FoodFacts.com has always been a proponent of consuming real foods. After the years we’ve spent developing our comprehensive database, it has become very apparent that low-fat, non-fat products can also contain the controversial ingredients we encourage our community to avoid. Manufacturers tend to make up for the reduction in fats with food additives that help them to mimic the tastes and textures of the original full-fat versions of these foods. Now, there appears to be another reason we should be avoiding low-fat or no-fat dairy products, especially if we’re female.
A new study out of the University of California in San Diego has illustrated the possibility that consuming low-fat or no fat dairy … like low-fat cheese or skim milk may increase the risk of developing coronary heart disease.
It was found that women who consume low-fat cheese (sometimes or often) were at a 132% increased risk for developing CHD (coronary heart disease) and a 48% increased risk if they consumed non-fat milk (either sometimes or often). This is when compared to those women who rarely or never consumed either food.
The research collected data from over 700 men and 1,000 women in a community of older adults. These participants were followed for about 16 years and tracked for fatal and non-fatal coronary heart disease. Those participants who developed CHD were more likely to be older men with a higher body mass index and total cholesterol level than those without the disease.
However, for the women studied, there was an association between the consumption of low-fat and no-fat dairy products and their risk for CHD. In fact, even after the researchers adjusted for age, BMI and cholesterol, the link was still apparent. The higher the consumption of low-fat cheese and non-fat milk among these women, the higher their risk for coronary heart disease.
The researchers noted that CHD is a preventable disease. In fact, patients who consume a plant-based diet after diagnosis have been known to either reverse the disease or stop its progression.
FoodFacts.com understands that real foods that exclude those labeled low-fat, non-fat, light, sugar-free are healthier options for the population. Actually processed foods that don’t carry those terms need to have their ingredient lists closely scanned as well. But with the information carried in this study, there are new reasons to carefully consider the consumption of low-fat/no-fat dairy products for these very specific, very important reasons.
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