My family was into all-natural meats, cheeses, and fats long before the Keto diet became a fad. And instead of jumping on the nonfat and "I can't believe it's not butter" trends, my parents had this weird idea that the best diet was one with natural fats, unprocessed food, and complex carbs.
Seems like the science is finally catching up to us!
An international team finds people who consume higher levels of these fats are less likely to develop cardiovascular disease. For years, experts have urged adults to skip fat laden dairy foods, including milk, to stay healthy. Now, for the first time, scientists have measured intakes by levels of fatty acids in the blood.
My sarcastic hubris aside, this is actually really good news. Who wants to live in a world devoid of cheese?
"Many studies have relied on people being able to remember and record the amounts and types of dairy foods they have eaten, which is especially difficult given dairy is commonly used in a variety of foods," says study co-author Dr. Matti Marklund from Uppsala University, in a statement.
"Instead, we measured blood levels of certain fatty acids, or fat ‘building blocks' that are found in dairy foods, which gives a more objective measure of dairy fat intake that doesn't rely on memory or the quality of food databases," Dr. Marklund continues. "We found those with the highest levels actually had the lowest risk of CVD."
Bring on the butter!
The findings, published in the journal PLOS Medicine, add to growing evidence in favor of unaltered full fat foods. The results come from a review of more than 4,000 Swedish adults — who are among the world's biggest consumers of dairy products.
Man, between never going into lockdown for Covid and eating full-fat dairy, the Swedes really have life and science figured out!
The team confirmed their findings by pooling data from 17 other studies involving almost 43,000 participants in the United States, United Kingdom, and Denmark. Dr. Marklund says with dairy consumption on the rise globally, nutritional scientists need a better understanding of the impact dairy fat has on health. Higher intakes of dairy fat did not have a link to an increased risk of death among the participants.
So what kinds of dairy are the best?
Fermented products such as yogurt rank the highest, but also important to consider is sugar content. Dairy products that are high in fat but low in sugar are much healthier than say, that lowfat yogurt with 40 grams of diabetes-inducing goodness.
Last year, a study of 140,000 people from 21 countries conducted over nine years found two helpings of full fat dairy products a day lowered the risk of diabetes, high blood pressure, and obesity – which can all lead to heart disease. Cardiovascular disease is the world's number one killer, claiming almost 18 million lives annually.
There you have it! We could save millions of lives with cheese!
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