For decades, low-fat dairy products have been recommended to manage obesity and reduce cholesterol. However, recent research led by Harvey Anderson, a professor at the University of Toronto, suggests that full-fat dairy may not be less healthy than low-fat alternatives and could even offer some health benefits.

The study, published in The Journal of Nutrition, involved 74 adults with overweight or obesity who were assigned to one of three dietary groups between September 2020 and February 2023. One group followed a low-dairy, calorie-restricted diet; the second consumed an energy-neutral diet with three servings of full-fat dairy daily; and the third ate an unrestricted diet with three daily servings of full-fat dairy.

After 12 weeks, researchers observed no meaningful differences in weight gain, body composition, energy metabolism, or blood lipid levels among the groups. This challenges the conventional wisdom linking full-fat dairy consumption to weight gain and cardiovascular issues.

Complementing these findings, a large 2016 Harvard analysis of over 220,000 participants across three US cohorts found that dairy fat itself was not associated with higher cardiovascular disease risk. However, replacing dairy fat with polyunsaturated fat was linked to a 24 percent lower cardiovascular risk, and replacing it with vegetable fat was associated with a 10 percent lower risk.

These findings suggest that full-fat dairy can be part of a healthy diet, though the type of fat replacing dairy fat may influence cardiovascular risk.

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