Research reported in the online science journal Open Heart found no evidence that a diet high in dairy products caused any harm to health, despite 30 years of advice to the contrary.
Westcountry cheesemaker and dairy farmer Mary Quicke, who makes Quickes Cheddar from her family farm at Newton St Cyres near Exeter, welcomed the report.
“It is great that dairy farmers are off the naughty step at last,” she said. “For so long
we have made products that were described as nice, but naughty. Now, at last, we know that they are just nice.”
The news comes on the eve of a crisis summit for the dairy industry, hosted by Defra Secretary Liz Truss in London today. The National Farmers’ Union, which will be making the case for dairy farmers at the meeting, said it did not comment on dietary advice as a matter of course.
But individual dairy farmers are delighted with the publicity surrounding the new research, which lifts the health stigma from their produce.
Guidelines, introduced in the UK in 1983 and in the US six years earlier, recommended reducing overall dietary fat consumption to 30% of total energy intake and saturated fat to 10%. Now researchers say the guideline “lacked any solid trial evidence to back it”.
Experts warned that in characterising saturated fat as the “main dietary villain” public health teams have not paid enough attention to other risks – especially carbohydrates which are believed to be helping to fuel the obesity crisis.
The research paper, which reviewed data available at the time the guidelines were issued, states: “It seems incomprehensible that dietary advice was introduced for 220 million Americans and 56 million UK citizens, given the contrary results from a small number of unhealthy men.
“The results of the present meta-analysis support the hypothesis that the available (randomised controlled trials) did not support the introduction of dietary fat recommendations in order to reduce (coronary heart disease) risk or related mortality.”
Mary Quicke said dairy farmers had long believed that their products had no negative effects on health. She said statistics comparing the longevity and health of people in northern France, who eat large amounts of dairy produce, with those in Scotland, showed cheese, butter and cream could not be blamed for causing heart disease.
But she said she did not think farmers and food producers would be angry. “This is something to celebrate,” she said. “And what better way to celebrate than with a delicious piece of cheese.” Food experts in the South West have long argued that dairy products made with milk from animals grazed on grass and herbs contain valuable elements and nutrients that are beneficial for those who eat them.
But Dr Alison Tedstone, chief nutritionist at Public Health England, said: “This paper is not critical of current advice on saturated fats but suggests that the advice was introduced prematurely in the 1980s before there was the extensive evidence base that exists today. The advice issued … in 1991 confirmed that eating too much saturated fat can raise cholesterol levels, which increases the risk of heart disease.”
“It is great that dairy farmers are off the naughty step at last,” she said. “For so long
we have made products that were described as nice, but naughty. Now, at last, we know that they are just nice.”
The news comes on the eve of a crisis summit for the dairy industry, hosted by Defra Secretary Liz Truss in London today. The National Farmers’ Union, which will be making the case for dairy farmers at the meeting, said it did not comment on dietary advice as a matter of course.
But individual dairy farmers are delighted with the publicity surrounding the new research, which lifts the health stigma from their produce.
Guidelines, introduced in the UK in 1983 and in the US six years earlier, recommended reducing overall dietary fat consumption to 30% of total energy intake and saturated fat to 10%. Now researchers say the guideline “lacked any solid trial evidence to back it”.
Experts warned that in characterising saturated fat as the “main dietary villain” public health teams have not paid enough attention to other risks – especially carbohydrates which are believed to be helping to fuel the obesity crisis.
The research paper, which reviewed data available at the time the guidelines were issued, states: “It seems incomprehensible that dietary advice was introduced for 220 million Americans and 56 million UK citizens, given the contrary results from a small number of unhealthy men.
“The results of the present meta-analysis support the hypothesis that the available (randomised controlled trials) did not support the introduction of dietary fat recommendations in order to reduce (coronary heart disease) risk or related mortality.”
Mary Quicke said dairy farmers had long believed that their products had no negative effects on health. She said statistics comparing the longevity and health of people in northern France, who eat large amounts of dairy produce, with those in Scotland, showed cheese, butter and cream could not be blamed for causing heart disease.
But she said she did not think farmers and food producers would be angry. “This is something to celebrate,” she said. “And what better way to celebrate than with a delicious piece of cheese.” Food experts in the South West have long argued that dairy products made with milk from animals grazed on grass and herbs contain valuable elements and nutrients that are beneficial for those who eat them.
But Dr Alison Tedstone, chief nutritionist at Public Health England, said: “This paper is not critical of current advice on saturated fats but suggests that the advice was introduced prematurely in the 1980s before there was the extensive evidence base that exists today. The advice issued … in 1991 confirmed that eating too much saturated fat can raise cholesterol levels, which increases the risk of heart disease.”
Source: Western Morning News