If you identify as a modern-day health freak (think; hot-yoga-loving, Lululemon-wearing, dairy-free warrior princess), it may be time to switch-up your morning cuppa.
The 'full-fat' label has scared off health and fitness advocates for decades, but a new study suggests that swapping your green top for the infamous dark blue may be just the thing you need.
A new report published in The Lancet has found that a diet including full-fat dairy can actually be extremely beneficial for the wellbeing of your heart, resulting in lower rates of cardiovascular disease and mortality.
Researchers from McMaster University in Canada carried out a study to address the fears of saturated fat in dairy once and for all. Following 130,000 participants from 21 countries for just over 9 years, the findings were clear; eating full-fat yoghurt, cheese, and milk is better than, well, not.
Many health professionals have previously advised that eating too much saturated fat can be detrimental to one's health by increasing LDL cholesterol.
However, lead author of the study Dr Mahshid Dehghan told TIME that this belief could be based on misguided opinions, advising that it's detrimental to focus solely on a single nutrient.
"Dairy contains many other components - amino acids, vitamin K, calcium, magnesium. They can be fermented and have probiotics," she said.
"Our findings support that consumption of dairy products might be beneficial for mortality and cardiovascular disease, especially in low-income and middle-income countries where dairy consumption is much lower than in North America or Europe."
Nevertheless, there are still myriads of other studies from different experts that conflict with these new findings, including conclusions that it's better to remove dairy from our diets altogether. After all, there is also research claiming 75 percent of the world's population is lactose intolerant.
Anna Rangan, associate professor of the School of Life and Environmental Sciences at Sydney University in Australia told the Independent that "readers should be cautious, and treat this study only as yet another piece of the evidence - albeit a large one - in the literature."
Whatever you decide to put in your spiced pumpkin latte this week, make sure you've done your reading.
Newshub.
