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Janet B Janet B is offline
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Default Are full-fat dairy foods better for you after all?

this study was reported in the journal "Circulation".

"Circulation" is a scientific journal published by Lippincott Williams
& Wilkins for the American Heart Association. The journal publishes
articles related to research in and the practice of cardiovascular
diseases, including observational studies, clinical trials,
epidemiology, health services and outcomes studies, and advances in
applied and basic research. From 1996 to 2004, its impact factor
remained close to 10. As of 2014, its impact factor was 14.43 and it
ranked fourth among journals in the Cardiac and Cardiovascular
Systems, Peripheral Vascular Disease categories.


Can we go back to putting whole milk in our coffee and slurping down
real ice cream? Two recent studies suggest eating full-fat dairy foods
instead of their thinner tasting, low-fat or non-fat counterparts may
help cut the risk for diabetes and obesity. But the research is still
early, experts told CBS News.

Tufts researchers report in the journal Circulation that people who
consumed full-fat dairy products had as much as a 46 percent lower
risk of developing diabetes over the course of the 15-year study
compared with people who opted for skim milk, low-fat yogurt and
low-fat cheese. The research was based on an analysis of blood test
results showing biomarkers of full-fat dairy consumption.

A second study more than 18,000 middle-age women who were part of the
Women's Health Study -- and normal weight, free of cardiovascular
disease, cancer, and diabetes at the start of the research -- found
that those who ate more high-fat dairy had an 8 percent lower chance
of going on to become obese over time compared to those who ate less.
No association was observed with low-fat dairy product intake.

"We saw less weight gain for higher total dairy and high-fat dairy
intake and also a lower risk of becoming overweight and obese in those
who consumed more high-fat dairy," said study author Susanne
Rautiainen, a research fellow at Brigham and Women's Hospital and
Harvard Medical School in Boston.

The U.S. Dietary Guidelines recommend keeping saturated fat
consumption to less than 10 percent of calories per day. A latte made
with one cup of whole milk, for example, contains 4.6 grams of
saturated fat -- almost a quarter of the daily total.

Dr. Susan Spratt, a diabetes specialist at Duke, told CBS News it's an
interesting study and adds to previous, conflicting findings on diet
and health.


But she pointed out that the Women's Health Study, which has tracked
thousands of participants since 1993, was not a randomized trial, and
said, "We've been burned before on observational studies."

The studies don't answer the question of why eating richer dairy
products may affect diabetes and obesity risk. For years doctors have
recommended sticking with low-fat dairy for heart health and weight
control. The authors of the diabetes and dairy study wrote, "Findings
suggest that either ... dairy fatty acids themselves or other
correlated factors in dairy fat could reduce risk of diabetes."

But it could also be that full-fat dairy foods make people feel more
satisfied so they'll eat less overall.

Spratt, an endocrinologist and assistant professor of medicine at Duke
University School of Medicine, said, "I think we now understand there
are healthy fats and unhealthy fats; healthy carbohydrates and less
healthy carbohydrates. And fat can improve satiety and that could
reduce total calorie intake. There could be other mechanisms at play.
Patients eating high-fat dairy may be on a high-protein, high-fat diet
(Atkins) and perhaps that is why they are not gaining."

You might not want to toss out your low-fat frozen yogurt yet, though.
Rautiainen told CBS News it's a single observational study. "I don't
think we have the whole story yet. This is something that future
studies need to look at more carefully."