The skeptical cardiologist only consumes full fat dairy and recommends this to his patients.
Full fat dairy is associated with less abdominal fat, lower risk of diabetes and lower risk of developing vascular complications such as stroke and heart attack.
I’ve been consuming full fat yogurt and milk from Trader’s Point Creamery in Zionsville, Indiana almost exclusively since visiting the farm and interviewing its owners a few years ago.
Dr. Peter(Fritz) Kunz, a plastic surgeon, and his wife Jane, began selling milk from their farm after researching methods for rotational grazing , a process which allows the cows to be self-sustaining: the cows feed themselves by eating the grass and in turn help fertilize the fields, . After a few years of making sure they had the right grasses and cows, the Kunz’s opened Traders Point Creamery in 2003.
Two more studies (summarized nicely on ConscienHealth, an obesity and health blog) came out recently solidifying the extensive data supporting the health of dairy fat and challenging the nutritional dogma that all Americans should be consuming low-fat as opposed to full fat dairy.
The Dairy Industry’s Dirty Little Secret
Dr. Kunz opened my eyes to the dirty little secret of the dairy industry when i first talked to him: dairy farmers double their income by allowing milk to be split into its fat and non-fat portions therefore the industry has no motivation to promote full fat dairy over nonfat dairy.
Recently, I presented him with a few follow-up questions to help me understand why we can’t reverse the bad nutritional advice to consume low-fat dairy.
Skeptical Cardiologist: “When we first spoke and I was beginning my investigation into dairy fat and cardiovascular disease you told me that most dairy producers are fine with the promotion of non fat or low fat dairy products because if consumers are choosing low fat or skim dairy this allows the dairy producer to profit from the skim milk production as well as the dairy fat that is separated and sold for butter, cheese or cream products.”
I don’t have a clear idea of what the economics of this are. Do you think this, for example, doubles the profitability of a dairy?
Skeptical Cardiologist:” I’ve been baffled by public health recommendations to consume low fat dairy as the science would suggest the opposite. The only reason I can see that this persists is that the Dairy Industry Lobby , for the reason I pointed out above, actually has a vested interest from a profitability standpoint in lobbying for the low fat dairy consumption.. Do you agree that this is what is going on? “
Skeptical Cardiologist: ” Any thoughts on A2? Marion Nestle’, of Food Politics fame, was recently in Australia where there is a company promoting A2 milk as likely to cause GI upset. It has captured a significant share of the Aussie market.”
Skeptical Cardiologist:” I like that your milk is nonhomogenized. Seems like the less “processing” the better for food. I haven’t found any compelling scientific reasons to recommend it to my patients, however. Do you have any?”
Skeptical Cardiologist: I spend a fair amount of time traveling in Europe and am always amazed that their milk is ultrapasteurized and sits unrefrigerated on the shelves. any thoughts on that process versus regular pasteurization and on pasteurization in general and its effects on nutritional value of dairy.
–Circulating Biomarkers of Dairy Fat and Risk of Incident Diabetes Mellitus Among US Men and Women in Two Large Prospective Cohorts
which concluded ‘In two prospective cohorts, higher plasma dairy fatty acid concentrations were associated with lower incident diabetes. Results were similar for erythrocyte 17:0. Our findings highlight need to better understand potential health effects of dairy fat; and dietary and metabolic determinants of these fatty acids
and from Brazilian researchers
Total and Full-Fat, but Not Low-Fat, Dairy Product Intakes are Inversely Associated with Metabolic Syndrome in Adults1
21 thoughts on “The Skim Milk Scam: Words of Wisdom From a Doctor Dairy Farmer”
Are you still able to purchase Trader’s Point Creamer products? I can’t find them anywhere and their website page on “Where to Buy” now only lists their store in Zionsville.
Jeff,
Unfortunately not. They disappeared off the shelves of my local Whole Foods a few months ago. Looking at info from Trader’s Point they indicate some concern about getting too big. Something about having to use milk from dairies other than their own that they couldn’t validate the quality of. Also, a suggestion that they would only be selling to local customers.
As a dairy farmer and avid dairy consumer I have always been an advocate for whole milk and whole milk dairy products and I’m lucky enough to get to drink it raw. I disagree with the assertion that dairy farmers get twice the money for splitting the fat from the skim. It is the dairy processors that do this and make more money because of it. Most dairy farms do not process their own milk. Actually dairy farmers would be better off if it was not split because we could throrectically sell twice as much milk. Thanks for being advocates for whole milk.
Cecilia,
Thanks for the clarification.
I am very interested in why the yogurt has skim milk, and in what form the skim milk is added. I would be most happy to not have it used. I had noticed that skim milk was an ingredient in the small individual bottles of TP plain yoghurt; but I don’t remember seeing it listed on the large milk bottle size, which I can no longer find at my present grocery store. I have turned to TP because I am looking for the least processed foods; and also because they use glass bottles. When are you planning to interview Dr. Kunz again?
Thank you for your column.
I have that very question in to him but so far no response.
Still no response? I’d love to hear more info about the skim milk topic. And wondering if Traderspoint plans to become certified as 100% grassfed, like what Maple Hill Creamery has done. They are saying “made with 100% grassfed milk” but in theory that could just be a bit of 100% grassfed milk, especially if there is no 3rd party certifier.
