Are Eggs Dairy? [Video]

Video: Are Eggs Dairy?

Dr. Vicki Peterson addresses a common misconception about dairy products and eggs, clarifying that they are not the same. Dairy comes from cows, while eggs come from chickens. This confusion often stems from food pyramid images grouping them together. While people frequently have dairy intolerances, egg allergies are less common. Eggs are generally a great food, provided they come from well-fed hens without antibiotics or hormones. Unlike dairy, which often poses long-term issues for those with gluten intolerance, egg sensitivities are usually temporary. Dr. Peterson encourages questions and aims to educate on health topics.

Transcript of the video

Hello, Dr. Vicki Peterson here. I wanted to speak with you today about a very common misconception that many Americans have—the difference between dairy products and eggs. Aren’t they the same?

We work a lot with patients’ diets, and we often find that people are intolerant to dairy products. They often come back and say, “I’m just going to miss eggs too much; they’re such a good food, and I don’t see why I can’t have eggs.” We quickly let them know that eggs are not dairy products, which often leads to a quizzical look.

Dairy products come from cows—they’re mammals, and they lactate. Eggs come from chickens—they lay their eggs. These are very different animals. Sometimes people get embarrassed, wondering why they thought a cow and a chicken had any commonality. This confusion stems from the food pyramid.

Growing up, we were introduced to the USDA food pyramid in school. Even in current food pyramids, though not the ones I recommend, you will see a picture with a bottle of milk, a piece of cheese, and eggs. As good students, we programmed into our brains that this was the dairy products section. We were led astray—eggs are not dairy products.

Can people react to eggs or have egg allergies? Certainly, they can, but nowhere near as often as dairy intolerance. In my 25 years of practice, I’ve found that eggs are a great food. You want to try to get eggs from hens that have been fed well and not given antibiotics or hormones. We are what we eat and what we eat eats. It’s important to know what the hen was fed because that will reflect in the health of the egg.

We don’t run into the problems with eggs the way we do with dairy products. From a gluten intolerance standpoint, dairy products are very commonly found to be a problem, whereas eggs occasionally are. Eggs can be cross-reactive, meaning the body can confuse the protein of gluten for the protein in eggs. This is usually a temporary problem until we can strengthen the immune system, after which the person typically does fine with eggs. In contrast, dairy products tend to be a more permanent problem 80% of the time.

Personally, I don’t recommend trying to get back on dairy products, but that’s what the science has found. I wanted to clarify this common misconception so you don’t miss out on eggs just because you’re avoiding dairy products, thinking they’re the same thing.

Let me know if you had this confusion too, as we find it very commonly. Please share any other questions you have regarding this or any other health topics because I’m here to educate and help. I hope this was informative, and until next time, I wish you very good health.

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