Q. What can be done to rid the body of allergies and respiratory problems?

A. This has been one of the most common issues facing my patients in my 14 years of practice. My immediate response has always been that they should receive spinal adjustments (in order to stabilize the neurological signals to the lungs, which allows the lungs and sinuses to operate more efficiently) and to make certain dietary changes. The primary dietary change has been to eliminate dairy from the diet.

The jig is up with the dairy industry! In 14 years of encouraging patients to reduce or eliminate dairy from their diets, I have seen EVERY single allergy, asthma, sinus, chronic infection or inner ear infection sufferer MAKE VERY NOTICEABLE IMPROVEMENTS after reducing or eliminating dairy. Here are the reasons why. You milk and ice cream lovers may not wish to read on.

All cow milk products contain proteins that require enzymes to break them down into smaller, more manageable constituents for the body to handle. Most people are lacking the full warehouse of these enzymes. This allows for many of those constituents to remain in large unmanageable particles that the body must store somewhere. The most common areas for storage are the lungs and sinuses in the form of mucus and pus. These substances are toxic and challenge our immunity. Their very existence inhibits breathing.

Our inability to digest dairy products stems from the relatively recent historical attempt to cultivate milk as a food. I am bewildered by the thought of the first person who saw a cow chewing her cud out in the fields and decided to pull on its utters and drink whatever came out.

The human body has an innate ability to adjust to physical stresses in our environment. This includes developing enzymes, over millions of years, that are needed to break down the foods that we eat - but milk is a relatively recent food endeavor on our part. We have not fully developed those enzymes. Whatever amount of time has taken place since the milk age began, it's a far cry from the millions of years we have spent developing the enzymes needed to digest vegetables and meat sources.

Q. What about the need for calcium and protein from milk?

A. Dr. Benjamin Spock, America's leading expert on child care said to never feed children milk. It causes anemia, allergies, long term diabetes, obesity and heart disease. I am sorry to inform you that the milk-as-healthy-food myth is over. Milk is now overwhelmingly being associated with causing osteoporosis, obesity, cancer and heart disease. Every year more studies are done proving that milk is a harmful food and does not compare to green vegetables as a source of calcium.

Here are the reasons why. Pound for pound milk may have more calcium in it that veggies, but just a small portion of it is absorbed into the bones. The reason is that milk contains so much protein, that it negates the calcium absorbed into the bones. 1 gram of protein requires 1 gram of calcium to transport it to the tissues. That 1 gram of calcium is now used up. Why is it that the U.S. and Canada consume 2-3 times as much milk as Asians and yet we have 2-3 times as many bone fracture each year?

Milk causes obesity because it is laden with saturated fat and contains no fiber. It is now being linked to cancer because milk farmers are frantically trying to boost the cows' milk production by giving them steroids and inhibiting their movements within their stalls. It is now estimated that the current milking cow is being forced to produce as much as 100 lbs. of milk per day, which is 100 times more than what is would naturally produce. Also, carcinogenic pesticides remain in the cow's bodies and are transferred into the milk we drink.

In an article published on June 7th, 2005 by the Washington Post, in response to the dairy industry's claim that milk will help you lose weight, it was shown through their own study, that children who drank 3 servings of milk per day were prone to becoming overweight. It might be a helpful weight control food for healthy adults who are attempting a high protein, low carbohydrate diet, but ironically, can lead to obesity if combined with the wrong foods.

The best study so far on this subject is the famous Harvard Nurses' Health study performed 5 years ago by Harvard University. This study has essentially blown the lid off the milk industry's myth that milk is an essential part of attaining your daily requirements of calcium (which is needed to sustain strong bones and prevent osteoporosis). This study showed that 77.761 women who took in daily amounts of milk (3 or more glasses) versus those women that did not, showed no greater resistance to fractures. On the contrary, those that consumed dairy actually had a higher prevalence of fractures. This is because in order to process the high proteins in dairy, calcium is often leached from the most readily available source, your bones.

It is important to remember that with approximately 10 billion people on the planet, all with slightly varying chemical make-ups, some may be better equipped to handle certain food combinations than others. As I recommend at the end of every Q and A, follow the natural trends and decide what makes your body feel it's best.