When people diet, one of the first things they cut out is whole milk, believing it to be fattening. But they're wrong. Women who drink two-thirds of a pint of whole milk a day have the same average weight, and the same average waist measurement, as women who drink only a few drops of whole milk daily in coffee and tea. That's according to a new study involving 438 Irish women who participated in the North/South Ireland Food Consumption Survey.
Women may be doing themselves more harm than good by not drinking milk. They are depriving themselves of important nutrients, such as calcium, iron and folate. Low calcium intake contributes to brittle bone disease (osteoporosis).
The study found that women who drink two-thirds of a pint of whole milk daily have a calcium intake of 966 mg, which is above the recommended allowance of 800 mg. The women who drank the least whole milk had on average a calcium intake of 558 mg, putting them at far greater risk of osteoporosis.
Folate - or folic acid - is essential in preventing spina bifida in foetuses. It's especially important that women of child-bearing age get enough folate before they become pregnant. Yet few women meet the recommended intake.
Without iron, women can become anaemic. The North/South Ireland Food Consumption survey found that 50 per cent of women were not getting enough iron.
Whole milk and other dairy products may also protect women against breast cancer. A study of 48,000 Norwegian women showed that those who drank the most milk in childhood and adulthood halved their risk of pre-menopausal breast cancer.
Milk contains conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), a cancer-preventing agent, and this may explain the beneficial effect.
Prof Albert Flynn of University College Cork conducted the analysis and announced the results at a briefing organised by the National Dairy Council.
"Nutritious foods such as milk are often unnecessarily restricted by dieters, even though this study shows that women who drink more milk do not have higher body weights," he said. "Such restrictions may be harmful to long-term good health."
But how is it that women who consume more of something - milk - don't weigh more as a result? One explanation is that whole milk is relatively low in fat - at 3.5 per cent. Another is that people who don't get their fat from milk are probably getting it somewhere else. Prof Flynn said people unconsciously make up for missing ingredients in the diet.
"When people cut things out of their diets, they compensate in other ways." This area is not very well studied, but it may explain why people may think they are eating a "healthy" diet when in fact they are doing the opposite.
Women who consume low-fat dairy products are more likely to be dieting, but they are not more likely to be thinner. Research has shown that people on low-fat diets are more likely to go through weight gains and losses. People who are slightly overweight but stay at a more constant weight may actually be healthier.