I’ll keep this one short and sweet. Okay, maybe not sweet, since it’s a bit of a rant—but so be it!
When I’m at home and in my normal routine, it’s easy to make the mistake of assuming that we’ve made a lot more progress in terms of shifting the public perception of what constitutes a healthy diet than we really have.
After all, nearly everyone I communicate with on a daily basis (friends, family, colleagues, readers, etc.) understands that red meat isn’t evil, eating cholesterol won’t clog your arteries and give you a heart attack, and whole grains aren’t nutritional powerhouses.
So it’s always a bit of a shock when I go out on the road and find that the world at large still does not share these views. For example, lately I’ve been traveling quite a bit. In the mornings I’ll often head to Peet’s or (only if there’s no alternative) Starbucks and order a coffee. Inevitably several people in front of me will order either a non-fat latté or some other coffee drink with either skim milk or soy milk added to it. In fact, in the last several months I can’t remember a single person that asked for whole milk.
Find out why cream, butter, and whole-milk products are better for you than non-fat dairy. #dairy #lowfat #goodfats
I can’t help cringing when I hear people ask for skim/non-fat milk. Why? Because although we’ve been brainwashed for decades to believe that dairy fat is harmful, recent research overwhelmingly suggests the opposite. Consider the following:
- A meta-analysis of 16 studies (which our friend and colleague Dr. Stephan Guyenet was a co-author on) found that full-fat dairy was either inversely associated with obesity and metabolic disease, or not associated with them at all. In other words, people who ate the most high-fat dairy foods had the lowest risk for obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. (1)
- Higher circulating levels of trans-palmitoleic acid (a fatty acid found in dairy fat) are associated with healthier levels of blood cholesterol, inflammatory markers, insulin levels, and insulin sensitivity, after adjustment for other risk factors. In one study, people with the highest levels of trans-palmitoleic acid in their blood had a 60% lower risk of developing diabetes than those with the lowest levels. (2)
- Another study showed that people who ate the most full-fat dairy had a 69% lower risk of cardiovascular death than those who ate the least. (3)
- A study at the Harvard School of Public Health found that women who ate two or more servings of low-fat dairy foods per day, particularly skim milk and yogurt, increased their risk of infertility by more than 85 percent compared with women who ate less than one serving of low-fat dairy food per week. (4)
It bears mentioning that all of these studies were observational in nature, so they don’t prove that full-fat dairy is responsible for all of the effects mentioned. But they certainly make it difficult to argue that full-fat dairy is harmful and contributes to obesity, diabetes and heart disease, and if anything, they suggest the opposite is true.
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How Full-Fat (But Not Non-Fat) Dairy May Prevent Disease
How could that be?
Well, it turns out that some compounds in high-fat dairy products—such as butyrate, phytanic acid, trans palmitoleic acid, and conjugated linoleic acid—have been shown to have beneficial effects.
Butyrate provides energy to the cells lining the colon, inhibits inflammation in the gastrointestinal tract, and may prevent colonic bacteria from entering the bloodstream. In fact, butyrate’s anti-inflammatory effect is so strong that a dose of four grams per day for eight weeks induced complete remission in a group of Crohn’s disease patients. (5)
Phytanic acid, one of the fatty acids in dairy fat, has been shown to reduce triglycerides, improve insulin sensitivity, and improve blood-sugar regulation in animal models. In a study of 2,600 U.S. adults, another fatty acid in dairy fat, trans palmitoleic acid, was found to be associated with lower triglycerides, lower fasting insulin, lower blood pressure, and a lower risk of diabetes. (6)
Conjugated linolenic acid (CLA), a natural trans fat found in dairy products, may reduce the risk of heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. (7)
Finally, dairy fat is also a good source of fat-soluble vitamins like retinol (active vitamin A) and vitamin K2, which are difficult to obtain elsewhere in the diet.
Should We Be Consuming Dairy Products at All?
Of course some of you might argue that all of this is a moot point, because we shouldn’t be consuming dairy products at all. I’ve addressed that question at length in my book, and in blog articles like this one.
There’s no question that dairy doesn’t work for everyone. Some people are allergic to or intolerant of the proteins in dairy, or are highly sensitive for lactose.
In those cases dairy must be strictly avoided or additional steps must be taken (such as fermenting milk to make kefir or yogurt, which are lower in lactose) to make it tolerable.
But for people who tolerate dairy, my point is that there’s really no reason to choose low-fat or non-fat varieties—and in fact, by doing so you may be reducing or eliminating the benefits you would get from consuming dairy products in the first place!
