Milk! Superfood right? Yes milk is a great source of Calcium, Protein, Vitamins A and D, as well as providing an ample dose of Carbohydrate. However much of the benefits are lost when we switch to Semi-Skimmed and Skimmed varieties, and that is something a large percentage of the population do. Most people are under the impression that the Semi-Skimmed and Skimmed milk are healthier options than the full-fat version. However if we consider that Vitamins A and D are fat-soluble, meaning that removing the fat from the milk (as is done with skimmed and semi-skimmed milk) means that these vitamins are lost from the milk. Furthermore the Protein and Calcium is more easily utilised when it is accompanied by the fat in milk.
So as you can see consuming Whole Milk confers an advantage as far as vitamin, mineral and protein absorption is consumed. To add more weight to the Whole Milk argument, the fat that it does contain could actually be beneficial to us. For a start supermarket Whole Milk is less than 4% fat anyway, (in order for a food to be classified as low-fat it must be below 5% fat) so quite why it gets criticised for its fat content is beyond me. Secondly people assume that fat makes you fat, and this statement could not be further from the truth. Fat contains 9 kilocalories per gram and is therefore very energy dense, when we consume foods high in fat our bodies recognise this, and as a consequence we secrete hormones that increase our satiety levels. This high satiety then leads to less cravings for food, and will probably mean that we end up consuming fewer calories overall throughout the day, despite the high energy content of foods high in fat. Despite the scaremongering there is also very little evidence that fat consumption leads to cardiovascular problems, in fact it is important that there is plenty of fat in our diet to ensure that we obtain sufficient quantities of Fat-soluble vitamins such as A and D. Yes you are reading this right Fat can be good!
In conclusion Whole Full-Fat Milk is best and this applies to all other dairy products such as cheese, yoghurt and butter. Consume these products as nature intended you to do so, after all we are always told natural, un-processed food is best. Is removing the fat from dairy products not the same as removing some of the grain from rice or pasta? So opt for Full-Fat dairy sources for maximum benefits