After years of recommendations to use low- and no-fat dairy products, a couple of new studies are suggesting you may be just as well using the original products as you are consuming the low-fat products, and quite possibly better off.
The US Dietary Guidelines and many health organizations have recommended eating low-fat foods for quite a while, and it now appears there is little evidence on which to base those claims, according to the Huffington Post. On top of that, two new studies are saying the low-fat choices may not be as healthy anyway.
In one study, the researchers evaluated decades worth of data from the Nurses’ Health and Professionals Follow-Up Study, examining the relationship between the dairy fat levels in the blood, and the development of diabetes. The findings show that subjects with the highest levels of dairy fats in their bloodstream had an over 40 percent lower risk of developing diabetes than the ones with the lowest levels of dairy fat.
The study does not identify the exact reason for the findings, but it is suspected the dairy fats may be helping the body’s sensitivity to insulin. When a person has diabetes, their body becomes less sensitive to insulin.
The second study, evaluating the relationship between dairy consumption and the tendency of becoming overweight or obese, looked at data from over 8,000 people from the Women’s Health Study. Participants in this study logged their dairy consumption by completing a questionnaire about the types and amounts of dairy foods they consumed. The average evaluation period for the participants was greater than 10 years.
The subjects in this study with the highest consumption of dairy fat products had an eight percent lower risk of becoming overweight or obese, when compared to their counterparts consuming low-fat products. The researchers suspect the higher-fat products lead to an increased sensation of being satisfied, which in turn, meant the subjects consumed less of the higher-calorie, higher-fat products, resulting in an overall lower ingestion of calories.
Additionally, many manufacturers make up for the lower fat content by adding sugars, which makes the low-fat products actually have a higher calorie count, and people wind up eating more calories, adding weight.
The article continues to say that probably the best advice is to eat what you like the best, but as in all diets, consider moderation and portion sizes.