Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Hey brain Stuff. I'm Lauren Wogelbaum, and this is another
Speaker 1: classic episode of the podcast. In this one, we get
Speaker 1: to the bottom of a much repeated but completely untrue
Speaker 1: a myth that consuming dairy products increases your mucus production.
Speaker 1: Hey brain Stuff, Lauren Vogelbaum. Here, medical myths are stubborn.
Speaker 1: Going back to ancient China, texts associated the consumption of
Speaker 1: milk with a thickening of phlegm, and twelfth century Jewish
Speaker 1: physician Moses Maimonds wrote in his Treatise on Asthma that
Speaker 1: milk could cause quote a stuffing in the head that
Speaker 1: exacerbated symptoms of asthma. Eight hundred years later, Dr Spock,
Speaker 1: a twentieth century American pediatrician who wrote a popular book
Speaker 1: about baby care, directed parents to limit dairy while babies
Speaker 1: were sick, especially with upper respiratory infections. For new only
Speaker 1: a thousand years, medical professionals have been telling us to
Speaker 1: lay off the dairy or face the mucus consequences. But
Speaker 1: is it true. A review of the literature published in
Speaker 1: September eighteen in the journal Archives of Disease in Childhood
Speaker 1: concludes that there is virtually no connection between dairy products
Speaker 1: and upper respiratory mucus, and that the myth might actually
Speaker 1: be preventing children with conditions like asthma, cystic fibrosis, or
Speaker 1: even the common cold from getting enough nutrients like calcium.
Speaker 1: According to the review, studies dating back to have indicated
Speaker 1: that there's no link between milk and phlegm, but the
Speaker 1: myth is pervasive. A two thousand three study in the
Speaker 1: journal Appetite asked three hundred and forty five random Australian
Speaker 1: shoppers whether they thought milk causes mucus. Of the hundred
Speaker 1: and eleven shoppers who drank whole milk, almost half of
Speaker 1: them were of the opinion that it did, but only
Speaker 1: of the one reduced fat milk drinkers so that they
Speaker 1: believed milk caused mucus. The difference in perception might have
Speaker 1: something to do with how milk feels in the mouth.
Speaker 1: It is, after all, just droplets of fat suspended in water,
Speaker 1: the current researchers wrote in their review. This could well
Speaker 1: affect the sensory perception of milk mixed with saliva, both
Speaker 1: in terms of its thickness coating the mouth, and the
Speaker 1: after feel when small amounts of emulsion remain in the
Speaker 1: mouth after swallowing. This may explain why so many people
Speaker 1: think that more mucus is produced, when in fact it's
Speaker 1: the aggregates of milk emulsion that they are aware of
Speaker 1: lingering in the mouth after swallowing, so it's really just
Speaker 1: a feeling, not a fact. And Furthermore, the researchers suggest
Speaker 1: that since milk is a good source of calories and
Speaker 1: minerals like calcium, the long standing cultural belief that milk
Speaker 1: is bad for children with respiratory problems could mean kids
Speaker 1: aren't getting the nutrients they need. This could lead children
Speaker 1: growing up with weaker bones and shorter stature. Today's episode
Speaker 1: is based on the article The Milk and Mucus Mint
Speaker 1: Busted on houstuffworks dot com, written by Jesslon Shields. Brain
Speaker 1: Stuff is production of Our Heart Radio in partnership with
Speaker 1: houstuffworks dot Com, and it's produced by Tyler Clang. Four
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