Whole Milk or Skim?
Okay Doc, should I drink whole milk or skim?
Which has more fat – cow or human milk? The answer is human milk at 4% fat with cow milk at 3.25% fat. Think of that – during the most important part of our development, we’re drinking whole milk full of saturated fat and cholesterol.
It’s amazing babies aren’t dying of heart attacks right and left! I’ve heard that whole milk can cause heart attacks?
Dairy fat found in milk, cheese and yogurt is mostly saturated fat. Saturated fat is restricted to 10% of our calories based on guidelines from the US nutrition guidelines.
But here’s the udder truth (har!): In a study of 1 million people, there was NO association between whole fat milk, cheese or yogurt with death, heart attack or stroke. I’ve written another post on cheese and weightlifting mice here.
You mean drinking my white water isn’t better for me than whole milk? The next thing you’re going to tell me is that red meat is okay!
Many patients come back to see me after having a stent or bypass surgery. They’ll proudly say they haven’t had red meat since their heart procedure. I take the wind out of their sails when I disapprovingly ask, “Why are you doing that?”
You mean there’s nothing wrong with red meat?!?! Next you’re going to tell me that cows’ teeth were used for George Washingtons dentures!
No study has ever convincingly shown that UNPROCESSED red meat causes heart disease? In fact many studies suggest that unprocessed red meat does NOT cause heart attacks. In one study of over 1 million people there was NO association with red meat and strokes, diabetes or heart attacks. However people who ate PROCESSED red meats had a lot of heart attacks and were more likely to be diabetics.
Yes, George Washington had dentures from cows. Now you know why he never smiled!
What is processed red meat?
Processed red meat is any meat preserved by smoking, curing, salting, or that has chemical preservatives. These include foods like bacon, salami, sausages, pepperoni, hot dogs, and processed deli or luncheon meats. I reviewed these types of processed meats in a prior post.
No bacon? Can life go on? Seriously though Doc, am I still healthier if I don’t eat red meat?
For all the noise about not eating red meat, the results from one credible study comparing people who eat red meat to people who don’t are pretty surprising. There is no difference in cancer, heart attacks or death from heart disease between people who do and don’t eat red meat.
I’m so confused. Where did all the science come from telling us to not eat saturated fat?
The recommendations came to us from 4 studies done in the 1960s and 1970s. These four studies compared diets high in polyunsaturated fats (PUFAs) to “normal diets” higher in saturated fat. In the Oslo Heart Study, there were 15 less deaths in the group who ate the PUFA diet. In the second study, also from Europe, there were 12 less heart attacks in the PUFA group. In the Finnish mental hospital study, the death rate was cut in half in the group eating a diet high in PUFAs. The fourth study involving war veterans in Los Angeles, showed 13 less heart attacks in the group eating the PUFA diet.
You’re shooting your whole post in the foot Doc. Sounds like saturated fats are bad!
The problem with these four studies is that the normal diets at the time contained a great deal of trans fats from highly processed oils, butters and margarine. So these studies really were comparing PUFA diets to trans fat/saturated fat diets. Trans fats are strongly associated with heart attacks. It may have been that saturated fat was an innocent bystander. One other observation is that these studies comprised about 1,000 people total. Pretty gutsy to make claims for the general population with 1,000 people.
Okay smarty pants, so are there other studies saying saturated fats, like whole milk, don’t cause heart attacks?
In an observational study of over 300,000 people, saturated fat was not associated with heart attacks, stroke or death from heart disease. In another similar sized study of people followed from 5 to 23 years, saturated fat intake was not associated with heart attacks or strokes. A third study of around 600K participants has even shown that saturated fat was protective from stroke and also did not cause heart attacks.
What if I replace saturated fat with carbohydrates instead?
This is the nutrition advice given to Americans in the 1980’s to the 1990s. The low-fat, high-carb diet is no longer advised given the lack of benefit in preventing heart attacks. More on carbs is found in this post I wrote on Dwight D. Eisenhower. Some people have taken the whole “carbs are bad” thing too far as I wrote about in this post.
What’s your conclusion, Doc?
We have no convincing science to recommend reducing saturated fat in our diet to prevent heart attacks. I think that there are fats that may protect us from heart attacks as discussed in this post. However, science suggests that saturated fats like whole fat milk, cheese and yogurt are neither protective nor harmful when it comes to heart attacks. Unprocessed red meat is also not dangerous to your heart. Avoid processed red meat as discussed in this post. Enjoy the video below. I’ve used it in another post but it’s so appropriate. One last cow fact, don’t try tipping one that’s awake; they have 360 degree vision and will spot you from behind!
