Q: My wife and I have met with a nutritionist who advised us to avoid all cow's milk products. However, she said that sheep and goat cheeses and yoghurt are acceptable. Do you agree?

Dr. Wright: Sheep and goat cheeses and yoghurt may be "acceptable" nutrition, but they're far from optimal. Long-time readers of Nutrition & Healing and the eTips have read before about the original human diet that I recommend. This diet is based on foods that our ancestors would have eaten.

Cow's milk and dairy products aren't a part of the original human diet because, put simply, no self-respecting cow would hold still for our remote ancestors to milk her! They ran like crazy when humans approached, at least until after the invention of agriculture and animal husbandry. And the same is true for sheep and goats.

You're better off avoiding all dairy products that come from animal sources.