I changed over to TP whole milk several years ago. It was the only change I made to my diet thus about 30 days after making this change I realized one evenkng that I felt different. I still cannot pinpoint the changes exactly but it was positive that much I know. To be rid of the hormones and antibiotics etc found in regular milk to grassfed has been of great benefit to me.ater o discovered o am allergic to almost all grains because they have been so altered. If I eat or drink anything that has been fed these grains I swell up. So I believe TC cows are 100% Grass fed. Year round. In ghd winyer it is sometimes difficult to get because the cows are producing less do to snow and because grass goes dormant. When I’ve been forced to purchase other milks that are touted to be grass fed through further investigation I’ve found they in fact feed grains through the winter. Why did I in estivate? Because within 12 hours if drinking if o would swell in Myers and feet. So not all research has to be large in nature but can be run on yourself
If there really is this big of a difference between skim and whole milk for health, we should push for WIC programs to go back to whole milk products instead of forcing those on the program to use only low fat dairy.
Excuse my ignorance, but I had to Google WIC and found it is “The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children – better known as the WIC Program – serves to safeguard the health of low-income pregnant, postpartum, and breastfeeding women, infants, and children up to age 5 who are at nutritional risk by providing nutritious foods to supplement diets, information on healthy eating including breastfeeding promotion and support, and referrals to health care.”
In addition to food choices the general public makes, the Dietary Guidelines and mainstream nutrition organizations recommendations for low fat dairy effect government supported programs like WIC and school lunch programs. Sometimes substituting chocolate low fat milk or sugar sweetened nonfat yogurt for whole dairy products.
So, yeah we should be pushing for changes.
More press on the link of low-fat to diabetes.
(With a rather cowardly last line!)
http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/04/18/474403311/the-full-fat-paradox-dairy-fat-linked-to-lower-diabetes-risk
I read with interest about the skim milk as an ingredient. Then I became interested in the sugar content AND saw that the plain has no added sugar, the flavored has around 2 teaspoons of sugar, and the low fat has 3 1/2 teaspoons of sugar. Sugar or fat, you gotta choose which is healthier!
I only consume the plain yogurt, the wildberry tastes way too sweet for me. I add fresh berries to the plain yogurt. I believe the website states that the fruit flavoring comes from a ?compote. Not sure if that counts as added sugar or not.
I choose fat, sugar consumption leads to obesity
“The skeptical cardiologist only consumes full fat dairy”
http://traderspointcreamery.com/products/yogurt/
Plain Whole Milk Yogurt ingredients: organic 100% grassfed whole milk, organic skim milk, live cultures, probiotic cultures
The yogurt contains SKIM milk!! Wonder how much?
Your thoughts.
Nice observation! I’m going to pose that question to Dr. Kunz.
They are using non-fat (skim) dry milk as a thickener/stabilizer. Essentially the dried milk that contains oxidized cholesterol created by spray drying that is mentioned by Dr. Kunz in the article. It is a common ingredient in many “regular” yogurts but many health-conscious producers avoid the use of it whenever possible.
I also question the claim of 100% Grassfed for some of these producers. Are they taking their 100% grassfed milk and sending it off to be dried or are they using some commodity dry milk, which in my opinion makes their product decidedly NOT made with 100% grassfed milk (after all, how that dried milk will reconstitute and who knows how much is being put in). Where is the evidence and accountability? Has anyone done omega and cla testing to compare brands and find which ones are being truthful and which may not be? There should be some way of putting these products to a test of this claim and I wish someone would do it. I really wish these companies were so proud of their own testing that they shared it freely themselves.
Thanks for the information. You have clearly thought about this a lot.
In my first discussion with Dr. Kunz, I remember him telling me that he had had his milk formally tested for Omega-3 and CLA levels and found them to be significantly higher than factory cow milk. On the TPC website now (http://traderspointcreamery.com/about-us-2/why-grassfed/) I see a general claim for grassfed dairy to have higher levels of these good fats but no actual data.
I agree that it would be nice to have these numbers for comparison.
I’ll add these questions and comments to the previous ones, I put to Dr. Kunz
Dear Skeptical
Interesting discussion on whole fat milk from a nutritional viewpoint but I think you should examine the economic argument from economists and historians. I am not credentialed to present the argument from a professional perspective ..but I will look forward to discussions regarding processing techniques and what changes dairy industry made because of American Heart Association USDA and cardioologists nutritional recommendations rather than their own desire to sell more skim milk (less whole milk .hi fat ice cream cheeses )
For the dairy industry I think it was win, win when recommendations came out to drink milk skimmed of its fat. What seemed to be a move to a healthier product also allowed them to have two products from one. As such, the dairy industry has no motivation to prove that full fat dairy is healthier than low fat.
That was very interesting. I usually use 2% milk when I drink it just because I like it better than whole in general. I cannot stand skim. But, maybe, I’ll go back to whole milk.
Thanks for the interesting article. I have been reading for years that fat doesn’t make you fat … but didn’t know about the financial gain for farmers to split their products into skim, etc.