Typically, doctors advise patients to avoid full fat dairy products, including whole milk, butter, and ice cream, in order to maintain a healthy diet. Instead, patients are asked to shift to low fat or non-fat dairy, which is seen to be healthier.
But a couple of new studies suggest that full fat dairy may actually be better than low fat or non-fat, as it could help reduce the chances of diabetes and obesity, reports modernreaders.com.
The first study, posted in the journal Circulation, claims that people who consume full fat dairy products are 46% less likely to develop diabetes than those who consume low-fat yogurt and cheese and skim milk, based on a 15-year study period. This Tufts University study was based on the subjects’ blood test results, and biomarkers of high fat products found in those blood samples.
A separate study involving over 18,000 middle-age women of normal weight in the Women’s Health Study added to the Tufts research. Results of that study showed that people who ate more full fat dairy were 8% less likely to develop obesity than the women who ate less of those products. All the women in the study didn’t have any cardiovascular disease, diabetes, or cancer at the start of the study.
“We saw less weight gain for higher total dairy and high-fat dairy intake and also a lower risk of becoming overweight and obese in those who consumed more high-fat dairy,” said study lead Harvard Medical School’s Susanne Rautiainen in a press release for the second study.
Despite the encouraging results, nutritionists and dieticians have cautioned that diet recommendations may be re-evaluated for potential changes, though it still may be too early to change guidelines completely and advise people that it’s okay to consume more full fat dairy. “I am conservative about setting national dietary guidelines,” said Tufts Friedman School of Nutrition Science & Policy dean Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, who led the first study. “While evidence remains insufficient to definitively recommend only whole-fat dairy, it certainly is robust enough not to recommend only low-fat dairy.”
