Source: Thailand Medical News Jan 20, 2020 4 years, 3 months, 5 days, 8 hours, 28 minutes ago
A recent research shows drinking low-fat
milk, both nonfat and 1%
milk is significantly associated with less
aging in adults. Study 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.
Professor Larry Tucker From Brigham Young University poses with cartons of milk.
Credit: Jaren Wilkey/BYU Photo
Professor Tucker told
Thailand Medical News, “It was surprising how strong the difference was. 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."
Professor 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.
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.
Almost 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 non
fat milk. About 13% did not drink any cow
milk.
Professor Tucker added, "
Milk is probably the most controversial food in our country. If someone asked me to put together a presentation on the value of drinking<
strong> 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."
However, surprisingly, he also found that
milk abstainers had shorter telomeres than adults who consumed low-
fat milk.
Professor 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.
Professor Tucker concluded, "It's not a bad thing to drink
milk. You should just be more aware of what type of
milk you are drinking."
Reference: Larry A. Tucker, Milk Fat Intake and Telomere Length in U.S. Women and Men: The Role of the Milk Fat Fraction, Oxidative Medicine and Cellular Longevity (2019). DOI: 10.1155/2019/1574021
