Drinking Skim Milk Can Contribute To Having Higher-than-desirable Estrogen Levels

[Arlen4458]

Milk is processed a lot different now than it was even 5 years ago so a lot of studies that you read were done before the newer processes were in place

 

[Blossom]

Milk is processed a lot different now than it was even 5 years ago so a lot of studies that you read were done before the newer processes were in place

Do you have any information on the newer processes you would like to share? Thanks

 

[Kingpinguin]

According to a study I have only read this summary of:
Tip: Another Reason to Avoid Low-Fat Milk | T Nation

Just want to add how does the study know that increased urinary estrogen meant that they had higher blood estrogen? Maybe the low fat milk helped rid the body of estrogens. Also the fat in the higher fat milk maybe helps the body retain more of the estrogen than the low fat. So thats why you dont see the same urine levels. I doubt there would be any difference regarding levels of estrogen in the milk and I believe something else is at play in this study?

 

[schultz]

Just want to add how does the study know that increased urinary estrogen meant that they had higher blood estrogen? Maybe the low fat milk helped rid the body of estrogens. Also the fat in the higher fat milk maybe helps the body retain more of the estrogen than the low fat. So thats why you dont see the same urine levels. I doubt there would be any difference regarding levels of estrogen in the milk and I believe something else is at play in this study?

The amount of estrogen seems to be quite low in milk. When you take into account the two quotes below, which are from separate papers, you realize it is a non-issue.

"Estimated total E(1) intake from three servings of whole milk was 68 ng/day, which represents 0.01% to 0.1% of daily production rates in human beings."

"It has further to be taken into consideration that about 90% of the ingested hormones are inactivated by the first-pass-effect of the liver."

Estrogen is so ubiquitous and there are dozens of things that would contribute to total estrogen more than the small amount in milk. Milk would probably help the protect the body from a lot of these things, resulting in a net decrease in estrogen. Consider all the beneficial components of milk. The numbers above: A person drinking 3 litres would likely still be getting under 1% of the bodies daily production (I guess averaged out between the sexes?). Combine that with the first pass through the liver, which according to the above quote removes 90% of the ingested hormones (which is why it ends up in the urine) and you start to realize the whole thing is a non-issue, especially when considering the foods that you would have to eat in order to receive the same nutrition as you would get in milk, and all the other things in this world that raise estrogen significantly more.

"More effects on human beings can be expected from exposure to phytoestrogens, which occur in plants in high amounts, or by environmental chemicals with hormonal or hormone blocking activity such as some pesticides, polychlorinated biphenyls or dioxines, which are widespread in food and water."

People love to hate milk. I have never figured out why. I think because it is simpler to think about than other more complicated and nebulous things that are more difficult to quantify. Endotoxin for example. If a person knew that they were increasing their estrogen by 50% because of endotoxin they would likely care significantly more about this than about milk. But this is more complicated so our minds want to deal with something easy, where we have numbers and data.

 

[Cirion]

People love to hate milk. I have never figured out why. I think because it is simpler to think about than other more complicated and nebulous things that are more difficult to quantify. Endotoxin for example. If a person knew that they were increasing their estrogen by 50% because of endotoxin they would likely care significantly more about this than about milk. But this is more complicated so our minds want to deal with something easy, where we have numbers and data.

Well, it remains the one thing I dunno if I can see eye to eye on Ray on. He makes a big point to rail on tryptophan/cystine, then says milk is not only OK, but a superfood.

I've collected data for over 5 months now on 200 parameters including tryptophan in my own diet and how it affects body temp and pulse and body weight gain etc. My threshold of tryptophan is 0.5 gram a day, which can be very quickly met or exceeded from milk alone if milk is used for anything more than a low amount of your total protein intake (4 cups is 0.4 gram). I suppose, if you just have a cup or two it's not the worst. But I daresay most of the hardcore milk drinkers using it for a protein source are having 8-16 cups a day easily which is 0.8-1.6 gram of tryptophan.

I have enjoyed proving Ray right on all his ideas so far... except one milk is the one thing I can't prove him right on sadly. I don't think it's an ideal hypothyroid food. There are a few hypothyroid people on these forums drinking it, or trying it, but I don't know one person posting here who is actually RECOVERING from hypothyroid via milk. If there is, I'm willing to be corrected though.

