A heart specialist says milk and milk-made products such as cheeses are over-blown as health foods.
There are other sources of calcium and Vitamin D, said Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, cardiologist and professor of medicine and nutrition at Tufts Medical School in an interview on CBS News.
Dietary guidance of dairy, which promotes eating three servings a day focused on low fat options, has been “based on oversimplified theories around a few nutrients we need,” Mozaffarian said, namely calcium and vitamin D.
Mozaffarian said some examples of dairy benefits include:
- Milk is linked to lower risk of high blood pressure and lower stroke;
- Cheese and yogurt is linked to lower risk of diabetes;
- All dairy seems to be linked to greater muscle mass and less fat mass.
“Those benefits seem to be really unrelated to the traditional fat or calcium or vitamin D content, but related to other things, for example, fermentation of cheese or probiotics in yogurt,” he said.
“Probiotics in yogurt are good for our gut microbiome and probably reduce risk of diabetes. And cheese is actually the top fermented consumed in the United States, and we’re learning about health benefits of fermented foods like kimchi or sauerkraut.”
Mozaffarian says he recommends patients have one serving of unsweetened yogurt and cheese every day if they eat dairy.
“It’s more for cardio-metabolic benefits than for calcium and vitamin D,” he said, adding whether it’s low fat or whole fat doesn’t seem to influence the health benefits.
“For years, we’ve recommended nonfat or skim dairy, which doesn’t taste very good. And I tell people, until we have more evidence, right now, choose low fat or whole fat, which whichever you prefer.”
