A recent study shows that low-fat milk (both nonfat and 1 percent) reduces ageing in adults.
Larry Tucker, Ph.D., an exercise science professor at Brigham Young University, discovered that people who drink low-fat milk experience several years less biological ageing than those who drink high-fat (2 percent and whole) milk.
Tucker examined the relationship between telomere length and both the frequency of milk consumption (daily vs. weekly or less) and the fat content of milk consumed (whole vs. 2 percent vs. 1 percent vs. skim).
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Telomeres are the chromosomes’ nucleotide endcaps. They function similarly to a biological clock and are highly correlated with age; each time a cell replicates, humans lose a small portion of the endcaps. As a result, as people age, their telomeres shorten.
And, according to the BYU study published in the journal Oxidative Medicine and Cellular Longevity, the more high-fat milk people consume, the shorter their telomeres appear to be.
The study, conducted on 5,834 U.S. adults, discovered that for every 1% increase in milk fat consumption (drinking 2 percent vs. 1 percent milk), telomeres were 69 base pairs shorter in the adults studied, equating to additional biological ageing of more than four years.
Tucker discovered that adults who consumed whole milk had telomeres that were 145 base pairs shorter than those who consumed non-fat milk.
Almost half of the participants in the study drank milk daily, while another quarter drank milk at least weekly. Only slightly more than a third of adults reported drinking full-fat (whole) milk, while another 30 percent reported drinking 2 percent milk. Meanwhile, 10 percent drank 1 percent milk and 17 percent drank nonfat milk. Around 13 percent did not consume any cow milk.
Surprisingly, he also discovered that adults who did not consume milk had shorter telomeres than adults who did consume low-fat milk.
Tucker noted that the study’s findings support the current Dietary Guidelines for Americans (2015–2020), which encourage adults to consume low-fat milk, including nonfat and 1 percent milk, as part of a healthy diet.
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Consuming milk is not a bad thing. You should simply be more conscientious about the type of milk you consume, advised Tucker.
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