The U.S. government lost favor with whole milk fifty years back. Today, the Trump administration is encouraging Americans to consume it.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. hassaidfor several months, he has been pushing the government to support full-fat dairy items, changing its previous position that Americans should opt for low-fat milk and cheese to lower their chances of heart disease, diabetes, and obesity.
Federal authorities are getting ready to let children consume whole milk at school and via one of the largest food aid programs, according to aleaked draftof the White House’s “Revitalize Our Children’s Health Strategy.”
The adoption of whole milk aligns with Kennedy’s initiative to “Make America Healthy Again,” which questions conventional nutritional beliefs and advocates for minimally processed foods.
But unlike certain of Kennedy’s challenges to traditional science — such aspromoting raw milk and attacking the childhood vaccination schedule— his advocacy for whole milk has wide and conventional popularity. It brings together the secretary’s MAHA backers, industry organizations, and numerous nutritionists who characterize the government’s position on fat as disconnected from recent scientific findings.
Recent studies provide increasing support thatfull-fat milkCheese and yogurt provide unique health advantages and are not less nutritious than their low-fat counterparts. While some specialists believe more research is required before discarding long-standing recommendations that favor low-fat dairy products, others feel the time has arrived to reconsider these guidelines.
Dairy fat was wrongly accused in 1980,” stated Dariush Mozaffarian, a cardiologist and head of Tufts University’s Food is Medicine Institute. “After forty-five years, I believe this incorrect judgment could be reversed and dairy fat brought back to the realm of acceptance.
Which is better, whole milk or skim milk?
For many years, medical professionals have advised Americans to choose low-fat dairy products — a guideline based on concerns that saturated fat and high calorie intake were contributing to a surge in obesity and cardiovascular issues.
This became official policy, established in a 1977 Senate nutrition report and the initial federal dietary guidelines, released in 1980.
However, scientists have become doubtful.
Randomized controlled trials have never provided clear evidence that low-fat milk is more beneficial than whole milk. At the same time, an increasing number of studies point to the…potential health benefitsbenefits of full-fat dairy, such as better glucose control, increased feelings of fullness, and slower digestion.
“The body of evidence does not justify distinguishing between regular-fat and low-fat dairy products in dietary recommendations for both adults and children,” a group of global scientists stated in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.perspective article published in May.
In a reportlast year, a panel of specialistsconvenedThe federal government’s review of dietary guidelines indicated that swapping one kind of dairy product for another does not lower the risk of heart disease. However, it found the evidence is still not strong enough to change the existing recommendations that support low-fat or skim milk.
Currently, those guidelines statesaturated fat— commonly present in whole milk — should not exceed 10 percent of an individual’s overall daily caloric intake. This recommendation is generally supported by the American Heart Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the World Health Organization.
Kennedy has criticized the federal dietary guidelines, describing them as “outdated” and vowing to eliminate them. Influencers and certain nutrition experts have also cast doubt on the longstanding recommendations regarding dairy products.
Mark Hyman, a physician specializing in metabolic health and a close associate of Kennedy, claims that saturated fats from natural sources are not inherently bad. In his 2016 publication “Eat Fat, Get Thin,” he suggested that individuals should focus on avoiding trans fats and refined vegetable oils commonly present in processed foods.
Casey Means, President Donald Trump’s nominee for surgeon general, along with her brother Calley, who serves as a Kennedy advisor, has suggested that individuals consume grass-fed, organic whole milk. Joe Rogan, who previously hosted Kennedy on his widely listened-to podcast, has described full-fat dairy as “very beneficial for health.”
Mozaffarian stated that the low-fat guidelines were supported by “basic studies” that did not account for the fact that saturated fats in dairy do not raise the risk of disease, in contrast to saturated fat present in red meat.
However, Erin Ogden, a specialist in child nutrition initiatives at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, stated that it’s premature to reach that conclusion.
We remain unaffected by the urge to alter our position regarding our concerns about saturated fat,” Ogden stated. “There hasn’t been sufficient evidence to suggest that the origin of saturated fat influences its effect on the body.
Emily Oster, an economist who has criticized several of Kennedy’s actions as superficial, has noted that there is no definitive answer regarding the optimal fat content in milk for children.
Oster, the creator of the well-known parenting website ParentData, references a 2020 studymeta-analysisof 28 studies. In 18 of them, children who consumed whole milk had a lower chance of being overweight, while in the remaining studies, the type of milk did not affect weight.
“Ultimately, it appears that the kind of milk may not significantly affect a child’s weight, with individual preference being a major factor,” she wrote.
The dairy industry’s push
Kennedy’s criticism of certain kinds of foods, including those that areultra-processed or contain artificial dyes or seed oils, has led to strong opposition from the industry. However, dairy farmers support his advocacy for whole milk, which may increase their total sales.
“It’s time for federal nutrition policy to align with the latest research,” Andrew Jerome, vice president of communications at the International Dairy Foods Association, stated in an email.
Miquela Hanselman, who serves as the director of regulatory affairs for the National Milk Producers Federation, stated that federal officials should align with consumer preferences.
“As more recent scientific findings have emerged that support the inclusion of healthy fats in your diet, you’re witnessing a return to higher fat products,” she said.
Americans continue to prefer 2 percent milk, although sales of whole milk have gradually increased over the past ten years following a period of decline.
The industry is hoping that the Trump administration will move forward with two significant policy changes that it has been advocating for a long time: including full-fat and 2 percent milk in school lunches and making them available through the Women, Infant and Children’s program, which provides food assistance to low-income mothers and young children.
Both are listed as “food deregulation” priorities in the preliminary policy plan from the “Make America Healthy Again Commission,” a group led by Kennedy to tackle childhood chronic illness. The White House and HHS have not responded to the report, which is set to be made public in the near future. HHS directed a query about whether the administration backs lifting restrictions on full-fat and 2 percent milk in school meals and the WIC program to a representative from the Department of Agriculture, who stated, “the guidelines will focus on whole, healthy, and nutritious foods.”
Many public schools are no longer allowed to provide higher-fat milk after President Barack Obama enacted a 2010 law that made school meals follow federal nutrition standards. The WIC program also follows these rules, so parents are not able to use the program to purchase whole milk for kids aged two and above.
What Kennedy could do
Kennedy has pledged to reform thedietary guidelinesby the conclusion of the year.
He has claimed that the guidelines are excessively lengthy, spanning 149 pages, and believes they should be condensed to four or five pages emphasizing the importance of consuming whole foods, including those with saturated fat.
“I was raised in a time when milk was considered the most nutritious food,” Kennedy stated.at a JulyA press briefing discussing the removal of natural dyes from ice cream. “There has been a campaign against whole milk, cheese, and yogurt over the last few decades.”
Kennedy stated that the new dietary guidelines will “place these items where they should be in terms of supporting the health of our children.”
Although experts who evaluated the dietary guidelines recommended reducing saturated fat consumption, Trump administration officials have claimed these fats have been unjustly criticized.
Kennedy and other officials within the Trump administration have remained quiet regarding chocolate- or strawberry-flavored milk, which is commonly regarded as unhealthy and contains double the sugar content compared to whole milk.
Flavored milk can be served in schools provided it is low-fat. During the initial Trump administration, the USDA made these regulations more flexible, permitting 1 percent flavored milk along with skim flavored milk. The dairy sector strongly advocated for this adjustment, claiming it would increase children’s milk consumption.
Neither Kennedy nor the MAHA report has suggested reversing that.
Rachel Roubein and Ariana Eunjung Cha assisted in the creation of this report.
