Full-fat milk may be OK for healthy people

The earlier recommendation that only low-fat dairy products be consumed for heart health has been changed.

What’s the story behind this latest change? What does this mean to people with heart disease or high blood pressure?

Read more: According to TV, heart attack victims are rich, white men who clutch their hearts and collapse. Here’s why that’s a worry.

What’s new if you’re healthy?

The Heart Foundation recommends full-fat, unflavored milk, cheese, and yogurt for healthy Australians. They also recommend the reduced-fat alternatives previously recommended.

After reviewing the research of systematic reviews and meta-analyses published since 2009, the change was made. The pooled data comes from a majority of long-term observational studies.

Researchers assess people’s eating patterns and then follow them over many years in order to see if there are any health differences between those who consume a large amount of dairy products versus those who do not.

Researchers conduct these studies because it’s not ethical or practical to keep people on an experimental diet for 20 years or more and watch who gets heart problems.

Read more: Are light dairy products better? We asked five experts

So, when the results of the recent studies were grouped, the Heart Foundation reported no consistent relationship between full-fat or reduced-fat milk, cheese, and yogurt consumption and the risk of heart disease. The trouble was neither increased nor decreased.

For people without any heart disease risk factors, such as those who are in a healthy weight range, selecting reduced-fat or lower-fat milk, cheese, and yogurt does not carry extra health risks or benefits compared to the high-fat alternatives, when consumed as part of an overall healthy diet.

Read more: Health Check: is cheese good for you?

Before you think about having a dairy binge, the review noted the studies on full-fat milk, yogurt, and cheese couldn’t be extrapolated to butter, cream, ice cream and dairy-based desserts.

The Heart Foundation does not recommend these other dairy products, even if they are currently healthy.

What about those with heart disease?

The advice for those with high blood pressure, heart disease or other conditions is different.

Review found that butter, full-fat dairy products like cheese and yogurt, raises LDL cholesterol or “bad” levels more than other sources of fat. For people with high LDL cholesterol, there is an even greater increase in LDL when they consume dairy fat.

Read more: Got high cholesterol? Here are five foods to eat and avoid

So, for people with high blood cholesterol or existing heart disease, the Heart Foundation recommends unflavoured reduced-fat milk, yogurt, and cheese to help lower their total risk of heart disease, which is consistent with previous recommendations.

Reduced-fat, unflavoured versions have fewer total kilojoules compared to full-fat alternatives. This will help to reduce total energy intake, which is a key strategy in managing weight.

People with high cholesterol and heart disease are still advised to consume reduced-fat yogurt. sourced from www.shutterstock.com

What is the difference between this and other advice?

The Dietary Guidelines for Australians of the National Health and Medical Research Council recommends that a wide range of healthy foods be consumed from important healthy food groups in order to improve health and wellbeing, and not only heart health.

According to the evidence available until 2009, it is recommended that people over the age of two consume milk, yogurt, and cheese in reduced-fat form, or their alternative, as most Australians are overweight.

Read more: Plain, Greek, low-fat? How to choose a healthy yogurt

This advice still holds for people with heart disease. However, the new Heart Foundation advice for healthy people means less emphasis is now on using reduced-fat versions in light of more recent evidence.

Australian Dietary Guidelines also recommend limiting the consumption of foods and drinks containing saturated fat. The guidelines recommend that high-fat foods containing mainly saturated fats like butter and cream be replaced with foods primarily containing monounsaturated or polyunsaturated fatty acids such as oils and spreads, avocados, nut butter, and nut pastes.

The Heart Foundation’s recommendations are still in line with this advice.

Australians consume a lot of junk food.

The most recent National Nutrition Survey of Australians (2011-12) found that over a third (35%) of our food is made up of energy-dense but nutrient-poor discretionary foods or junk foods.

Poor eating habits are Australia’s third largest contributor to the current disease burden. The second biggest contributor to the burden of disease in Australia is being overweight or obese.

If Australians adhered to the current dietary guidelines and consumed full-fat or reduced-fat dairy products, such as yogurt, cheese, and milk, then their disease burden would be reduced by 62%. Stroke cases would also drop by 34%, and type 2 diabetics by 41%.

What is the main message to take away?

Consult your GP to get a heart check. Choose full-fat cheese, milk, and yogurt if you don’t have heart disease.

Reduced-fat products are best for people with heart disease and those who want to lose weight.

Make healthy food choices in all food categories. Ask your GP for personalized advice.