 

[Kingpinguin]

Well, it remains the one thing I dunno if I can see eye to eye on Ray on. He makes a big point to rail on tryptophan/cystine, then says milk is not only OK, but a superfood.

I've collected data for over 5 months now on 200 parameters including tryptophan in my own diet and how it affects body temp and pulse and body weight gain etc. My threshold of tryptophan is 0.5 gram a day, which can be very quickly met or exceeded from milk alone if milk is used for anything more than a low amount of your total protein intake (4 cups is 0.4 gram). I suppose, if you just have a cup or two it's not the worst. But I daresay most of the hardcore milk drinkers using it for a protein source are having 8-16 cups a day easily which is 0.8-1.6 gram of tryptophan.

I have enjoyed proving Ray right on all his ideas so far... except one milk is the one thing I can't prove him right on sadly. I don't think it's an ideal hypothyroid food. There are a few hypothyroid people on these forums drinking it, or trying it, but I don't know one person posting here who is actually RECOVERING from hypothyroid via milk. If there is, I'm willing to be corrected though.

Like you mentioned for a person in a low hypothyroid state it might not be the easiest food to process and it has its anti nutrients like tryptophan and estrogen (all though likely insignificant) and likely lactose which can be a problem for some. But for people who can digest milk there’s more for it like A, D, K and a source for very bioavailable proteins as the whey protein is one of the easiest absorbed proteins and egg protein comes 2nd after whey. Sure whey can have tryptophan but the fernstrom ratio is not to bad and apparently casein also blocks/delays the absorption of tryptophan. That’s sourced from hans natural supremacys website. Its also likely the easiest way to get calcium in your diet. There might be other factors to why milk does not fit right with you as lactose intolerance, irritation of gut and undigestability. Saying milk tryptophan is causing your symptoms could be speculation and a hypothesis. Not to offend you. You might be right that you are very tryptophan sensitive. One way to test it would be to compare drinking 1 gram of tryptophan worth of milk and another day take 1 gram pure l-tryptophan as a supplement. I have done this and even taken more tryptophan than that in a single dose over an extended period and I did not notice any effect at all from supplementing with tryptophan. If this would be the same for you but milk exacebrate your problems instantly then its not the milk tryptophan. But i suspect your not willing to try this out. Hahaha

 

[Cirion]

Like you mentioned for a person in a low hypothyroid state it might not be the easiest food to process and it has its anti nutrients like tryptophan and estrogen (all though likely insignificant) and likely lactose which can be a problem for some. But for people who can digest milk there’s more for it like A, D, K and a source for very bioavailable proteins as the whey protein is one of the easiest absorbed proteins and egg protein comes 2nd after whey. Sure whey can have tryptophan but the fernstrom ratio is not to bad and apparently casein also blocks/delays the absorption of tryptophan. That’s sourced from hans natural supremacys website. Its also likely the easiest way to get calcium in your diet. There might be other factors to why milk does not fit right with you as lactose intolerance, irritation of gut and undigestability. Saying milk tryptophan is causing your symptoms could be speculation and a hypothesis. Not to offend you. You might be right that you are very tryptophan sensitive. One way to test it would be to compare drinking 1 gram of tryptophan worth of milk and another day take 1 gram pure l-tryptophan as a supplement. I have done this and even taken more tryptophan than that in a single dose over an extended period and I did not notice any effect at all from supplementing with tryptophan. If this would be the same for you but milk exacebrate your problems instantly then its not the milk tryptophan. But i suspect your not willing to try this out. Hahaha

Yeh I'm not touching tryptophan any time soon again lol. It's not really much speculation since I track aminos among many other things every day for 5 months now. It's not just milk tryptophan its any tryptophan so like some starches are high in tryptophan and I have to avoid those as well or at least practice some portion control with them. As I say, 0.5 gram appears to be my threshold regardless of the source. I've personally found its far more beneficial to avoid toxins than it is to get micronutrients. Don't get me wrong, one should try to get micronutrients as best as they can from foods they can tolerate though.

 

[schultz]

Well, it remains the one thing I dunno if I can see eye to eye on Ray on. He makes a big point to rail on tryptophan/cystine, then says milk is not only OK, but a superfood.

