Is Whole Milk Healthier Than Skim Milk? New Study Shows Full-Fat Dairy Is Better for You

Skim milk might seem like a healthier alternative to whole milk, but new findings appear to show evidence that whole milk might have a greater health benefit than its alternative. At the very least, there is no evidence that shows skim milk is a better choice.

The study, published in the American Heart Association's journal Circulation, found that whole milk and other forms of full-fat dairy products may have greater health benefits than skim milk, according to U.S. News & World Report. 

After a longitudinal study spanning over 15 years, researchers found that people who "had higher levels of three different byproducts of full-fat dairy" were 46% less likely to develop diabetes, according to U.S. News & World Report.

"There is no prospective human evidence that people who eat low-fat dairy do better than people who eat whole-fat dairy," lead study author Dariush Mozaffarian told Time, U.S. News & World Report wrote. "In the absence of any evidence for the superior effects of low-fat dairy, and some evidence that there may be better benefits of whole-fat dairy products for diabetes, why are we recommending only low-fat diary?"

"We should be telling people to eat a variety of dairy and remove the recommendation about fat content," Mozaffarian continued. 

Another study, published in the Scandinavian Journal of Primary Health Care, found that, over a 12-year study, subjects that consumed high-fat dairy products were less likely to suffer from obesity than those who don't have the variety of dairy products in their diet.

However, this does not mean that eating an increased amount of dairy is always best, according to Mario Kratz, a nutrition scientist. "We shouldn't swing the pendulum too far in the other direction and say, 'Put butter in everything and eat as much dairy as you want,'" Kratz told Time.