constantly upset my stomach and made me feel even sicker and weaker. I felt miserable and seemed to have reached a dead end.
One day I talked to my uncle, who is a scientist and researcher in Switzerland, and he told me that my condition must have something to do with dairy products. It was over a decade from now, so the idea that dairy products could cause sinus infection blew my mind; it was just hard to believe. Our grandparents and great-grandparents didn’t drink milk and weren’t well… or were they?
I decided to give this idea a try. After five days without dairy, I felt great. My congestion was relieved, but not completely gone. It took another week to see all the symptoms of chronic congestion and sinus infection disappear. Not a single pill swallowed!
So does this mean dairy is actually not good for you? The answer is, it depends.
The culprit ingredient in chronic congestion and sinus infections is casein, found in all dairy products. It encourages the growth of Candida Albicans, a type of flora that tells your body to produce nasal mucus.
Studies show that the highest amounts of casein are found in cheeses. Goat’s milk contains only small amounts of the allergenic casein and is generally easier to digest than cow’s milk. However, goat’s milk is not casein-free, as is sometimes wrongly suggested.
Of course, it is not easy to completely eliminate dairy products from the diet, especially since they are “hidden” in cakes, soups, ice cream and so many other things that we cannot imagine our lives without.
In most cases, if dairy products are indeed the culprit in your sinus infections, cutting back on dairy products, especially cheese, will produce a satisfactory result.
You should definitely experiment and find out which products have the most negative effect on your condition. Go a week without any dairy products and see if your sinusitis goes away. If so, try adding something like a glass of milk if you like, and anything else you’d normally eat that contains dairy, but avoid cheese.
If severe congestion returns, you must make the decision to continue living with it or eliminate most dairy products from your diet. If not, slowly add some cheese and see how you feel. In most cases, cheese is the biggest culprit and should trigger a sinus infection or severe congestion.
And what about our ancestors, who supposedly ate a lot of dairy and were fine? First of all, we don’t know for sure if they were okay or just assumed that many ailments were an inevitable part of life.
On the other hand, our great-grandparents weren’t bombarded by as many chemicals and pollutants as we are today, so maybe dairy didn’t trigger any allergies. In our case, we are swimming in pollution and man-made chemical materials, so you never know what a tipping point might be for us to get sick.
And by the way, we are the only mammals that continue to drink milk after weaning.