Study: Full-Fat Dairy, Meat Reduces Risk Of Prostate Cancer

Sometimes you just have to question the logic behind some of the things that the so-called "experts" regarding health and nutrition propose to allegedly make people healthier. We've recently heard such off-the-wall ideas like a low-fat milk-making cow to help deal with obesity and disease--as if it's the FAT in the milk that is the real health threat!

But we've learned that low-fat dairy consumption can lead to infertility among other things, so removing the fat from dairy may not be such a good idea after all. And new research underscores the importance of eating full-fat dairy products to protect against one of the most dreaded diseases in the world--CANCER!

We already know that a high-fat, low-carb diet is an excellent preventative treatment for brain cancer, pancreatic cancer, esophageal cancer, kidney cancer, breast cancer, and prostate cancer. But now researchers from the University of Hawaii have evidence from a large-scale study that says consuming full-fat dairy products is a much better option for warding off prostate cancer than the reduced-fat and fat-free dairy options.

Lead researcher Dr. Song-Yi Park, from the Cancer Epidemiology Program, Cancer Research Center of Hawaii at the Honolulu-based University of Hawaii, examined data from the Multiethnic Cohort Study which took place from 1993-2002 featuring 82,483 men who were 45 years old and older at the beginning of the study. Detailed records of what each of the study members ate were recorded for Dr. Park to observe.

Overall, there were 4,404 instances of prostate cancer which the researchers determined were not caused by the consumption of calcium or vitamin D of the dairy products the study participants ate. Also, the total volume of dairy products was also not a factor in the development of prostate cancer. This was true across all racial and ethic groups.

Instead, Dr. Park and his researchers noticed something rather peculiar about the KIND of dairy products that were ingested by the study participants and how that impacted their risk for developing prostate cancer. It turns out that there was a 12 percent DECREASE in the risk of developing prostate cancer for those who drank whole milk. Conversely, there was a 16 percent INCREASE in the risk of developing prostate cancer for those who drank 2% or skim milk.

In other words, it is the FAT in the milk and dairy products consumed that provide protection against prostate cancer, which flies in the face of everything we've ever heard about diet and health. With over 500,000 new cases of prostate cancer with another 200,000 deaths annually (and the statistics have been steadily rising since the early 1990s), this research may burst the bubble on the low-fat lie we have been forced to believe for the past thirty years!

This study appeared in the October 8, 2007 issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology.

Of course, Dr. Park's research is not going to be easily accepted by those who buy into the whole notion that a low-fat diet is protective against various forms of cancer and other health ailments. But this new large-scale study is certainly going to challenge the wisdom of that hypothesis.

The researchers do admit that the only potential downside to their study is the fact that it relied on self-reporting data provided by the study participants about what they ate which has the potential for inaccuracies from poor memory of the foods consumed. But that's just a smokescreen that will be thrown up to challenge the remarkable findings.

Incidentally, Dr. Park also published a study last month that looked at the issue of prostate cancer and how meat consumption is not necessarily a contributor to it, as detailed in this Reuters story. Hoo boy, somebody better not let PETA know about this!

Dr. Park and his researchers used data from that same Multiethnic Cohort Study to see if the specific kind of fat made a difference in the prostate cancer risk. They looked at total fat, saturated fat, monounsaturated fat, and polyunsaturated fat as well as n-3 and n-6 fatty acids. The dietary cholesterol, meat (broken down to reflect total amount of meat, red meat, processed meat, and poultry) and fish consumed, and the amount of fats from meat were all recorded for the men in the study.

Of the 4,404 men who developed prostate cancer, 29 percent of them had advanced tumors. Interestingly, the researchers said the type of fat and meat consumed showed NO ASSOCIATION WITH OVERALL PROSTATE CANCER RISK or tumor development.

The researchers put it succinctly this way: "We found little evidence of any relation of fat and meat intake with prostate cancer risk within any of the four racial/ethnic groups."

It can't get much plainer than that!

This study was published in the September 15, 2007 issue of the International Journal of Cancer.

When asked to elaborate on the findings of the study, Dr. Park was cautious about recommending a high-fat diet which he claims begins a chain of events that could lead to cancer.

"Although diet is likely to influence prostate cancer risk, the intake of total and saturated fat do not appear to be important contributors," he exclaimed. "However, because high intake of fat can lead to obesity as well as other cancers, the consumption of high fat foods should be limited."

