Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Skim milk may be fattening and bad for your heart....

Today's Post: Tuesday, 5-24-2011


As some of you know, I’ve done many things to keep my LDL cholesterol low.

(Some of those have worked well. Others in my family were over 160 when first tested. And, I’ve gone from 130 to 73 with niacin, inositol hexaniacinate, sterol supplements, continued regular exercise, taking curcumin, and recently losing 15 pounds.)

And, I also have been making a strong but mostly unsuccessful effort so far to lose inches off my too large waist. (Losing the 15 pounds took off a bit over an inch; but it’s more like 4 to 6 inches too large still.)

And, as many have done, I switched from whole milk to skim or nonfat and from half and half, light cream, for coffee and cereal to 1% lowfat milk.

So, a recent news article saying I could be less fat and have BETTER heart health by discontinuing the nonfat and 1% lowfat milk, was quite a surprise!

But they quote actual studies showing it is accurate that skim milk & 1% milk tend to make people fat. They also have an analysis saying some of the reasons that skim milk & 1% milk can tend to increase inflammation.

The article, "Is Skim Milk Making You Fat?" by Details Magazine, on Fri Apr 29, 2011 was a feature recently on Yahoo.

The recommendation has been to drink skim and 1% lowfat milk since they have fewer calories a glass than 2% lowfat or whole milk. That would lead you to think drinking them would help you lose fat and excess weight.

And, by having less saturated fat and omega 6 oils from the grain fed cows that usually produce the skim and 1% lowfat milk, you would expect lower LDL and inflammation.

The article says that each of these 3 points is incorrect: for preventing or reversing excess fat gain; for lowering inflammation; & for lowering the dangerous kind of LDL.

For preventing or reversing excess fat gain , the article made several points.

“It's becoming widely accepted that fats actually curb your appetite, by triggering the release of the hormone cholecystokinin, which causes fullness.”

“Fats also slow the release of sugar into your bloodstream, reducing the amount that can be stored as fat.”

Milk has lactose, a sugar, so the higher fat milk causes less boost to your blood sugar levels AND less boost to your insulin levels. Insulin causes you to add fat and hold onto the fat you already have.

“In other words, the more fat in your milk, the less fat around your waist.

Not only will low-fat milk fail to trim your gut, it might even make you fatter than if you were to drink whole, according to one large study.

In 2005, researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health and other institutions studied the weight and milk consumption of 12,829 kids ages 9 to 14 from across the country. "Contrary to our hypothesis," they reported, "skim and 1% milk were associated with weight gain, but dairy fat was not." “

So, there is evidence. This is not just theory!

(I decided to switch from nonfat and 1% lowfat milk to 2% lowfat milk only.

Since I’d already read that milk tends to boost insulin, I’d cut back on milk and added nonfat cottage cheese for the protein and food based calcium. Since nonfat cottage cheese has no or little lactose, that seemed a good idea. And, one writer on fat loss said that nonfat cottage cheese worked for fat loss while skim milk did not.

If that will cut even a half inch or an inch off my waist and lose a few pounds of fat, the change will be well worth it.)

But what about the saturated fat and omega 6 in the dairy fat?

Wouldn’t that be a reason to drink nonfat and 1% milk? It would cut LDL and inflammation wouldn’t it?

I would have thought so.

But the article says that dairy fat boosts the harmless large particle LDL only.

By buffering the lactose in the milk, the dairy fat may lower triglycerides and the greater content of fat may boost HDL. If so, that would explain it. Doing those two things REDUCES the small particle LDL that causes heart disease.

What about the omega 6 oil in the milk from grain fed cows? The reason to avoid the omega 6 oil is to lower inflammation.

So, if nonfat and 1% lowfat RAISED inflammation and 2% and whole milk did not, that would be significant and a good reason to drink the higher fat milk.

Oops! It seems the accepted idea that nonfat and 1% lowfat helps lower inflammation is also incorrect.

The article explains why.

Skim milk is blue or bluish in color. So to make nonfat milk look less blue and more milk like, dried milk is added.

And, to make 1% milk taste richer and have a bit more protein, dried milk is added.

THAT does it! It seems that dried milk boosts inflammation a lot!

The article said this:

“Powdered skim (which is also added to organic low-fat milks) is produced by spraying the liquid under heat and high pressure, a process that oxidizes the cholesterol. In animal studies, oxidized cholesterol triggers a host of biological changes, leading to plaque formation in the arteries and heart disease, Spanish researchers reported in 1996.

"OCs are mutagenic and carcinogenic," they wrote.

In 1998, Australian researchers studied rabbits fed OC and found that the animals "had a 64% increase in total aortic cholesterol" despite having less cholesterol in their blood than rabbits fed natural sources of the substance. (A 2008 Chinese study with hamsters confirmed these findings.)”

So, it looks like to protect your heart and avoid excess fat, the common wisdom is very likely wrong.

Drinking nonfat and 1% lowfat milk is not a good idea. If you drink milk, drink less perhaps; but drink 2% lowfat or whole milk.

It may be wise to do things like drink less milk and eat more nonfat cottage cheese. It may be wise to use more extra virgin olive oil than butter. And it may be wise to get full fat cheese and butter from cows fed only grass.

But if you drink milk, 2% and whole milk looks to be less fattening and safer for your heart.

But the last piece of research also supports something I’d heard.

Do NOT fry in butter or use extended cooking times with it. Only cook at very low temperatures for short cooking times or use extra virgin olive oil or coconut oil. High temperatures and extended cooking times tend to produce the oxidized cholesterol that causes heart disease.

Cold butter or gently melted butter from grass fed cows however when eaten in moderation may have gotten a bad rap.

Overcooked butter causes heart disease. But butter itself apparently does not.

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