Is it OK to eat full fat dairy, like yoghurt, milk and butter?

For many years we’ve been told to eat low-fat dairy products on the grounds that fat is bad for us and makes us fat. There was never any strong evidence for this and it is getting weaker all the time.

The big mistake was lumping all fats together. Fatty fish, for example, now gets the thumbs up all round. Full fat dairy is also making a comeback.

In a recent study, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition they found, in line with previous studies, that eating more dairy products was associated with a reduced risk of type 2 diabetes. To find out more, follow the link
Am J Clin Nutr, April 2015 DOI: 10.3945/ajcn.114.103010

In this study researchers collected data on the eating habits of 27,000 middle aged Swedes in early 1990 and then followed them for twenty years.

What they found was that those who ate the most high-fat dairy products had a 23 per cent lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes than those who ate the least.

Why? Well dairy is rich in a particular type of fatty acid called heptadecanoic acid, also known as margaric acid. It is a type of saturated fat found in dairy fat, rye, and some fish.

Lots of studies have shown that margaric acid reduces your risk of diabetes and hearts disease.

Like this big study from Cambridge University and Harvard Medical School:
http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/new-evidence-raises-questions-about-the-link-between-fatty-acids-and-heart-disease

I was also charmed by reading this study in dolphins. Titled, “Research with dolphins provides hope for prevention of diabetes in humans” the researchers found that feeding dolphins a diet high in heptadecanoic acid “reversed metabolic syndrome in dolphins”
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/07/150722144627.htm

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