Is Milk good or bad in PCOS?

If you have got PCOS, you may be wondering if milk is good for you or not. It includes milk and its products. By now you may be confused as some says milk is good and some says it is not good if you have got PCOS. Dr. Vibhuti Rao in this article shares her knowledge and experience with milk related to Ayurveda and modern nutrition while treating PCOS cases. 

Well, as a kid I loved milk. It was one of my favorite foods. I use to not mix anything in milk even sugar and loved drinking it slight warm. We lived in a small village where our milkmen use to bring fresh un-homogenized milk every day. I remember how my mother ruse to argue with the milkman if she could sense some water in that. I guess things were better during my mother’s time when she was a kid and she got fresh milk directly from the cow. She knew milking as she had almost 20 cows in her home. She knew the importance of fresh cow’s milk and so made sure we all fours children get fresh milk. 
Things have changed quite a lot now; we do not get fresh milk. We know milk in package form, powder form, and organic milk is costly. And moreover, people say to stop taking dairy because of the ongoing harm to animals. Always, coming to PCOS, dairy is controversial because of the quality of dairy.  I strongly believe that freshly taken milk and freshly prepared milk products are healthy and tasty. Both have changed our body’s digestive system   and quality of diary products.

What Ayurveda says about Milk-

Milk is highly praised in Ayurveda. Ayurveda talks about 8different types of milk such as cows, camel’s, buffalo’s, goat’s etc. Each one has got its own properties and action on our body. Generally, milk is believed to nourish our body tissues at deeper levels- up to shukra dhatu (reproductive system) and thus improves ojas (immunity) and promotes satva guna (peaceful mid) in us. It is sweet in taste )no need to add sugar any other sweetener to this), cooling in nature so better to drink it warm in winters and so decreases Vata and Pitta dosha and improve good Kapha in the body. It is suggested that full cream un-processed milk can be heavy to digest so better to mix with equal quantity of water, boil it and then consume it- you can add turmeric, cinnamon to help your milk digestion. Go for goat’s milk which is considered much lighter and easier to digest.

For weight loss pre-pregnancy- consume low GI food and less frequent dairy
Insulin resistance in PCOS is what questions the role of dairy in PCOS. Carbohydrates stimulates insulin release form pancreas. A study, fund that that an 8-week low starch/low dairy diet resulted in weight loss, increased insulin sensitivity, and reduced free and total testosterone in women with PCOS (1). In this study women were suggested to eat lean animal protein (meat and poultry), fish and shellfish, eggs, non-starchy vegetables, low-sugar fruits (berries, apples, oranges, plums, etc.), avocado, olives, nuts and seeds, and oils (olive and coconut). And this worked for them, they lost weight and improved male hormone.

For normal weight-pregnancy - Don’t take low fat milk, take high fat milk
I may sound wired, but this true. A study found that consuming low fat milk causes problems in ovulation which could be leading to PCOS. It is better to consume high fat milk and you can help ovulation process. Actually milk and other dairy products have nothing to ruin your fertility levels. Whole milk has high female hormone and less male hormone compared with low fat milk. Female hormone decreases insulin sensitivity and improve PCOS symptoms. So have it (2).

Final words-
Avoid high intake of dairy. Drink half glass of full fat milk every day. Make sure that it is coming fresh from the cows. If you are not sure, then better just to have once a week. But don’t exclude it fully; you will miss your vitamins and calcium. Have milk, stay fit. Let me know wat do you think about milk and its connection with PCOS.

Namaskara,
​Vaidya Vibhuti Rao

References:
1.         Phy JL, Pohlmeier AM, Cooper JA, Watkins P, Spallholz J, Harris KS, et al. Low Starch/Low Dairy Diet Results in Successful Treatment of Obesity and Co-Morbidities Linked to Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS). Journal of obesity & weight loss therapy. 2015;5(2):259.
2.         Chavarro JE, Rich-Edwards JW, Rosner B, Willett WC. A prospective study of dairy foods intake and anovulatory infertility. Human Reproduction. 2007;22(5):1340-7.