Do you know that one in every five indian women is suffering from PCOS, based on a study, and this number is increasing day by day, mainly because of an unhealthy lifestyle. You would wonder why I am sharing this information with you. What is PCOS? How harmful is it? Are you suffering from PCOS? Do we need to know about it? What is the relation between dairy with PCOS? I know all of these questions are popping into your mind's window, and I'll clear all of them before your window hangs... Hahaha....
What is polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS)?
Polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) is a hormonal disorder commonly diagnosed in women presenting with infertility. PCOS is not a disease but a syndrome, a lifelong health condition that can only be controlled with a proper diet and also ideal body weight. In simple words, it is a hormonal imbalance in which women produce more male hormones called androgens.
Symptoms of PCOS
Symptoms of PCOS include excessive body hair, facial hair, acne breakouts, and polycystic ovaries (development of small cysts in the ovary). This affects women's ovaries, causing a problem in ovulation, resulting in irregular or skipped periods. Suppose you are also facing weight gain, fatigue, thinning hair, infertility, pelvic pain, headaches, mood swings, and sleeping disorders. In that case, there is a probability that you have PCOS and you need to see a gynaecologist at the earliest. There is a probability that you have PCOS, and you need to see a gynaecologist at the earliest.
Why do you need to see a gynaecologist ASAP?
Early diagnosis of PCOS is important because, as I told you earlier that it is not a disease that can be cured with some medication or treatment, but a syndrome that has no medication to absolutely cure it to date, but the severity of this condition can be reduced by changing lifestyle. PCOS, if not cured on time, can lead to severe medical conditions and an increased risk of diseases like type 2 diabetes, insulin resistance, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, heart diseases, etc.
Gynaecologists believe that it is important to have a diet that is rich or high in protein but contains fewer carbohydrates for any person suffering from PCOS. They tend to ignore its symptoms and don't care enough about it.
Girls and women suffering from PCOS exhibit a range of symptoms. Most symptoms begin shortly after puberty, and they can also develop during late teens and into early adulthood. All said and done about PCOS, this wasn't to scare you, but to make you aware. Now you might be thinking that the article's name is related to dairy with PCOS, which I still haven't linked. Well, I'll do that now.
Why is Dairy bad for PCOS?
Dairy milk is just like breast milk in the sense that both kinds of milk have a hormone called insulin growth factor 1 (IGF-1). This hormone is wonderful and is much needed when you are an infant because it helps you to grow quickly. That's why babies need this a lot, but when you are an adult, you have already gained the required amount of weight, and you are no longer in need of the IGF-1 hormone.
When an adult consumes dairy milk, their body produces an excess of IGF-1 hormone, which mimics the function of insulin, storing the excess glucose as fat in our bloodstream, which leads to excess weight gain, which women with PCOS usually face because they already have higher-than-normal insulin levels. This extra insulin produced by the pancreas also stimulates our ovaries to produce more testosterone, which leads to all other symptoms of PCOS, like excess hair, male-type baldness, irregular periods, and weight gain. This is one side of the story. What's on the other side?
The other side of the story is, what if you don't produce enough insulin? Or what if you are insulin-resistant? Insulin resistance means that you are not able to utilise the insulin produced by your body effectively, due to your body producing higher levels of insulin to keep your blood sugar level normal. Insulin resistance may be caused by having a body mass index (BMI) above the normal range. Insulin resistance can make it harder to lose weight, which is why women with PCOS often struggle with weight gain issues.
Glycaemic Index
I think most of you know about or at least have heard about the glycaemic index. It is a way to measure the glucose response in your bloodstream when you consume a certain food. So, women with PCOS are always advised to eat foods that have a low glycaemic index so that they won't cause spikes in their blood sugar, because it will create an imbalance between insulin and blood sugar.
Insulin Index
I think you might not be aware of the insulin index. It is an index that shows how our insulin levels respond when we eat a certain food. So women with PCOS are already struggling with insulin resistance, which means they already have high levels of insulin in their bloodstreams. So when they consume food with a high insulin index, it only exacerbates the condition, making their body produce more insulin, which is bad for their body.
Now I have shocking news for you. Dairy, although it has a very low glycaemic index but has an incredibly high insulin index. Yes, you read that right. That's why we need to know that if dairy milk and dairy products are the cause of PCOS, then we should give up on dairy milk? What are the other sources of nutrients that we get from milk? Is there any other alternative? Let's talk about it...
Treating the root cause of PCOS always comes back to managing insulin levels. Once our insulin level is normal, it will lead to a normal testosterone level, which will finally start to normalise and improve all the symptoms of PCOS, that is, you can now lose stubborn fat, have acne-free skin and stop excess hair growth.
Ditching Dairy for PCOS
Gynaecologists believe that it is important to have a diet that is rich or high in protein but contains fewer carbohydrates for any person suffering from PCOS. Dairy milk, although high in protein, has a high content of carbohydrates too. So, the best-known alternative can be plant-based oat milk made out of grains, nuts, and fruits, which is low in carbohydrates and has all the required protein in it, just like dairy milk.
Now, going dairy-free is not at all easy. People took years to go dairy-free because of the lack of alternatives and substitutes available in the market. But this is not the case anymore. We at Dancing Cow will provide you with oat milk, which is very close to dairy milk in terms of its taste, texture, colour, consistency, etc. So, oat milk is the best alternative available in the market today.
PCOS is an emerging health problem during adolescence. Therefore, the promotion of healthy lifestyles and early interventions is required to avoid future morbidities. Opting for oat milk and products will help you maintain proper balance in your hormones, and you do not secrete excess unnecessary hormones, which cause problems like acne breakouts, baldness, weight gain, irregular periods, etc.
If you are suffering from PCOS and have all the symptoms of PCOS and want to get rid of them, I would highly recommend you take a dairy-free diet for at least one month to see the changes in your body yourself. Because researchers have scientifically proven that dairy products have negative effects on PCOS, which can make its symptoms go from bad to worse.
Oat Milk for PCOS
Oat milk is very beneficial in this case because it makes your face acne-free, reduces hair loss, fixes your menstruation cycle and can also help you to reduce weight, which is considered the most important thing to be fit and in shape for women. This is proven because it helps balance the insulin and sugar levels in your body.
Now you might be thinking that although oat milk is such a close substitute to dairy milk in physical terms, what about the other nutrients present in dairy milk, are they present in oat milk? Here I have some good news for you. Yes, all the other nutrients present in dairy milk are fortified in oat milk. So you can still enjoy the same taste and nutrients at the same time without having the fear of aggravated symptoms of PCOS caused by the consumption of dairy milk.
Did you know that if minor PCOS symptoms are not taken care of in the early stages, it can lead to a risk of developing various other health complications such as hypertension, high cholesterol, anxiety and depression, sleep apnea, heart attack, diabetes, and endometrial, ovarian and breast cancer? Women who have PCOS have a higher rate of miscarriage, gestational diabetes, premature delivery, etc.
Hence, the age-old saying goes: prevention is better than a cure. It is better to take care of these symptoms of PCOS by shifting towards oat milk rather than consuming dairy milk, which could make the symptoms worse.