While I can appreciate the veracity of these findings, I must respectfully disagree with Dr. Park regarding the relationship of fat consumption to obesity. As long as you keep your carbs reduced, a high-fat diet is not harmful for an increase in obesity and obesity-related diseases. I would highly recommend anyone who believes otherwise to pick up a copy of Good Calories, Bad Calories to find out why.

The above commentary regarding fat notwithstanding, Dr. Park is at least shining a light on the faulty research that has long been allowed to reign as the gospel truth because it has never been challenged. The inconsistency of the data should be the impetus for even more research that should provide more answers about the role of meat and fat in a healthy diet rather than making ludicrous dietary recommendations based on such archaic and what now seems to be irrelevant research.

Dr. Park agrees.

"Our findings did not support any association between intake of fat, fatty acids, cholesterol, or various meats and prostate cancer risk," he concluded.

Share your appreciation with Dr. Song-Yi Park for this sound research into the positive and protective role of fat as it relates to health by e-mailing spark@crch.hawaii.edu.

Holy Cow, A Low-Fat Milk-Making Bovine?!

Russell Snell found a mutated cow that makes low-fat milk naturally

Beam me up, Scotty, because I think this world has gone absolutely institutionalized on me now after reading this MSNBC story about a cow that has been found to make (get this!) low-fat milk. Sounds totally sci-fi freaky, doesn't it? Sadly, it's dead serious and coming to a milk carton near you!

It was one thing to create genetically-altered potatoes to make them lower in carbohydrates a couple of years back. But what they're doing to cows just to artificially lower the fat content of their milk takes weird science to a whole new level!

We have the New Zealand-based biotechnology company ViaLactia to thank for stumbling across almost by accident a cow they named Marge in 2001 which has a gene mutation allowing it to produce milk with 1% milk naturally rather than the 3.5% milk that traditional cows make for whole milk. This new low-fat milk produced by this one-of-a-kind cow supposedly has more omega-3 fats and the butter created from it is spreadable even when it's cold.

Ooooooh! Am I supposed to be jumping up and down? NOT!

Russell Snell, chief scientist at Vialactia which happens to be a major subsidiary of milk-producing giant Fonterra, said they paid a mere $218 for Marge to conduct research on why the Fresian cow makes low-fat milk. It looks just like a regular cow and the milk has the same "positive taste" of normal milk except it contains "other desirable benefits."

Interestingly, Snell said they decided to breed Marge to see if her calves would also make low-fat milk--they all have the same "dominant" mutated gene that produces low-fat milk as the mother. But they just don't know exactly why this is happening.

"Every now and then nature throws up these sorts of things, and it was simply a case of us being in the right place at the right time," Snell noted.

The results of Snell's research will appear in an upcoming issue of the UK-based scientific journal Chemistry & Industry.

Vialactia hopes to have this all-natural low-fat milk and softened butter available for retail sale on grocery store shelves within the next four years. But is this REALLY something we should all be clamoring for? Is low-fat dairy, created naturally or by machine, something that should be part of a "healthy" lifestyle? I think not based on the scientific evidence.

Although it is extremely high in carbs, most people get all super-sensitive upset over the fat content in their milk being the least healthy part of that beverage. Yet we've seen this study on how low-fat dairy leads to infertility as well as this study on milk's role in kidney cancer.

That's why you should find low-carb milk alternatives like Calorie Countdown if you are livin' la vida low-carb. So what's next? Gene mutation of sugar to negate the carbohydrates? Don't laugh, I bet they're working on it!

Also, I can't but wonder what this new all-natural low-fat milk is gonna cost--if you think gasoline is expensive, just wait'll you see what they'll charge for this stuff! I think I'll skip past the mutated milk and butter thank you very much!

You can e-mail your comments to Russell Snell at r.snell@auckland.ac.nz.

Study: Low-Fat Dairy Can Lead To Infertility

You might want to reconsider that low-fat dairy if you want kids

We've all heard that we should eat an adequate amount of dairy in our diet, but that we should choose the low-fat or fat-free versions of milk, cheese, and yogurt to provide the most "healthy" food for our bodies. If I had a dime every time I've heard that in my life, then I'd be as wealthy as Bill Gates!

But if you are a woman in those precious few childbearing years, then that widely-accepted dietary advice is just about the most foolish thing you could ever follow if you want to have a baby, according to a new Harvard study discussed in this Medical News Today column.

