Whole-fat dairy products are just as healthy for children as reduced-fat* equivalents, according to a new study led by researchers from Edith Cowan University (ECU) in a project called the Milky Way Study.
The study aimed to shed some light on the common thinking that, from two years of age, children should switch to lower-fat dairy products to prevent weight gain and cardiovascular problems later on.
The researchers noted that several decades of public health concerns that the excess calories and saturated fat content in whole-fat dairy products could cause weight gain and cardiovascular disease have undermined belief in the health benefits of this food group. As a result, parents can be confused about which types of dairy products are the best choices for their kids.
Updated Australian Dietary Guidelines are currently in the pipeline, and it is hoped the Milky Way Study can contribute useful information to help inform decisions about the new paediatric guidelines. The study measured, for the first time, how children’s obesity, body composition, blood pressure and blood biomarkers were affected by changing to lower-fat dairy consumption. Over a three-month period, 49 healthy children aged four to six were randomly allocated into one of two groups. One group received whole fat dairy products in place of their normal dairy intake, whereas the other received reduced-fat dairy products.
All products were provided free and in plain packaging, to keep families and researchers blind to each child’s dairy group. Key findings of the study were that, regardless of the type of dairy consumed, children ended up consuming the same total amount of calories per day and did not experience any significant differences in body fat or cardiovascular health markers.
It had previously been thought young children would benefit from low-fat dairy products due to their lower levels of saturated fats and lower density of energy, in turn helping avoid obesity and risk of associated cardiometabolic diseases.
The results suggest healthy children can safely consume whole-fat dairy products without increased obesity or adverse cardiometabolic effects.
The logic behind these findings is that there may be differences in levels of satiety between children who consume whole-fat vs low-fat milk. In other words, giving children low-fat dairy products left them wanting more, and they ended up getting the extra calories from other, potentially less healthy options.
In addition, dairy products may lose some important nutrients after processing to remove the fat, for example, omega-3 fatty acids which can contribute to heart and brain health. Wholefood milk, cheese and yoghurt all contain live cultures, or probiotics, largely associated with dairy fat. The considerable health benefits of fermented dairy products can be reduced or lost when dairy products have fat removed, or when plant-based alternatives are used.
The findings of this new study may help parents decide on what dairy products their children can safely consume, opening the door to regular consumption of whole-fat products.
Researchers are now looking at other questions around this topic, including investigating changes in levels of fatty acids in the children’s blood samples before and after they changed to the Milky Way Study whole-fat or reduced-fat dairy products. Here, their goal is to establish if there is a link between levels of individual fatty acids – whether saturated, unsaturated or polyunsaturated – with cardiometabolic health risk. Other projects are looking more closely at what food choices kids make when following a diet based on low-fat dairy products, and how different dairy fat levels affect a child’s gut microbiome.
Key messages
- It has been assumed that low-fat dairy is better for children
- Parents can be confused by mixed messages
- New work shows that full fat dairy may be a better option for children than lower-fat dairy.
*Note: whole-fat milk = 3.4% fat; fat-reduced milk can range from 50% fat-reduced (around 2% fat: Hilo milk), all the way to low-fat and then skim milk (around 0.1% fat). We use the term ‘reduced-fat’ to describe our largely 50% lower fat products.
ED: Analise Nicholl is an accredited practising dietitian and a PhD candidate at ECU.
Author competing interests –the authors were involved in the study mentioned.