By Kara Pifer
Many clients come to see nutritional experts to learn easy ways to eat healthier and lose weight. When asked, most of these clients can already name at least a couple of ways that they could change their current eating habits to become a bit healthier. One of the most common suggestions (at least that I’ve heard) is to start replacing your full-fat dairy with low-fat or fat-free dairy. Unfortunately, new research seems to disprove this common suggestion, at least for our country’s youth. Have you given this suggestion to clients or even practice this suggestion yourself? I do not enjoy the taste of milk, but the milk I use for cereal and coffee has almost always been skim milk or at the most, 1%. The yogurt I consume is almost always light or fat-free, but when it comes to cheese, I go for the real deal. I do not necessarily consume these low-fat or fat-free dairy products to lose weight, but for the health benefits of a lower fat consumption in my diet. According to this recent study, I probably make up the ‘saved’ calories in other choices throughout my day (possibly with the ½ cup of Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream that I just ate!)
The aforementioned study included 145 child participants ranging in age from 4-13 years old who were assigned into one of two groups. The first group was given no dietary limitations, which means they were able to eat as they would on a regular basis. The second group was told that they must replace all dairy products with either low-fat or fat-free dairy products at least for the duration of the study. My first question comes here: were the families with ‘no dietary restrictions’ necessarily consuming full fat dairy products? It is quite possible that the families in the study were already consuming low-fat or fat-free dairy products so there was no alterations in their diet that would have caused weight loss. My second concern with this study is the length of time the experiment was conducted. It only spanned a length of six months, which means that it is possible that with a longer period of time the children may have shown different results. Then again, it is also possible that the results would remain the same even with a longer time frame.
Although this study seems to disprove the theory that consuming low-fat or fat-free dairy products is good for overall health, there are many positive health outcomes of choosing these over the full-fat variety that should not be overlooked. The Body Mass Index and waist sizes of the participants remained unchanged, but the cholesterol levels decreased in the participants eating the low-fat and fat-free dairy products. Also, the group with the dietary restrictions did consume less fat in their diet, specifically the group consumed less saturated fat which contributed to a lowering of cholesterol. Cholesterol also seems to be a major concern in the United States, which means that for families who are currently consuming full-fat dairy products, changing to low-fat or fat-free dairy may help keep cholesterol low while still providing a good supply of calcium.
Some parents may be worried about the nutritional content of the low-fat or fat-free milk they are being told to give their children. If you’re taking the fat out, does that mean other nutrients are being leached as well? According to this study, the calcium and vitamin D levels are not affected. This is great news, as it seems that Americans have been more worried about consuming adequate levels of vitamins and minerals in the past few years. At least 53% of Americans were consuming daily multivitamins between 2003 and 2006 and that number has most likely increased since that data has been collected. The trouble is that most of the individuals taking these vitamins believe that by taking them, they can eat whatever they want, including low nutrient density foods.
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