Got Low-Fat Milk? Not Smart If You Want A Baby!
Filed under: Study — @ April 10, 2007
You might want to reconsider that low-fat dairy if you want kids
We’ve all heard that we should eat an adequate amount of dairy in our diet, but that we should choose the low-fat or fat-free versions of milk, cheese, and yogurt to provide the most “healthy” food for our bodies. If I had a dime every time I’ve heard that in my life, then I’d be as wealthy as Bill Gates!
But if you are a woman in those precious few childbearing years, then that widely-accepted dietary advice is just about the most foolish thing you could ever follow if you want to have a baby, according to a new Harvard study published in the scientific journal Reproductive Health.
Lead researcher Dr. Jorge Chavarro, research fellow in the Department of Nutrition at Harvard School of Public Health, and his team found that a subset of women in their study about fat intake from dairy foods were having trouble getting pregnant and discovered that most of these women ate more than two portions of low-fat dairy foods daily.
Dr. Chavarro quantified that women who eat that amount or higher of low-fat dairy every single day are 85 percent more likely to experience infertility compared with those women who eat it less often than once a week.
He also found something even more remarkable considering the dietary recommendations that rule the day in our society–those women who ate full-fat dairy foods, including whole milk and even ice cream, on a daily basis saw their risk of being infertile caused by ovulation problems drop by 25 percent compared to those who only ate full-fat dairy once a week.
You read that right–CONSUMING FULL-FAT DAIRY DROPS THE RISK OF INFERTILITY BY TWENTY-FIVE PERCENT!
The researchers believe there is a fat-soluble substance in the full-fat dairy foods that works to improve the function of the ovaries. Thus, when that fat-soluble substance gets taken out during the conversion to 2% or skim milk, the health benefits dissipate as well.
Also, the processing of full-fat milk to skimmed milk requires the addition of whey protein to the milk to give it a more “natural” taste and color. However, whey protein has been found to produce testosterone-like effects in lab rats and may be the culprit wit the infertility in women consuming low-fat dairy. Oops!
I can’t help but think what role the 2% milk Christine has been consuming over the course of our marriage may have had on our inability to conceive. I don’t know if it has anything to do with it or not, but you have to wonder now.
Click here to read more about this study, including quotes from Dr. Jorge Chavarro about his research (both good and bad), my personal experiences eating those disgusting fat-free and low-fat dairy foods, and how this study totally flies in the face of the dietary recommendations by the so-called “experts” over health policy in our government.
