Paleo Diet and Paleolithic Diet Questions & Answers

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I was reading about vitamin C supplementation today, and came across a comment that cliff made about higher dairy tolerance through supplementation with vitamin C.

What's the biochemical mechanism for such action, or is it an n=1 thing?

flag	asked Feb 8 2012 at 4:30 Knarf 4,003●1●7●19

Thomy · Accepted Answer · 2012-02-08 08:58:56Z UTC

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Hi,

just a guess:

vitamin c has antihistaminic properties, so if there's an allergic reaction going on after dairy consumption, it might be possible to prevent adverse reactions with adequate vitamin c intake. (of course just in slight cases)

I don't suggest you down a whole bottle of milk when you're allergic to dairy, but if ghee gives you an upset stomach, vitamin c may possibly help in those dimensions.

PS:

http://www.jacn.org/content/11/2/172.short

answered Feb 8 2012 at 8:58

Thomy
3,134●2●5●20

This makes sense to me, but I wonder about the rationale. Are you helping treat a root cause of why dairy bothers you, or just covering up the symptoms of your reaction? If you're doing the latter, it wouldn't make the consumption of dairy any less harmful, would it? – j3wcy Feb 8 2012 at 15:56

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You're absolutely right. If we focus on vitamin c as an antihistamine it would just reduce the symptoms. The underlying cause is not treated, though. It wouldn't make dairy less harmful in case of an allergy. The question is: are you really allergic (IgE mediated), or sensitive? If the latter is the case, a gut healing program would be more promising. – Thomy Feb 8 2012 at 16:07

Dairy and Vitamin C

1 Answer