Study Says Whole-Fat Milk Leads To Leaner Children

Throughout the years, there have been a lot of misconceptions and changes with regards to what constitutes as healthy food. One of the most debated food issues is whether or not milk is healthy, and whether or not whole-fat milk is less healthy than skimmed milk. Now, researchers have found that children who drink whole-fat milk are actually leaner than those who don’t, putting years of conventional knowledge into question.

Fat is bad, and therefore, fat in food is bad. This is how the world thought of fat for years, and even as scientists have proven that fat isn’t the root cause of weight problems, the misconception still persisted. This latest research by Canadian scientists is just one addition in a long line of findings that should have dispelled this myth about fat a long time ago. Led by Dr. Jonathon Maguire, the study suggests that depriving children of fat might be the reason some of them are overweight, CBC reports.

"If you don't get fat from someplace, then you take energy from somewhere else, and it may be that children who are receiving reduced fat milk seek foods that are higher in caloric density, and maybe that's why they're a bit bigger," Dr. Maguire said.

The study looked at children who drank milk that contained 3.25 percent fat content and found that these children had an average of 0.72 lower Body Mass Index (BMI) units than those who drank milk containing 1 to 2 percent fat. That might not seem much, but Dr. Maguire says that it’s enough of a difference to classify a child as being of healthy weight or being overweight, MedicalXpress notes.

Dr. Maguire also hypothesized that the reason children who drink whole milk are thinner is because they feel fuller for longer. In comparison, those who drink milk with less fat become hungrier faster and are prone to calorie cravings.