Anika,

My feeling is as follows: if you can tolerate dairy and enjoy it, eat/drink it to your health. Nothing matches dairy and fermented dairy in particular in the ease of meeting the body's calcium requirements and ensuring beneficial intestinal flora and strong immunity. Yes, it is possible to get those needs met elsewhere, but it is non-trivial to say the least and, at times, yucky and expensive - I an talking about Good Belly products here...

Without plentiful fermented dairy, I doubt that I would have had such a good digestion, for one, and such a strong immunity, for another - I do not catch viruses whereas my co-workers work from home sick, so I am definitely exposed but I do not come down with anything. I have not been sick for over a year. I mean, I have been sick - I was even hospitalized with a Li intoxication, but it is not THAT kind of sick. I have not had a stomach virus, an upper respiratory inferction, a cough...