“A new balanced view is needed in terms of the potential nutritional benefits of saturated fatty acids, and subsequently a reassessment of the current nutritional dietary recommendations, as recently done in France” he said.
Regular Fat Dairy and Health, Berlin 2015
On the 21st October, the European Milk Forum, which includes the Dairy Council for Northern Ireland, together with other dairy organizations* hosted a satellite symposium at the 12th FENS European Nutrition Conference in Berlin.
The symposium explored the relationship between regular fat dairy foods, nutrition and health.
Dietary guidance over the last 30 years has focused on reducing dietary fat and, in particular, saturated fat to help reduce the risk of cardiometabolic diseases, especially heart disease. Some of the more recent research, however, challenges the impact of saturated fats and questions whether all saturated fatty acids are equal. Emerging research highlights the importance of the food source of saturated fat and the matrix effect of foods. This was discussed in relation to nutrient–rich regular fat dairy foods such as cheese, which have a different impact on health outcomes from that which might be predicted based solely on their saturated fat content.
Click on a presentation to download it:
Prof Philippe Legrand, Agrocampus INRA, Rennes, France
Nutritional interest of saturated fatty acid – the specific case of dairy fat
Prof Benoît Lamarche, Laval University, Québec, Canada
Saturated fat and cardiovascular risk
Dr Ulrika Ericson, Lund University, Sweden
Regular fat dairy products and diabetes type 2: the role of dietary fats and their food sources
Prof Arne Astrup, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Cheese and metabolic diseases
Click to download the abstracts of the presentations, speakers’ biographies, and for the key messages.
Professor Philippe Legrand, Director of the Laboratory of Biochemistry and Human Nutrition in the Agronomic University of Rennes, suggested that the biological functions of individual saturated fatty acids should be considered and put forward his argument to reassess the current fatty acid dietary recommendations.
Professor Benoît Lamarche, Chair in Nutrition at the School of Nutrition at Laval University, shared results from recent meta–analyses and epidemiological studies which have not shown saturated fat intake to be associated with an increase risk of coronary heart disease. And in the case of some dairy foods, including some regular fat ones, may have a protective effect. Professor Lamarche said:
“We argue that focus on low–fat dairy products in current guidelines to limit dietary SFA intake is not justified by current evidence”.
Following up on the potential benefits of dairy products, Associate Researcher in the Department of Clinical Sciences at Lund University Diabetes Centre, Dr Ulrika Ericson, outlined the results of a 14–year study which shows that regular fat dairy products are associated with a decreased risk of type 2 diabetes.
Similarly, Professor Arne Astrup, Head of Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports at the University of Copenhagen, explored the cardio–protective effects
of cheese. Prof Astrup commented:
“Among specific types of dairy products, cheese seems to exert a cardio–protective effect. Mechanistic research indicates that this health effect of cheese involves the food matrix, where the high calcium content plays an important role. Consequently, cheese can be recommended as part of a heart–healthy diet”.
*The satellite symposium was organized jointly by the European Milk Forum (EMF), Centre National Interprofessionnel de l’Econonomie Laitière (CNIEL), Dutch Dairy Organisation (NZO), The Dairy Council (GB), Dairy Farmers of Canada (DFC), Dairy Australia, National Dairy Council (NDC), Global Dairy Platform (GDP), and the International Dairy Federation (IDF).
Health Professionals
This section of our website is specifically for nutrition and health professionals to help keep you up to date with the latest nutrition research, particularly in relation to milk and dairy products. You’ll find summaries and presentations from our conferences and events, together with scientific overviews of dairy and health topics.