Lead researcher Dr. Jorge Chavarro, research fellow in the Department of Nutrition at Harvard School of Public Health, and his team observed 18,555 married, premenopausal women ages 24-42 with no history of infertility attempting to get pregnant over an eight-year period (1991-1999). This group of study participants was a subset of the larger group of 116,000 women that were part of The Nurses' Health Study II.

Dr. Chavarro monitored very closely the dietary intake of dairy foods by the women in the study, including the types and frequency of consumption, over the eight years. The women were also asked to provide information about the regularity of their period, if there were any problems with ovulation, and how their attempts to conceive a child were going.

A total of 438 women in the study experienced difficulty trying to have a baby during the study and Dr. Chavarro noticed that most of these women ate more than two portions of low-fat dairy foods daily. In fact, he quantified that women who eat that amount or higher of low-fat dairy every single day are 85 percent more likely to experience infertility compared with those women who eat it less often than once a week.

Interestingly, the researchers found something even more remarkable considering the dietary recommendations that rule the day in our society--those women who ate full-fat dairy foods, including whole milk and even ice cream, on a daily basis saw their risk of being infertile caused by ovulation problems drop by 25 percent compared to those who only ate full-fat dairy once a week. You read that right--CONSUMING FULL-FAT DAIRY DROPS THE RISK OF INFERTILITY BY TWENTY-FIVE PERCENT!

What does the lack of dietary fat from the dairy products consumed by women have to do with their risk for infertility? Plenty! The researchers believe there is a fat-soluble substance in the full-fat dairy foods that works to improve the function of the ovaries. Thus, when that fat-soluble substance gets taken out during the conversion to 2% or skim milk, the health benefits dissipate as well.

Additionally, the processing of full-fat milk to skimmed milk requires the addition of whey protein to the milk to give it a more "natural" taste and color. However, whey protein has been found to produce testosterone-like effects in lab rats and may be the culprit wit the infertility in women consuming low-fat dairy. Oops!

The results of this stunning Harvard study appeared in the February 28, 2007 issue of the scientific journal Reproductive Health.

Well how ya like them apples, hmmm? All this talk about cutting your fat intake way down low in everything you eat is one big crock of you know what and this study is more proof of that fact! Just for kicks, I decided to pay a visit to the Holy Grail of all things related to a healthy diet--MyPyramid.gov--just to see what the good ole health "experts" advising our government about what's really healthy had to say about dairy intake.

As Frank Barone on Everybody Loves Raymond used to say, "Holy crap!" Under the "Milk Group" page you see that they highly recommend that the "milk group choices should be fat-free or low-fat." But if you click on the "Tips for making wise choices" link on the upper right-hand side of the page, the "Holy-crap-o-meter" goes off the charts!

Check this out (see if you can find the common theme):

- Include milk as a beverage...Choose fat-free or low-fat milk.
- If you usually drink whole milk, switch...to fat-free milk.
- Try reduced fat (2%), then low-fat (1%), and finally fat-free (skim).
- If you drink cappuccinos or lattes—ask for...fat-free (skim) milk.
- Add fat-free or low-fat milk...to oatmeal and hot cereals.
- Use fat-free or low-fat milk when making...cream soups.
- Have fat-free or low-fat yogurt as a snack.
- Make a dip for fruits or vegetables from yogurt.
- Make fruit-yogurt smoothies in the blender.
- Make chocolate...pudding with fat-free or low-fat milk.
- Top cut-up fruit with flavored yogurt for a quick dessert.
- Top casseroles...or vegetables with shredded low-fat cheese.
- Top a baked potato with fat-free or low-fat yogurt.

What's wrong with this picture? Why all the intense focus on "fat-free or low-fat" options? Clearly these heavily-publicized dietary recommendations are creating a lot of unhappy young couples who are trying to bring a little bundle of joy into the world that they can call their own. On what basis are they pushing these nasty foods that are actually working against women who want to conceive all in the name of "better health?"

I remember from my personal low-fat diet experience in 1999 how utterly disgusting all those low-fat foods really are. The worst ones to me had to be the fat-free cheese and skim milk. The cheese was so gross and didn't even seem like real food. Describing it as a cardboard box texture is being MUCH too kind. And then the white water that passed for skim milk was about as useless and I never got used to drinking that stuff. Getting 2% was about as close as I could get to skim!