I've collected data for over 5 months now on 200 parameters including tryptophan in my own diet and how it affects body temp and pulse and body weight gain etc. My threshold of tryptophan is 0.5 gram a day, which can be very quickly met or exceeded from milk alone if milk is used for anything more than a low amount of your total protein intake (4 cups is 0.4 gram). I suppose, if you just have a cup or two it's not the worst. But I daresay most of the hardcore milk drinkers using it for a protein source are having 8-16 cups a day easily which is 0.8-1.6 gram of tryptophan.

I have enjoyed proving Ray right on all his ideas so far... except one milk is the one thing I can't prove him right on sadly. I don't think it's an ideal hypothyroid food. There are a few hypothyroid people on these forums drinking it, or trying it, but I don't know one person posting here who is actually RECOVERING from hypothyroid via milk. If there is, I'm willing to be corrected though.

What he said, when asked about it on one of the podcasts, was something like that the nutrients in milk, including the calcium, help the tryptophan in the milk favour the niacin pathway instead of the serotonin pathway. He didn't really say this, but the person asking the question said it and Ray agreed. Sometimes he just sort of agrees with the person without going into detail, even if it really needs to be elaborated on. But what I think Ray thinks is that even though milk has a few downsides the benefits outweigh these. Calcium, low iron, good sugar with the protein, better calcium absorption from the galactose, etc. It has a lot of nutrients and to get these nutrients from other foods would be less ideal than from milk. There are downsides to most foods. Meat has no calcium and tends to have high iron and phosphorus.

I'm reading through some of his articles mentioning it and thought some of these were interesting quotes...

"Since milk's primary biological function is to support the growth of a young animal, some of its features make it inappropriate as a sole food for an adult. To support cell division and growth, the methionine and tryptophan content of milk is higher than would be optimal for an adult animal, and the phosphate might be slightly more than needed, in relation to the calcium. Since the fetus stores a large amount of iron during gestation, the iron content of milk is low, and when a young animal has used the stored iron, its continuing growth requires more iron than milk provides. However, for an adult, the low iron content of milk and cheese makes these foods useful for preventing the iron overload that often contributes to the degenerative diseases. Combining milk and cheese with fruits adds to the antistress effect. The additional sugar and potassium and other minerals allow the milk protein to be used more efficiently, by moderating the secretion of cortisol, and helping to inhibit the
secretion of PTH."

"An excess of tryptophan in the diet, especially with deficiencies of other nutrients, can combine with inflammation to increase serotonin. Polyunsaturated fatty acids promote the absorption of tryptophan by the brain, and its conversion to serotonin. (A "deficiency" of polyunsaturated fat decreases the expression of the enzyme that synthesizes serotonin [McNamara, et al., 2009)."

"The amino acid theanine, found in tea, has been reported to decrease the amount of serotonin in the brain, probably by decreasing its synthesis and increasing its degradation. This seems to be the opposite of the processes in hibernation. Progesterone, thyroid, and niacinamide (not nicotinic acid or inositol hexanicotinate) are other safe substances that help to reduce serotonin formation, and/or accelerate its elimination. (Niacinamide seems to increase serotonin uptake.)"

"Estrogen tends to interfere with the formation of niacin from tryptophan. Tryptophan, rather than forming the sedative niacin (pyridine carboxylic acid), can be directed toward formation of the excitatory quinolinic acid (pyridine dicarboxylic acid) by polyunsaturated fatty acids."

 

[Cirion]

Yeh I've read most of those quotes and on paper they definitely make sense but in practice like I say, I just don't think milk works in hypothyroid condition at least without excessive treatment like high dose antibiotics, high dose thyroid etc. imo if a food requires you to go to such great lengths to digest them it doesn't feel like an optimal food...

I should revisit one thing I said where no one here is recovering on milk, I do know ONE person who is. ilikecats, but only because he takes an obscene amount of thyroid every day (150mcg, and I think sometimes he said he takes even more than that). That's just craziness lol.

You are right that there are downsides to all foods, but some are significantly more so than others. I can achieve euthyroid waking temps on certain foods and others not as much, other food combinations leads me to hypothyroid waking temps, this to me is the test as to whether a food is thyroid supportive or thyroid destructive.

 

[BigChad]

Yeh I've read most of those quotes and on paper they definitely make sense but in practice like I say, I just don't think milk works in hypothyroid condition at least without excessive treatment like high dose antibiotics, high dose thyroid etc. imo if a food requires you to go to such great lengths to digest them it doesn't feel like an optimal food...

