After years of experimenting, he found that dairy increased inflammation in the spring, fall, and winter, but he was perfectly fine in the summer. “I really like cheese and I like certain dairy desserts and stuff,” he notes, but especially in the spring, inflammatory bowel disease doesn’t make him feel at his best.

Currently, the research on dairy products and inflammation is quite mixed. Some report that dairy products not 1increase in biomarkers of chronic inflammation1while others link milk consumption to increase the level of IGF-12 and acne (all acne comes from inflammation, for what it’s worth).

The thing is, everyone’s gut is different—and according to Pedre, your own gut is a dynamic system that can change and evolve throughout the year. So just because you generally tolerate dairy doesn’t mean you’re completely free of it; make sure you continue to listen to your body’s signals.

“I think it’s important not only to know what type of gut you have and what you can tolerate, but to really realize that not all of the symptoms that are caused by your gut are going to be in your gut,” explains Pedre. A sensitivity to dairy products can manifest entirely as bloating, but it can also manifest as traffic jams 3. “It’s really important to start seeing these patterns because they can be very subtle,” he adds.