Fathoming faith in fat

Powerful new research has added to the growing body of opinion that high fat dairy is good and healthier than low fat dairy.

This is based on not just a small group of people in one country. It’s a blockbuster “Association of dairy consumption with metabolic syndrome, hypertension and diabetes in 147,812 individuals from 21 countries,” published in BMJ Open Diabetes Research & Care.

The participants were aged from 35 to 70. They completed Food Frequency Questionnaires and shared information on their personal medical history. Their health was assessed over an average 9 years.

FoodNavigator Asia reported that the results showed “Eating at least two daily servings of high fat dairy, but not low fat, is linked to lower risks of diabetes, higher blood pressure and signs of metabolic syndrome.” Compared with no dairy consumption, there was:

• 28% lower risk of metabolic syndrome from 2 or more daily servings of full fat dairy
• 24% lower risk from 2 or more servings of all dairy
• 13-14% lower risk of high blood pressure or diabetes from 3 servings a day of all dairy
• 11-12% lower risk from 2 or more servings of all dairy.

This is such a contrast to the radical advocacy of low fat products from the early 1980s.