I should revisit one thing I said where no one here is recovering on milk, I do know ONE person who is. ilikecats, but only because he takes an obscene amount of thyroid every day (150mcg, and I think sometimes he said he takes even more than that). That's just craziness lol.

You are right that there are downsides to all foods, but some are significantly more so than others. I can achieve euthyroid waking temps on certain foods and others not as much, other food combinations leads me to hypothyroid waking temps, this to me is the test as to whether a food is thyroid supportive or thyroid destructive.

Are you sure your issue with milk is not the iodine content? It has 55mcg+ per cup. If your hypothyroidism isnt caused by iodine deficiency then it makes sense that large milk amounts would worsen it. It could be in beef and other meats too. 4 cups of milk you're already at 220mcg iodine.
Is your hypo autoimmune based? If its not then it could be due to vitamin/mineral deficiency? Copper, zinc, selenium, iron, b vits, a, d, c, etc

 

[Cirion]

Are you sure your issue with milk is not the iodine content? It has 55mcg+ per cup. If your hypothyroidism isnt caused by iodine deficiency then it makes sense that large milk amounts would worsen it. It could be in beef and other meats too. 4 cups of milk you're already at 220mcg iodine.
Is your hypo autoimmune based? If its not then it could be due to vitamin/mineral deficiency? Copper, zinc, selenium, iron, b vits, a, d, c, etc

All possibilities, but I'm done with trying to force a food to work. If it works it works if it doesn't it doesn't. Sure I do the best I can to get nutrients as I can, but I'm done worrying obessively (Like I still try to get 100% RDA but other than that...) about the minutae, these are all rabbit holes that never led anywhere for me. To me the end-point data is the only thing that matters now (Pulse, Temps, body weight, overall markers of well-being).

 

[methylenewhite]

how pregnant the animal is

You made my day. ROFLing. Sorry for offtop.

 

[BigChad]

All possibilities, but I'm done with trying to force a food to work. If it works it works if it doesn't it doesn't. Sure I do the best I can to get nutrients as I can, but I'm done worrying obessively (Like I still try to get 100% RDA but other than that...) about the minutae, these are all rabbit holes that never led anywhere for me. To me the end-point data is the only thing that matters now (Pulse, Temps, body weight, overall markers of well-being).

Did you try A2 milk from Australia? Or elsewhere.
I think at this point it could be the tryptophan, or the iodine, or lactose, or the A1 protein. Theres too many variables.

 

[Ritchie]

I agree with @Travis on this one, Ray Peat's promotion of dairy products like milk and cheese seems ill-considered at best, while also contradicting to so many other things he speaks about. His arguments for it's consumption appear convincing on the surface level but upon a little digging one realises there are a vast amount of factors unconsidered in his position. Milk is very high in mammalian estrogen, which is essentially identical to our own estrogen (contrasting to phytoestrogens or plant estrogens, which are around 1000th of the strength of mammalian estrogen). Milk is also very high in tryptophan and methionine, high in IGF-1, high in casomorphins and thats just for starters.

There is vast amounts of research linking it significantly to a variety of cancer's and diseases. To list a few, breast cancer (eg. Consumption of Cow's Milk and Possible Risk of Breast Cancer), Colorectal cancer (eg. Childhood dairy intake and adult cancer risk: 65-y follow-up of the Boyd Orr cohort. - PubMed - NCBI), Parkinson's disease (eg. Intake of dairy foods and risk of Parkinson disease. - PubMed - NCBI ; Dairy foods intake and risk of Parkinson's disease: a dose-response meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies. - PubMed - NCBI), prostate and testicular cancer (e.g. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15203374; The experience of Japan as a clue to the etiology of testicular and prostatic cancers. - PubMed - NCBI ; Milk intake in early life and risk of advanced prostate cancer. - PubMed - NCBI).. And that is only scraping the surface of the extensively damming research that has been conducted on milk consumption.

I tried the dairy train for a good few years upon discovering Ray Peat, however it proved detrimental to not only my general health and wellbeing, but my thyroid function, temps and hormone levels. Upon cutting milk out a few years back, I feel a million times better, sleeping better, more energy, temps are up and thyroid is strong. I have always struggled with Ray's rationale for his hard line promotion of dairy and found @Travis to be a breathe of fresh air when he started honing in on it in Estrogen In Milk and throughout "The Travis Corner" thread.

 

[schultz]

I'm done with trying to force a food to work.