Not only that, I think most people will agree that full-fat dairy tastes so much better. Hooray!
Re-Training Yourself to Eat Full-Fat Dairy
Instead of a non-fat latté, choose whole milk. Better yet, make your coffee at home and put some organic cream in it.
Instead of non-fat Greek yogurt, choose whole milk yogurt.
Instead of margarine or one of those “fake” butter spreads made with vegetable oils, choose butter or ghee.
Instead of reduced-fat cheese, choose the real thing.
It might take a while to get used to the taste of full-fat dairy products if you haven’t had them for a while, but you’ll adjust quickly—and your body will thank you!
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I’ve been drinking raw milk for about two months. I make my own yogurt and kefir with it. I’ve noticed that I’m very itchy — although it’s winter and could be dry skin — and I am having some blemishes I don’t ordinarily have. Could this be from the milk?
I love the milk and the yogurt and kefir I make with it! I even made cream cheese. The cream is amazing!
I drink some kefir in the morning and it satisfies me until my mid-morning break. It’s awesome.
Most people who don’t tolerate dairy well, are doing well with raw milk, because it has not been tinkered and is in perfect natural balance. I do have itchy dry skin during the winter as well because of the heating…
an other raw milk bs post
Wolfgang you’re trolling around on this website only goes to show your ignorance on these matters. You really should get out more often!
The milk kefir could be detoxing your system and your skin is where it is showing up. If that is the case you will need to drink more water to help your body flush it out.
I bet your homemade kefir is delicious!
I went on JJ Virgin’s elimination diet and have been slowly adding back in foods to see if I’m unable to tolerate anything. I have found that I too get blemishes/pimples on my face, neck and scalp when I eat cheese. And I only eat raw, organic cheese. I also get pimples when I eat organic kefir. I don’t have any digestive issue from dairy, just the pimples. I don’t know if it’s from the lactose or the casein in dairy. Though, I thought I read somewhere that fermentation process of making kefir negates any lactose intolerance a person might have, making kefir safe even for lactose intolerant people. I may have that wrong – maybe it’s the casein that fermentation neurtralizes.
I used to order my chai lattes with half and half. But then it occurred to me that maybe the fat of milk from CAFO cows isn’t something I should be consuming, so I went back to 2% (can’t bring myself to do skim) at coffee shops. I drink raw milk at home. Chris, does the fact that the “Starbucks cows” are unhealthy matter?
I was thinking about this too. Toxins in the body are stored primarily in fat, so it would make sense to avoid full fat dairy products if they aren’t grass fed and organic. Same goes for cuts of meat.
I assume when ordering the occasional latte, it’s better that they serve low fat dairy since it’s factory farmed. Isn’t factory dairy fat high in toxins?
Milk: 1953-1954 — mother’s milk.
1955-1969 — chocolate whole milk.
1970 – 1981 — skim milk
1981- 1986 — no cow’s milk or yogurt, small quantities of some cheeses, butter and ghee fairly freely. and from 1981- 1983, fresh raw goat’s milk. YUM!!!
1986 – 2005 — whole milk, whole milk yogurt, some cheese, butter.
2005 — present –very limited dairy, but what there has been has been full-fat.
Current conclusion: I am better off the less dairy I consume, and better off the higher percentage of butterfat contained in the dairy that I consume. In addition, I do better with milk that has been turned into some cheeses, or yogurt, or has at least been turned into scalding or boiling milk for coffee or cocoa, or churned into ice cream or butter, than I do with fresh (pasteurized, homogenized) milk. The less of even these dairy products I consume, the better, and with ice cream there is the whole other issue of sugar, which I am trying to eliminate from my diet. I like pudding better anyway, but there is still the sugar issue, as well as the additional issue of starch. I also have a taste for custards. At least there the thickener is egg as opposed to starch, so it is much better for me, if I can only find a recipe that has no sugar. For a few years in the early 1980s we got our milk from a fellow down the road who had goats, and there is nothing better than fresh raw goat’s milk. Unfortunately we have not been able to find fresh raw goat’s milk since we left that town. (so fresh that at least once it was still warm from the goat.) The only raw milk I have ever had was goat’s milk, which was really special and delicious.
Look at JJ Virgin’s cookbook – no sugar there and wonderful desserts!
Google recipes for chia seed chocolate pudding or avocado chocolate pudding. Chia seeds remind me of tapioca pearls. They are both yummy pudding alternatives and good for you when made with healthy chocolate sources, like raw cacao. Careful eating too much chia seed pudding if you are new to it. It can upset your digestion if you’re not used to it. Need to drink lots of water when you eat chia due to it’s very high fiber content.
