After spending a day with her boyfriend's family recently, my daughter marveled, "They only drink whole milk!" That milk was delicious, she reported, even after the container had sat on the counter for a while. My darling child, whom I'll send to college in a few months, had never tasted whole milk before.
Milk in our house is almost always skim. (The exception: reduced-fat chocolate milk, which my son and daughter enjoy as an occasional treat.) I don't recall making a conscious choice; when I started buying skim milk, I probably was caught up in the fat-phobic zeitgeist of the mid-'90s.
In recent months, though, I've taken note of several provocative studies suggesting that there may be some benefit to dairy foods that, like whole milk, contain some or gobs of fat. One, published in 2005, found that high intake of whole milk, cheese, butter and other high-fat dairy foods corresponded with reduced risk of colorectal cancer. A 2009 study found an association with reduced risk of dying from cardiovascular disease. And still another, published in December, found a lowered risk of diabetes among people age 65 and older who consumed lots of whole-fat dairy.
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