No, low-fat dairy products may not help you lose weight

Choose low-fat or nonfat yogurt; skim milk; reduced-fat cheese. This is the advice we’ve been getting since the Dietary Guidelines for Americans began directing us to avoid fat in 1980. Updated every five years, the guidelines continue to tell us to avoid high-fat dairy products “to achieve and maintain a healthy body weight … and reduce the risk of chronic disease.”

While this advice may sound sensible, recent studies suggest that it is based more on assumptions than on scientific evidence.

A recent literature review of 25 studies conducted by the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle and reported by Time.com “found no support for the notion that low-fat dairy is healthier” for weight management. “When it comes to weight gain, full-fat dairy may actually be better

for you, the review found.”

Other research supports these

conclusions. The European Journal

of Nutrition Results reports that in 11 of 16 studies, high-fat dairy intake was associated not with weight gain but with weight loss. A recent study published in the

Annals of Internal Medicine noted that dieters who cut carbs rather than fat lost significantly more weight and body fat.

The mechanisms behind the weight loss are still under investigation. Some suggest that full-fat dairy helps you feel fuller for longer, so you eat less overall. Others postulate that the fatty acids found in full-fat but not low-fat or nonfat dairy products may help hormones regulate the amount of energy your body burns or the amount of fat it stores.

“Data should be weighed more heavily than assumptions,” said Mario Kratz, the lead author of the Seattle study, “and the data don’t support the notion that eating fullfat dairy is worse for your health than reduced-fat or nonfat dairy.”

Does that mean you can now down a quart of bacon ice cream without worrying about the consequences? No, but it does suggest that you may be better off opting for whole rather than fat-free milk.