The Paleo World — well at least the more bullet proof tangent of it — pushes butter for this. For the life of me I couldn’t see why butter would be any better than pure cream (ie, zero protein), since all butter is is churned cream. Your article seems to confirm my conclusion; would you agree?
Great articles, keep up the good work!
-Kevin
while butter is churned cream, remember all that “buttermilk” that comes out in the churning.
Some people may do better on butter versus cream because butter has minimal (but not zero) dairy proteins (clarify it into ghee if you want to further concentrate it and remove the proteins). cream actually does have some of these proteins and some people are extremely intolerant of them.
although i agree with you, and luckily i tolerate most dairy very well, so i pour on the cream!
Actually Natural By Nature Heavy Cream is both pasteured and has zero grams of protein. (I recognize “zero” on a nutrition panel is not necessarily zero, but read on.)
I am very sensitive to milk proteins — they cause inflammation, and at this point I have dialed the inflammation down so much (knock on wood and hopefully I didn’t just jinx myself saying that) that I can detect even small amounts of inflammation caused by something I eat now, and Natural by Nature causes none. YMMV.
-Kevin
Kevin , where do you live and what stores carry it?
I love this! It drives me nuts everytime I hear someone order a non-fat mocha latte or something like that. You’re literally just drinking sugar.
Yes, it drives me nuts that a non-fat sugary latté and a sugary low-fat muffin are still perceived by many as a “healthy choice”.
Brain washing is powerful and it’s constant re enforcement is incedious (transcends generations). People like Chris help you become a health leader for you.
My husband and I made the change to paleo 3 1/2 years ago and I have been encouraging my patients and family to use nature as a guide. I have yet to see a cow produce low fat milk. I was thrilled to find raw milk in a store in SC and am currently transporting it home to FL. I hope the war against raw dairy will end soon. We have never been healthier than when we changed our diet and where we source our foods.
Hi Chris,
I am always happy to read about more evidence to support my (and by extension my family’s) dietary consumption. I went Paleo in July and that evolved into Nutritional Ketosis a month ago. We have been consuming raw milk, full fat raw cream and sour cream without incident, and with improved health markers for about 6 months. We too have shifted our Starbucks consumption from double non-fat lattes, to coffee with whole cream or a double “short” latte with whole cream. From a taste and satiety stand point, its been fantastic.
So then I’m curious to know what the “recommended” or “target” cholesterol numbers should/would be on a HFLC WOE?
I make my own high fat yogurt using cream and half-n-half, fermented 24 hours. I also make my own kefir from whole milk. Love cheese and cream cheese!
Fasting labs ealier this month for me were
Total Chol 218
HDL 68
Triglycerides 108
LDL 191
Total ratio 4.1.
Doc wants to start me on a statin. What do I tell her?!
Get the more extensive lipid test done. Regular cholesterol testings don’t show much. Chris wrote a lot about this here. My new Paleo doc took me off statins and keeps a close eye on me. She suggested no grains at all and I take Niacin and the fish oil (TG form) she suggested.
My cholesterol numbers and all lab values became normal a few months after giving up all dairy except ghee. This, after 4 years of eating low carb paleo during which time my A1c was elevated and LDL was too high. My dairy during that time included raw goat milk yogurt that I made, and whole fat cheese and butter. We are all different, but how about trying some diet tweeking and retest in a few months? It might be worth a try rather than jumping on a statin.
I’ll assume you are a woman. If so, check out this old Podcast by Chris, and you’ll see that statin use has never been proven beneficial to women.
http://chriskresser.com/low-cholesterol-is-associated-with-higher-risk-of-death-in-women
Tell her no way…until she or you can prove that the particles of the LDL are damaging, statins will make everything worse for you. Read Dr. Williams Davis’ book “Wheat Belly” – the section on cholesterol – based on a lot of scientific proven theory and testing. Your brain needs cholesterol to function especially as you age. If you don’t have diabetes now – great – BUT if you start statins, I can almost guarantee that diabetes will be in your future.
my blood glucose level was 102 fasting and Hemoglobin A1c was 5.8 so now they are saying I’m “prediabetic.” and I’ve been on a High Fat Low Carb Moderate Protein WOE for years. I’m thinking my occasional indulgence in carbs of the “bad” type (i.e., BREAD, by biggest downfall) may increase my blood glucose levels more than if I was not on a low carb way of eating? That and I should probably decrease my protein intake a bit more and concentrate on healthy fats …
It is most unfortunate but reversing the train will take as much effort as it took to put it in motion. In the meantime loose your latte even full fat and enjoy a caffè breve.
