A drawback for all seafood lovers, a word of caution is often cited along with the consumption of fish and milk together. It is a common belief that if fish and milk are consumed together, it may lead to skin patches or pigmentation on the skin. If we are to go by rabbinical beliefs, in Jerusalem, it was believed that milk and fish is a disastrous combination and is hazardous for your health. However, modern science begs to differ. Scientifically speaking, there is no evidence to prove that drinking milk after fish can be harmful or could result in pigmentation of the skin.A number of fish dishes are prepared with curd as an essential ingredient and curd is a dairy product, thus this theory becomes redundant. While it cannot lead to adverse side effects like skin pigmentation, at the most it could lead to slight indigestion but that too, depends, from one person to another. But the ambiguity regarding this combination doesn’t seem to end to here. We asked Dermatologist, Dr. Deepali Bharadwaj and she agrees that this combination should be avoided, “Fish and milk must never be had together. It can cause terrible allergies.”When we turn towards Ayurveda, we encounter similar reasons. According to Ayurvedic Expert Dr. BN Sinha, fish is a non-vegetarian product and milk, even though it is an animal product, is considered vegetarian. This renders the combination as incompatible. Consuming them together increases the tamas guna in the body which could lead to an imbalance. It also gives rise to certain chemical changes in the blood. This leads to skin pigmentation or a condition also known as leucoderma, he tells us.Delhi-based Nutritionist, Dr. Tapasya Mundhra, explains that no kind of dairy product go well with protein-rich foods. One reason is that milk has a cooling effect on the body while fish has a heating effect on the body as it is rich in proteins and when they breakdown during digestion a lot of energy is released.With majority of people inclined towards believing that fish and milk is a harmful duo, science does not assert the same. There is still no explicit evidence to prove the consequences. An ideal Mediterranean meal, which is now being considered as one of the healthiest diets globally, includes a combination of fish, yogurt or milk along with cereals, healthy fats and nuts. A lot of studies have been conducted which show that the combination of ingredients in a Mediterranean diet can be really beneficial in keep heart diseases, diabetes and even mental health problems like depression at bay.According to Bangalore-based Nutritionist Dr. Anju sood, since there is no evidence to prove that diary products eaten in combination with milk gives rise to vitiligo, you don’t really need to work. She therefore states, “There is absolutely no harm in eating them together.”It is clearly evident that there is no visible consensus regarding the consumption of diary products and fish together.After a hard day at work, what can you ask for more than a good night’s sleep which would make you forget all your anxieties and also help you relax. But sleep eludes many of us leading to stress build up which becomes the root cause of several ailments. In fact some major lifestyle diseases like diabetes and high blood pressure have also been linked with lack of sleep or insomnia. We fail to realize that many of the foods that we may be consuming are likely to be the reason behind our sleeplessness. Even though as a precautionary measure it is suggested that the combination must be avoided. When we tried to explore that whether the above-mentioned statement had a unanimous answer, we actually failed! Well, to be frank, the failure was enlightening and helped us analyse the agenda on three parameters that are-Ayurveda, science and human body immunity. This also reminded us of our grandmothers and mothers who usually guide us not to consume any savoury food before and after consuming milk. We accept that the age-old-theory seems to fade in the age of modern dining scenario, but we also need to understand the functioning of the human body that rejects the combination of fish and milk in every way possible. Scroll to know our perspective on the million dollar question that is still unanswered.According to Ayurveda, fish is non-vegetarian while milk despite being an animal product, is considered vegetarian. The philosophy considers the combination incompatible in every sense. The study suggests that consumption of both may cause a chemical reaction in the blood leading to skin pigmentation or a disease called leucoderma. Moreover, milk has a cooling effect on the body while fish has a heating effect. If consumed together, they may cause the release of energies that can be harmful for body and can trigger various allergies.According to Science philosophy, till date, there is no explicit proof that the combination of milk and fish is harmful to human body.
If we look at the changing food trends, there are many food preparations Mediterranean) where the combination of yogurt, fish, and milk is used and nutritionists consider them highly beneficial for illness related to heart and brain.If you drink milk after consuming fish, you are actually taking two protein-rich food items simultaneously that require different types of digestive juices to digest, further making them difficult to digest and this adversely affects the digestive and immunity system of the body.
