Drinking 1% Rather Than 2% Milk Accounts For 4.5 Years Of Less Aging In Adults

Samya

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Drinking 1% rather than 2% milk accounts for 4.5 years of less aging in adults

A new study shows drinking low-fat milk -- both nonfat and 1% milk -- is significantly associated with less aging in adults.

Research on 5,834 U.S. adults by Brigham Young University exercise science professor Larry Tucker, Ph.D., found people who drink low-fat milk experience several years less biological aging than those who drink high-fat (2% and whole) milk.

"It was surprising how strong the difference was," Tucker said. "If you're going to drink high-fat milk, you should be aware that doing so is predictive of or related to some significant consequences."

Tucker investigated the relationship between telomere length and both milk intake frequency (daily drinkers vs. weekly drinkers or less) and milk fat content consumed (whole vs. 2% vs. 1% vs. skim). Telomeres are the nucleotide endcaps of human chromosomes. They act like a biological clock and they're extremely correlated with age; each time a cell replicates, humans lose a tiny bit of the endcaps. Therefore, the older people get, the shorter their telomeres.

And, apparently, the more high-fat milk people drink, the shorter their telomeres are, according to the new BYU study, published in Oxidative Medicine and Cellular Longevity. The study revealed that for every 1% increase in milk fat consumed (drinking 2% vs. 1% milk), telomeres were 69 base pairs shorter in the adults studied, which translated into more than four years in additional biological aging. When Tucker analyzed the extremes of milk drinkers, adults who consumed whole milk had telomeres that were a striking 145 base pairs shorter than non-fat milk drinkers.

Nearly half of the people in the study consumed milk daily and another quarter consumed milk at least weekly. Just under a third of the adults reported consuming full-fat (whole) milk and another 30 percent reported drinking 2% milk. Meanwhile, 10% consumed 1% milk and another 17% drank nonfat milk. About 13% did not drink any cow milk.

"Milk is probably the most controversial food in our country," Tucker said. "If someone asked me to put together a presentation on the value of drinking milk, I could put together a 1-hour presentation that would knock your socks off. You'd think, 'Whoa, everybody should be drinking more milk.' If someone said do the opposite, I could also do that. At the very least, the findings of this study are definitely worth pondering. Maybe there's something here that requires a little more attention."

Somewhat surprisingly, he also found that milk abstainers had shorter telomeres than adults who consumed low-fat milk.

Tucker said the study findings provide support for the current Dietary Guidelines for Americans (2015-2020), which encourage adults to consume low-fat milk, both nonfat and 1% milk, and not high-fat milk, as part of a healthy diet.

"It's not a bad thing to drink milk," Tucker said. "You should just be more aware of what type of milk you are drinking."
 
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Samya

Samya

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I wasn't sure myself and thought posting it here could help disect it, could you please explain why it shows no such thing?
 

Kvothe

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The study simply mentions a ridiculous correlation with telomere length. This paragraph shows you what the purpose of this junk science is:

"When the sample was delimited to adults reporting only high total saturated fat intake (tertile 3), the milk fat and telomere relationship was strong. However, when the sample was restricted to adults reporting only low saturated fat consumption (tertile 1), there was no relationship between milk fat intake and telomere length. Overall, the findings highlight an association of increased biological aging in U.S. adults who consumed high-fat milk. The results support the latest Dietary Guidelines for Americans (2015–2020), which recommend consumption of low-fat milk, but not high-fat milk, as part of a healthy diet."
 

lampofred

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I drink low-fat milk myself because in the 2 quarts per day quantity that Dr. Peat recommends the contaminants in the fat will quickly add up, but as Kvothe mentioned I would take this study with a grain of salt. Dr. Peat wrote in a newsletter that he doesn't place much stock in the telomere theory of aging, and also that even though cell division does decrease telomere length, estrogen increases the activity of the enzyme that increases telomere length and progesterone decreases it, which implies that progesterone (which milk fat contains) can lead to lowered telomere length.
 

TheSir

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What about 35% fat cheese?


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tankasnowgod

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I wasn't sure myself and thought posting it here could help disect it, could you please explain why it shows no such thing?

Beyond the simple correlation with telomere length, they assessed milk consumption via questionnaire. Which is a terribly inaccurate way to assess diet. You can read some of the questions if you click through to the study itself.
 
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Beyond the simple correlation with telomere length, they assessed milk consumption via questionnaire. Which is a terribly inaccurate way to assess diet. You can read some of the questions if you click through to the study itself.

Another PhD attaching value to a correlation discovered in questionnaire data..

Anyone finished reading their hard copies? I'm out of toilet paper.
 

Luann

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I just think this study would make more sense for BYU to compare 1% milk to cheese /ice cream contributions to fat.

most people I know don't drink enough milk for 1% extra to make a difference.
 

Tenacity

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Peat has mentioned several times that telomere length isn't correlated with aging. Some other things that influence telomere length: acne (increased length, so somehow acne must correlate with longevity), pregnancy (decreased length, so having more children would cut one's life short, but the opposite is usually the case).
 

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