If you are conscious about your health, chances are that you are opting for low-fat dairy products while you are out for shopping. This is what most health organizations and the U.S. Dietary Guidelines recommend. Surprisingly, there are no enough evidences to prove this quite popular health recommendation. Two recent studies have raised questions on the credibility of the advice that consuming low-fat dairy products is good for health. Dr. Mehmet Oz discusses whether you should opt for low fat diary or not.
The studies were conducted on the participants of the Nurses’ Health and Health Professionals Follow-Up Study. The main aim of the first study was to find relationship between fat level in the blood and risk of developing diabetes. The participants got their blood tested before the study initiated and were followed for several decades. The researchers were surprised to find out that people who had more dairy fat in their blood had 40% lower risk of developing diabetes than those who had less dairy fat in their blood. The possible explanation for this is that the dairy fats improve insulin sensitivity of the body which is otherwise reduced in diabetes.
The second study was aimed at finding the relationship between consuming dairy fats and probability of becoming obese. The study had over 8,000 participants from the Women’s Health Study. The participants had to fill out a questionnaire on how much and how often they consumed different dairy products. The participants were followed for about a decade. The second study revealed that the participants who ate high-fat dairy products had an 8% reduced risk of becoming obese or overweight with time. This result was counterintuitive as high-fat dairy has more calories, but it seems that it provides satiety on consumption. So, people consumed overall less calories. To your surprise, several low-fat dairy products are packed with sugar, making them unhealthier than the high-fat dairy products.
Dr. Oz stresses that the idea of consuming low-fat dairy is based on reducing the intake of saturated fats that are found majorly in animal products. But, it seems that being conscious about the intake of a single nutrient might lead you into choosing an overall unhealthier food.
Well, after knowing these results, you should not actually start consuming dairy products if you are not an avid lover of dairy products. However, if you are already a dairy consumer, you can now easily consume high-fat versions of dairy without fearing about high-calorie intake. Dr. Oz recommends consuming what you like the best among dairy products and something that is being more natural and healthy. What you must remember is, to consume dairy products in limit.
