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For coffee lovers, there’s nothing better than enjoying that first (or third) cup of hot coffee in the morning. Coffee contains a wealth of antioxidants and it can provide just enough stimulation to make you feel ready to take on the day, but what you put in your coffee is another story. Adding milk to your coffee makes it creamy and delicious, but not all milk is created equal.
For many years, experts celebrated a low-fat diet and blamed fatty foods for obesity and a host of other health problems. While it is true that many processed foods are also high in trans fat and other unhealthy ingredients, we are now beginning to learn about the many benefits that natural foods with fat can have, including the role they play in helping us lose weight and burn fat.
Naturally, if we get the message that eating low-fat or non-fat foods is better, we’re going to assume that adding skim milk to coffee is a smarter choice to prevent weight gain and spikes in sugar levels that can lead to conditions like diabetes.
But this isn’t entirely the case.
In one study published in the Circulation journal, Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian and his team analyzed blood samples of people taken over a 15-year period. They compared the blood of those who ate low-fat and non-fat dairy with those who regularly consumed full-fat dairy products like whole milk. And what they found was astonishing: those who ate full-fat products were 46 percent less likely to get diabetes.
“I think these findings together with those from other studies do call for a change in the policy of recommending only low-fat dairy products,” Mozaffarian told TIME. “There is no prospective human evidence that people who eat low-fat dairy do better than people who eat whole-fat dairy.”
In a separate study published in the American Journal of Nutrition, more than 18,000 women were analyzed based on whether they consume low-fat or full-fat dairy foods. And the results again showed that full-fat dairy comes out on top: those who drank and ate foods like whole milk and cheese were 8 percent less likely to be obese.
Weight concerns aren’t the only reason to skip skim milk in your coffee. If you’re militant with your skincare regimen, but can’t figure out why you keep getting pimples and blackheads, the culprit could be in your cup of coffee.
All milk--whole or skim--can trigger acne, and chocolate milk is one of the worst offenders. One study published in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology found that young teenage boys who consumed the most milk also suffered from the most bouts of acne. So, if you are worried about your skin, it may be a good idea to replace milk with a milk alternative like almond milk.
But, as it turns out, skim milk is especially triggering and was found to cause even more breakouts than whole milk.
If you can’t fathom drinking your coffee black, you’re not alone and you don’t have to skip out on milk for the sake of your metabolism or skin. Choosing whole milk, almond milk, or soy milk are great alternatives that are kinder to your body and skin.
