Does dairy intake cause asthma? No, that's not true: Although someone with both a dairy allergy and asthma may experience heightened asthma symptoms if they consume dairy, dairy is not a root cause of asthma. Asthma may be caused by a variety of other factors, including environment, having a family history of asthma and previous respiratory infections.
The claim appeared in a video (archived here) posted on February 27, 2024, by the channel Yahki Awakened and titled "CANCER 🦠 & AUTISM 🧠 CONNECTION TO CELL PHONE USE, STUDY SHOWS📱❗" Although the title references cancer and autism, the content of the video appeared to be a livestream with the host -- known as Yah'ki Rapha Elohim and who also goes by Yahki Awakened -- during which he discussed more than the titular topics. Beginning at the 59:46 mark of the video, he discussed dairy and asthma with a viewer:
Now, what causes asthma is severe dairy use. So if you're on any type of dairy products, you have to get off of it immediately.
This is what the video looked like on YouTube at the time of writing:
(Source: YouTube screenshot taken on Thu Mar 7 23:45:59 2024 UTC)
A resource from the American Lung Association titled "Asthma Causes & Risk Factors" (archived here), states:
The most common factors for developing asthma are having a parent with asthma, having a severe respiratory infection as a child, having an allergic condition, or being exposed to certain chemical irritants or industrial dusts in the workplace.
Food allergies seem to be the extent to which dairy and asthma are known to be connected. A resource from the National Asthma Council Australia titled "The asthma milk myth - busted!" (archived here) states that the idea that dairy alone triggers asthma is a myth unless the person in question has a dairy allergy. The resource goes on to say:
So unless diagnosed with a specific allergy or intolerance to dairy foods by your doctor, there is no reason to restrict or remove dairy foods from your diet. The best way to achieve good asthma control is to follow a written asthma action plan developed with your doctor.
In an email sent to Lead Stories on March 7, 2024, the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America forwarded a statement from Melanie Carver, chief mission officer of the foundation, about the claim:
Several studies have found that there is no association between dairy consumption and asthma.
Lead Stories found an article featured in a publication of the College of Family Physicians of Canada in 2012 that said, "Current evidence does not directly link milk consumption and asthma" (archived here). We did not find recent studies that confirmed any causal link between dairy and asthma.
Lead Stories has debunked claims from Yahki before -- those fact checks can be found here. Other Lead Stories fact checks related to asthma can be found here.