I endorse full-fat dairy products as the best alternative but only if they are obtained from cows that have been fed organic, non-GMO food (preferably all-grass) and no antibiotics have been used.
And there lies the problem, full milk in supermarkets is unlikely to be grass fed so you run the risk of consuming the high Omega 6 fed cows milk. I will stick with Hemp or Almond milk thanks
If you find yourself out and about and ordering a latte, ask for it “breve” (breh-vey) style and it will be made with half and half instead of whole milk. Delicious.
I do the same. Although, I’ve stopped having coffee or latte’s out, instead we make our own with chocolate sauce my wife makes with water, coconut sugar, honey and cocoa. Not that that’s necessarily a “healthy” sweetener, but it’s NOT loaded with other toxins that the factory sweeteners add. We also make them with half and half…our weekend treat. The rest of the week we just have coffee with a dash of the chocolate sweetener and about 3 Tbsp of half and half. Life is so good eating a higher fat diet. Thanks for all your work, Chris!
I am temporarily off of coffee for a while due to my functional nutritionist’s diet protocol for adrenal failure, but will be able to re-introduce it in the form of naturally decaf hopefully soon. I love my espresso latte! When my espresao machine died I began to take my raw A2 organic whole fat milk in my own glass travel bottle into my local coffee shop and order my shots of espresso. They got used to my request very fast and would start making it when I walked through the door. When I began adding whole raw butter to it along with my spices (mostly tumeric, cardamon, ginger & cinnamon and then began to change the spices in various combos) they would want the recipes to try. I had them hooked. I found it was pretty easy to each them by example. They just wanted the taste experience, but when they found out the health benefits they too became enthusiasts and began to experiment as well.
Finding full-fat Greek yogurt is next to impossible. Plain full-fat yogurt is easier to find (always on the bottom shelf!), so I strain it with a coffee filter and a mesh strainer. It’s cheap and it works well.
It’s interesting, it seems that a lot of folks who live around me now understand that real butter and full fat dairy are healthier than the low fat stuff. When I buy whole milk in the local Whole Foods (I live in the greater Boston area), the racks are always full of skim and low fat milk but the whole milk is usually running low. We have a fantastic local dairy that they carry at the store (http://highlawnfarm.com/) but the only problem is their whole milk is sometimes sold out, while there is always plenty of their skim and low fat milk available! I guess the type of people who choose the more expensive, higher quality local dairy are aware of full fat dairy’s benefits.
Thanks Alec for sharing. I live in the greater Boston area too and I did not know about this valuable resource.
I live in a very small town in Maine, at least an hour away from a city, so the grocery stores are rather limited in what they offer. We have the Cabot brand, though, and they make an all-natural (no added ingredients) whole milk (10%) plain Greek yogurt. It’s so much better than the fat-free kinds. I don’t remember the price, but it’s no more costly than the other brands.
On a somewhat related note, I was glancing at recipes in a magazine the other day, and there was a shortbread cookie recipe that specifically called for Kerry Gold butter … and nonfat milk. Huh? If you’re going for the good butter, why would you skimp and use nonfat milk? I’d go for the heavy cream every time. I’ve recently found a local source for heavy cream from grass-fed cows that doesn’t include carrageenan. Now THAT’S hard to find in my little corner of Maine.
love kerry gold , the best
Although I was once on the non-fat bandwagon, prior to learning about the benefits of the paleo diet, I am no longer. Aside from the benefits of full-fat dairy, I find myself more satisfied and thus actually eating less when I pay attention to eating nutrient dense food and having adequate fat in my diet. When my body is getting the necessary nutrients I have fewer cravings and am less hungry.
I love reading these articles. They keep confirming that I’m doing alright with my don’t-believe-the-hype diet. I never buy low-fat versions of anything. I buy as little processed food as possible; not factory-produced biscuits but home made cake (made with full fat butter and lots of sugar), no ready-meals (I don’t even have a microwave).
The problem with yogurt, as Mandy and others have mentioned, is that it’s hard to find full-fat. In the supermarket the other day I found 2 full fat brands and lost count at 30-something low fat options.
Anyone reading this in Ireland: get the Milbona yogurt tubs from Lidl; the best and cheapest yogurt I’ve found in Irish supermarkets sofar. And if you like your yogurt a bit sweeter, put in a good spoonful of jam from your local farmers market 😉
I recently watched a video instruction for a new Breville espresso machine, on which the demonstrator clearly says low fat milk bubbles better when you steam it. The inference is to use low fat milk.
I grew up on skim milk an always preferred the taste. Mostly what you are used to.