Tim Spector shares three important health reasons why he doesn't drink milk

Tim Spector has revealed in his latest video that he has stopped drinking milk - and for three important reasons.

Taking to Instagram, the professor of genetic epidemiology at King's College London and author of Food for Life said he has given up the dairy drink and instead opts for foods better for his gut.

He said: "I’ve given up milk. I only now have fermented dairy products like yoghurt, cheese and kefir because of the probiotic microbes that are good for my gut."

Saying he used to advise his patients to drink milk and dairy, he explained the reason for his switch comes as research has changed over the years which now makes it "clear that having large amounts of calcium rich dairy does not protect your bones against osteoporosis."

Talking about the other two reasons he added: "It doesn’t have any major benefits for the body and there's increasing evidence that extra calcium, particularly in the form of calcium supplements, increases your risk of heart disease."

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He stressed: "Unless you have some really important medical disorder or some inability to absorb calcium naturally, you don’t need supplements and actually they're harmful for your health."

Talking about foods that are great sources of calcium, he said that leafy greens or nuts and seeds are great options. The heath guru says that we have "evolved fantastic systems to absorb all the calcium we need" and by reducing our dairy intake, we are really helping the planet because it’s a major environmental concern.

In addition to Food for Life: Your Guide to the New Science of Eating Well, Prof Spector has also penned other books including Spoon-Fed: Why almost everything we’ve been told about food is wrong as well as a new book which you can order here.

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