Why You Need to Avoid Low-Fat Milk and Cheese

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Just about every piece of dietary advice you can find recommends low-fat or non-fat dairy. But a growing number of experts are arguing that it’s healthier to eat and drink dairy products with all the fat left in.

The fat in dairy foods is roughly 50 to 60 percent saturated fat, but the idea that this is bad for your heart may be nothing more than a mistaken interpretation of the science. In a 2010 analysis, scientists said:

Just about every piece of dietary advice you can find recommends low-fat or non-fat dairy. But a growing number of experts are arguing that it’s healthier to eat and drink dairy products with all the fat left in.

“...There is no significant evidence for concluding that dietary saturated fat is associated with an increased risk of [coronary heart disease or cardiovascular disease].”

What’s more, according to dLife:

“If only half of dairy fat is the saturated kind, what kind is the rest? Dairy fat contains lots of oleic acid (the stuff that makes olive oil so healthy), along with a type of fat called conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) that may help with weight loss. Recent studies strongly suggest that something -- possibly the CLA -- in dairy fat does indeed help with weight management.”

I think it’s safe to say that one of the biggest myths recently sabotaging many Americans’ diets is the idea that low-fat and fat-free foods are healthy. It first started in the ‘50s and was largely a result of seriously flawed research by Ancel Keys. Fortunately, most people are recognizing the fallacy of this myth, but many still believe it.

In a recent Consumer Reports survey, 51 percent of Americans said they are limiting their consumption of fat. It’s not clear what type of fat was being limited, but chances are this lumps ALL fats into one evil category, when in reality the only types of fats you should really be limiting are man-made varieties like trans fats and rancid, refined polyunsaturated fats in vegetable oils.

Unfortunately, fats in general are considered the dietary villains by many people, even though natural fats, like the kind found in full-fat raw dairy, are very good for you.

For most people, raw dairy products from grass-fed cows, including milk, butter, cheese, and cream, are phenomenally healthy. (Shutterstock)