Fair enough. I've sort of been following your posts (maybe because you've been posting a lot and I just happen to read a lot of your posts) but I am curious to see what you figure out over the next few years. So don't disappear if you manage to figure things out!

Milk is very high in mammalian estrogen

I suppose it depends what you consider 'very high' to be. As far as I can tell it doesn't seem to be very high at all. I was attempting to make the point that is really a very, very minor contribution. I would guess that 1mg of DHEA would contribute more (I base this on absolutely nothing). In the thread you linked to below I posted the supposed theoretical average daily production rate of estrogen for males, which Travis went on to eloquently criticize. The number I posted was 140μg/day, which is sort of an old and/or dated standard. Travis thought it is more realistically around 25μg/day. It's not clear to me whether or not this is all 3 estrogens/estradiol alone/or whether or not it even matters considering they can convert back and forth. Regardless, the amount of estradiol in 1 litre of 3.5% milk, according to the chart I posted on the 1st page of this thread, is less than 0.02μg/per litre and the estrone 0.13μg/ per litre. So at 2 litres of whole milk you're at 0.3μg estradiol and estrone combined, which is 1.2% of the daily estrogen production in the average male that Travis thought was realistic. This doesn't even take into account how much is inactivated by the liver in the first-pass-effect, which according to one of the studies I posted on the 1st page of this thread is 90%. I suppose the argument could be made that an unhealthy person would be less efficient at inactivating the estrogen. IMO the tryptophan + methionine argument is a lot more convincing than the estrogen argument.

For a while it was in style on this forum to say that your estrogen was too low and declare it to be the cause of an array of negative symptoms. I'm not sure if this is still fashionable, but presumably a little extra estrogen for these gentlemen would be helpful.

I have always struggled with Ray's rationale for his hard line promotion of dairy and found @Travis to be a breathe of fresh air when he started honing in on it in Estrogen In Milk

That was a fun thread!

You made my day. ROFLing. Sorry for offtop.

I'm not sure I understand the humour, but there are worse things than inadvertently making someone laugh, so I'll take it!

 

[methylenewhite]

Concentration of E1 sulfate increases from 30 pg/mL in non-pregnant cows to 151 pg/mL in pregnant cows at 40–60 days of gestation, and to a maximum level of 1000 pg/mL in cows at 220 days of gestation

1000 pg/ml means 1 mcg per liter of milk. It's nothing.

 

[Ritchie]

I suppose it depends what you consider 'very high' to be. As far as I can tell it doesn't seem to be very high at all. I was attempting to make the point that is really a very, very minor contribution. I would guess that 1mg of DHEA would contribute more (I base this on absolutely nothing). In the thread you linked to below I posted the supposed theoretical average daily production rate of estrogen for males, which Travis went on to eloquently criticize. The number I posted was 140μg/day, which is sort of an old and/or dated standard. Travis thought it is more realistically around 25μg/day. It's not clear to me whether or not this is all 3 estrogens/estradiol alone/or whether or not it even matters considering they can convert back and forth. Regardless, the amount of estradiol in 1 litre of 3.5% milk, according to the chart I posted on the 1st page of this thread, is less than 0.02μg/per litre and the estrone 0.13μg/ per litre. So at 2 litres of whole milk you're at 0.3μg estradiol and estrone combined, which is 1.2% of the daily estrogen production in the average male that Travis thought was realistic. This doesn't even take into account how much is inactivated by the liver in the first-pass-effect, which according to one of the studies I posted on the 1st page of this thread is 90%. I suppose the argument could be made that an unhealthy person would be less efficient at inactivating the estrogen.

I don't think you're taking into account pregnant cows? A lot of milk comes from cows in some stage of pregnancy, its a myth that they stop milking cows when pregnant or even stop in the last trimester. Most farms (particularly factory but pretty much any really) keep milking cows right up until they give birth then go right back to milking them with no rest. Further, most milk producers re-impregnate the animals within a couple of days of their giving birth, to maximise production. Cows on dairy farms are pretty much always pregnant, producing estrogen high milk through the year. Also, remember diary cows have been so genetically tampered with, there was a time when 3 litres of milk in a native cow was considered excellent. Now, dairy farms aim for up to 15 to 24 litres per day. This process continues for about 5 years until they are "spent". By that time their estrogen levels, not only from stress but from being constantly pregnant and milking, are way higher than what you are quoting here. And all this milk gets mixed in together from whatever cow it is when shipped off to the factory for processing. The whey of milk from non-pregnant cows has about 30 pg/mL of estrone sulphate. This increases to 151 pg/mL during early pregnancy and goes up to 1,000 pg/mL at the last stages of the pregnancy. The average range of healthy estradiol levels in men is usually 10 to 40 pg/mL.

