Eating full fat milk or cheese twice a day could REDUCE your risk of heart disease, says new study

For years experts urged adults to skip full fat milk and cheese to stay healthy. 

Now it seems that these foods are not only delicious, but good for you.

Research shows two helpings of full fat dairy products a day may lower the risk of metabolic syndrome (MetS) – the medical term for diabetes, high blood pressure and obesity which is associated with greater risk of heart disease.

Scientists at McMaster University in Canada looked at a study of some 140,000 people from 21 countries conducted over nine years and used questionnaires to assess their diet over a year.

A serving of milk or cup of yogurt was 244g, a slice of cheese 15g and butter 5g.

In a BMJ journal, the researchers wrote: ‘Higher intake of whole fat (but not low fat) dairy was associated with a lower prevalence of MetS.’ 

Helpings of yogurt (left) or a serving of full fat milk (right) can help lower the risk of the metabolic syndrome (MetS) that is associated with diabetes, obesity and high blood pressure

Cheese (pictured) and butter are other examples of full fat foods that can improve your health, according to the research

This adds to growing evidence in favour of unaltered full fat foods.

The authors of the report hope their findings will help inform worldwide health initiatives to combat serious health problems.

Study author Balaji Bhavadharini said: ‘We report that intake of dairy products, especially whole fat products, is associated with lower prevalence of metabolic syndrome and its individual components at baseline, and a lower risk of hypertension and diabetes during follow-up.

‘If our findings are confirmed in sufficiently large and long term trials, then increasing dairy consumption may represent a feasible and low cost approach to reducing metabolic syndrome, hypertension, diabetes, and ultimately cardiovascular disease events worldwide.’