However, one thing I continued to do even after I stopped my low-fat diet and started gaining my weight back was to keep drinking 2% milk instead of whole thinking it was somehow a "healthy" alternative. When I started livin' la vida low-carb, I didn't drink regular milk anymore and switched to Hood's Carb Countdown (now called Calorie Countdown) milk instead.

Yet, I kept on buying 2% milk for my wife Christine. We will celebrate 12 years of marriage in August and have been desperately trying to have a baby since we said "I do" to each other in 1995. Unfortunately, the good Lord has not chosen to bless us with a little munchkin just yet and we trust in His perfect timing. But after reading this study, I can't help but think what role the 2% milk Christine has been consuming over the course of our marriage may have had on our inability to conceive. I don't know if it has anything to do with it or not, but you have to wonder.

We're working out the issues that could be the culprit by getting checked out to see if it's me or her preventing the conception, but I know one thing we're gonna start doing--BUYING WHOLE MILK FOR CHRISTINE AGAIN! It may not be the reason for our inability to have a baby at all, but it's certainly worth a try to see if we can get her ovulation to be more consistent and regular to set up a higher probability for a future pregnancy. Cross your fingers and wish us luck!

There have been previous studies that hinted at the possibility of problems with infertility linked to dairy foods, but hardly any of them have been on humans like this one was. That's why Dr. Chavarro wanted to see what impact the fat content in the dairy foods consumed in a woman's diet can play regarding the prospect for motherhood.

Their conclusion: "High intake of low-fat dairy foods may increase the risk of anovulatory infertility whereas intake of high-fat dairy foods may decrease this risk."

Did you get that all you Dr. Dean Ornish-loving low-fatties? Eating lots of low-fat dairy INCREASES infertility while eating lots of high-fat dairy DECREASES infertility. How much clearer can it be that that?! I'd love to hear what Ornish and his low-fat minions have to say about this Harvard study. Let the spinmeisters begin like they did following the Stanford study published in JAMA last month!

If you are a woman trying to have a baby, Dr. Chavarro recommended what I am going to do with Christine's dairy intake.

"Consider changing low-fat dairy foods for high-fat dairy foods; for instance, by swapping skimmed milk for whole milk and eating ice cream, not low fat yogurt," he stated.

HA! Now THAT'S a switch seeing a RECOMMENDATION to eat the high-fat version of a food INSTEAD of the low-fat one. It really makes you wonder what other unintended consequences of this low-fat diet LIE we have been told for decades has had on the health and well-being of our society. How many tens or even hundreds of thousands of women have been left without an answer to their infertility problem while our government has kept on peddling the very reason they never got to be a mother? How sad.

When you stop and think about it, you can't help but wonder out loud about what would have been or even still COULD be if our government would simply end their nonsensical endorsement of the biggest dietary failure of our generation. That's why I have been on the frontlines of the debate to have our government actively promote low-carb alongside low-fat as another healthy dietary option for people to consider for weight and health management.

But, as is the case with most researchers who come out with something positive regarding low-carb, high-fat consumption, Dr. Chavarro got right back on the government talking points in what he recommends after a woman is "with child."

"Once they have become pregnant, then they should probably switch back to low-fat dairy foods as it is easier to limit intake of saturated fat by consuming low-fat dairy foods," he explained.

And what exactly is wrong with saturated fat, Dr. Chavarro? Noted researcher Dr. Jeff Volek has found that consuming saturated fat in combination with a low-carbohydrate diet has no ill effect on your health. In fact, the so-called studies showing how "harmful" saturated fat is like this one are so ill-conceived that they are ripped to shreds by objective researchers like Anthony Colpo.

This continuous onslaught against saturated fat by people who are supposedly intellectuals regarding diet and health is needlessly causing alarm among the general public. The fact is eating saturated fat is good for you and it's high time we stop demonizing it in the same breath as trans fats. Those are indeed bad news for your health, but saturated fat is not even close. The studies about saturated fat are mounting quickly and all you "experts" can apologize to me later for being so ignorant about it now.

At this point, Dr. Chavarro would like to further his research on low-fat dairy as it relates to infertility so he can "confirm or refute the findings" from this study. We'll be watching for those results with great interest, Dr. Chavarro!

You can e-mail Dr. Jorge Chavarro at jchavarr@hsph.harvard.edu.