This is all backed up by the research in the area of course and there have been numerous studies showing dairy consumption to raise estrogen levels and lower testosterone levels in men (eg. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23670169; https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19496976; Hormones in Dairy Foods and Their Impact on Public Health - A Narrative Review Article)
I'd be just as concerned, if not more, about the estrogen as I would be the tryptophan and methionine, not to mention the IGF-1 and casomorphins (which @Travis goes into in much detail in the travis corner thread).

 

[ecstatichamster]

Well, it remains the one thing I dunno if I can see eye to eye on Ray on. He makes a big point to rail on tryptophan/cystine, then says milk is not only OK, but a superfood.

I've collected data for over 5 months now on 200 parameters including tryptophan in my own diet and how it affects body temp and pulse and body weight gain etc. My threshold of tryptophan is 0.5 gram a day, which can be very quickly met or exceeded from milk alone if milk is used for anything more than a low amount of your total protein intake (4 cups is 0.4 gram). I suppose, if you just have a cup or two it's not the worst. But I daresay most of the hardcore milk drinkers using it for a protein source are having 8-16 cups a day easily which is 0.8-1.6 gram of tryptophan.

I have enjoyed proving Ray right on all his ideas so far... except one milk is the one thing I can't prove him right on sadly. I don't think it's an ideal hypothyroid food. There are a few hypothyroid people on these forums drinking it, or trying it, but I don't know one person posting here who is actually RECOVERING from hypothyroid via milk. If there is, I'm willing to be corrected though.

I drink a half gallon of 1% a day. I’m recovering from hypo. I’m finishing a Wilson reset with T3 and milk has been wonderful.

 

[Cirion]

I drink a half gallon of 1% a day. I’m recovering from hypo. I’m finishing a Wilson reset with T3 and milk has been wonderful.

The following isn't meant to be an insult, just a genuine attempt to figure things out.

With that in mind... do you have 98.4-98.6F waking temp every day first off? And I see you have to take T3 also. Again not meant to bash your approach, if you feel it's correct then by all means. If you do fully recover (as defined by 98.4-98.6F temp each and every morning) via milk, then I admit I'll be more interested.

I don't take T3 and I can get 98.4-98.6F waking temps consistently by avoiding certain things, milk being one of them. But if I make ANY gaffes on food, I can't get those temperatures. Diet has to be picture perfect. Excessive milk and other tryptophan/cysteine heavy foods can drop my temperature by as much as 1.0F (or more).

Note: When I say 98.4-98.6F I mean oral measurement. The equivalent in armpit measurement is 97.8-98.2F due to oral measurements running about 0.5F higher.

 

[BigChad]

The following isn't meant to be an insult, just a genuine attempt to figure things out.

With that in mind... do you have 98.4-98.6F waking temp every day first off? And I see you have to take T3 also. Again not meant to bash your approach, if you feel it's correct then by all means. If you do fully recover (as defined by 98.4-98.6F temp each and every morning) via milk, then I admit I'll be more interested.

I don't take T3 and I can get 98.4-98.6F waking temps consistently by avoiding certain things, milk being one of them. But if I make ANY gaffes on food, I can't get those temperatures. Diet has to be picture perfect. Excessive milk and other tryptophan/cysteine heavy foods can drop my temperature by as much as 1.0F (or more).

Note: When I say 98.4-98.6F I mean oral measurement. The equivalent in armpit measurement is 97.8-98.2F due to oral measurements running about 0.5F higher.

b6 among other things I forget are involved in turning cysteine into taurine. what is and was your b6 intake like? what nutrients are involved in getting tryptophan to convert into niacin? do you think your issues with cysteine heavy foods could be due to lacking some cofactors along with them.
also isn't temperature alone day to day not accurate enough of a measure? temperature could differ day to day based on overall caloric intake, external temperature levels, activity level, rest level, whether you are sick, etc. Imo you'd need to run tests on different foods for at least a week and see how they affect you over a weeks basis. Doesn't Ray still promote milk intake even today? So even if things changed with milk processing methods it should be fine?