Is full-fat milk good for you?

From the “Milk’s gotta lotta bottle” campaign of the 1980s up to the more recent “Make mine milk”, marketers over the decades of have been keen to remind us of the health benefits of milk. The calcium in milk is great for teeth and bones, but for years now we’ve been advised to choose low-fat dairy products, to avoid the saturated fat that can raise your cholesterol levels and, as a result, your risk of heart attacks and strokes.

UK guidelines still recommend choosing reduced-fat milk, cheese and yoghurt. However, new research is highlighting that there may be more to dairy products than just their fat content. The combination of nutrients they contain could be doing more for our heart health than we previously thought.

The Australian Heart Foundation has published a new statement on dairy which encourages people to eat dairy foods like milk, cheese and yoghurt as healthy snacks.

It also concludes that although people with high cholesterol should use low fat dairy, there isn’t enough evidence to say whether other people should choose low fat or full-fat dairy. This guidance is only for milk, cheese and yoghurt – not butter or cream, which are still foods to only eat in small amounts.

The reason for the shift in focus is that although we know that saturated fat, which is the type of fat in dairy, can raise our levels of ‘bad’ cholesterol, this doesn’t appear to be the full picture when it comes to our heart and circulatory health.

Studies are suggesting that, despite their saturated fat content, dairy foods like milk, cheese and yoghurt have a neutral or even positive effect. They could also help reduce your risk of type 2 diabetes and blood pressure, which can both increase the chances of having a heart attack or stroke.

However, much of the research in this area is looking at the dietary habits of large groups of people and comparing it with what happens to their health, which can’t prove cause and effect.

There is still more to learn about why dairy foods could be even healthier than we thought. Researchers think that a range of nutrients found in milk, including calcium, potassium and phosphates, could be behind the benefits. There is also a suggestion that these nutrients might be working in combination, which could be why we will get more benefit from including dairy foods in our diet rather than from foods or supplements which don’t have all of these.

So, is full-fat dairy ok?

Our advice is: don’t stock up on full-fat dairy just yet. There’s unlikely to be any harm in choosing low or reduced-fat dairy products (as long as they don’t have added sugar to replace the fat) and it has a clear benefit if you have high cholesterol. Lower-fat versions of milk, cheese and plain yoghurt are also lower in energy (calories) and so can be helpful if you are trying to manage your weight.

The type of fat found in dairy is saturated and, because we eat dairy foods regularly, this can add up. On average, dairy products make up about a quarter of the saturated fat we eat. We’re all advised to reduce the amount of saturated fat we eat and replace it with unsaturated fat like the kind in vegetable oils, nuts and oily fish.

There’s also no evidence that we would benefit from eating more dairy products than is currently recommended. As usual when it comes to what you eat, it’s more useful to think about your whole diet than to focus on certain aspects of it. A portion of yoghurt with fruit and wholegrain cereal is a healthier meal for a whole range of reasons than a burger topped with slices of processed cheese, or a whole milk latte with a slice of cake. Aim for a healthy balanced diet which includes dairy alongside lots of fruit and vegetables, fish, nuts, seeds, beans and lentils and wholegrains.