According to the American dietary guidelines, a healthy diet consists of “fat-free or low fat dairy, including milk, yogurt, cheese, and/or fortified soy beverages.” But a growing body of research suggests that choosing low-fat milk over whole milk could increase your risk for health problems, including obesity.
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In a study out of the University of Toronto, researchers surveyed 28 studies in seven countries across the world. They looked specifically the correlation between the amount of fat in milk consumed and childhood obesity. They found that children who consumed whole milk, instead of reduced fat milk, were significantly less likely to develop childhood obesity. The study showed that whole milk drinkers had a 28% higher chance of avoiding the disease, compared to those who drank reduced fat milk.
While most mainstream dietary advice recommends low-fat or non-fat dairy, a growing number of experts are arguing that it’s far healthier to eat and drink whole, full-fat dairy products. Previous studies have proposed that it’s the palmitoleic acid, which occurs naturally in full-fat dairy products, that protects against insulin resistance and diabetes. Research has also shown that consuming full-fat dairy products may help reduce your risk of cancer, weight gain and heart disease.
Contrary to popular belief, eating fat won’t make you fat. When referring to healthy fats, it’s not only those in organic, full-fat pastured raw dairy that are beneficial. Your body needs many types of fat to function properly, so don’t buy into the notion that a low-fat diet is healthy. The fats you want to avoid are synthetic fats, such as trans fats, or rancid omega-6 polyunsaturated fats (PUFAs), such as those found in vegetable oils.
Eating too much damaged omega-6 fat and too little beneficial omega-3 sets the stage for the very health problems you seek to avoid, including cardiovascular disease, cancer, depression and Alzheimer's, rheumatoid arthritis, and diabetes, just to name a few. Most people, especially Americans, are guilty of this lopsided omega-3 to omega-6 ratio, and to correct it, you typically need to do two things:
- Significantly decrease omega-6 by avoiding processed foods and foods cooked at high temperatures using vegetable oils
- Increase your intake of heart-healthy animal-based omega-3 fats, such as krill oil