Why those who eat lowfat are at significantly higher risk for stomach bugs, food poisoning and gastrointestinal disease, and how a specific fatty acid in dairy powerfully inhibits intestinal pathogens.
Have you ever noticed how some people seem to catch every single stomach bug that passes through the community while others seem completely immune?
How about the curious fact that some people get food poisoning all the time while others rarely succumb even if they ate the identical dish at the same restaurant?
It may not just be bad luck if it seems that you’re getting more than your fair share of stomach bugs.
Food Selection Impacts Gastrointestinal Risk
While “eating organic” is great, it actually doesn’t offer much protection against intestinal pathogens.
Folks who rarely eat processed foods and take great pains to make their own meals from scratch can still be plagued with more than their fair share of stomach bug woes.
Why is this?
I used to ponder this very question as to why I kept catching so many tummy bugs despite eating everything organic in my twenties.
While important, it appears that food quality is not necessarily the best way to prevent gastrointestinal illness.
Could it be the composition of the foods that we eat is a major contributory factor in the frequency of intestinal illness?
For example, is it possible that a very simple change such as increasing the amount of butterfat in the diet could actually be of benefit in avoiding gastroenteritis?
Milk Fat Protects the Gut from Pathogens
Glycosphingolipids are a special type of lipid found in bovine milk fat.
Sources include butter, cream, whole milk, whole yogurt, kefir, ghee, and cheese.
These foods offer protection against gastroenteritis because they include anti-pathogenic fatty acids.
Children who drink lowfat or skim milk suffer from acute gastrointestinal illness at a rate 3-4 times higher than children who drink whole milk. (1)
This is an incredibly significant difference!
According to the Weston A. Price Foundation:
Glycosphingolipids are lipids with single sugar molecules attached found in cell membranes, especially in the brain. They also protect against gastrointestinal infections, especially in infants and children. (2)
According to in vitro studies of milk fat, glycosphingolipids are not only protective against pathogenic bacteria such as salmonella and listeria but also against viruses and fungi as well. (3)
Taking a therapeutic quality probiotic every day is also highly protective.
Whole Dairy is Best
I experienced this same effect even as an adult.
Once I switched to whole milk products and butter and away from butter substitutes and lowfat dairy, my tendency to succumb to stomach flu vanished.
In fact, in my household, no one has had a tummy bug or gastrointestinal illness of any kind in many years!
This is not to say that consuming plenty of milkfat in the diet will guarantee complete avoidance of gastroenteritis. It will, however, significantly increase your resistance to it.
In essence, butterfat is a functional food in that it works as a broad spectrum anti-microbial agent in the gut.
What About all that Butterfat?
Concerned that all that butterfat might be bad for your health? Take heart (literally)… it’s all a myth!
Unfortunately, it’s taking decades for the public to finally awaken to the fact that those who eat butter and drink whole milk have HALF the heart attack risk as those who drink lowfat milk and eat margarine. (4)
This study followed 5,000 men between the ages of 45 and 59 for 10 years.
Of those who drank at least a pint of whole milk a day and ate butter, there was only a 1% risk for a heart attack!
What do heart doctors say?
This prominent cardiologist’s opinion of a lowfat diet is that it is “scientifically and morally indefensible”.
In summary, then, it’s not just any milk that does a body good, It’s whole milk!
(1) Milk fat and gastrointestinal illness
(2) Digestion and absorption of food fats
(3) Bactericidal Activities of Milk Lipids
(4) Milk Decreases Heart Attacks
More Information
Praise the Lord, I never get stomach bugs.
Curious..any more recent science citations on the topic? Short chain fatty acids in buttermilk for sure known for immune supportive properties
I think we did, but the kids were sick between 30 min. (no joke, kid was sick ONCE) and 6 hours. Adults around 4 – 6 hours and then another day or so of not much appetite. But that was it!! My mom was sick on and off for about three weeks…. (And my dad, who eats a higher fat diet and takes FCLO, did not get it.)
I try to tell friends and family about avoiding it and curing it once it gets you. No one listens. They would rather be able to complain about being sick than to get over it. My cure is live acidophilus cultures and glucomannon fiber. It was going around the office a while back. I talked some coworkers into trying my cure (I had the acidophilus in the fridge and the fiber at my desk). Those who didn’t try it were out the next couple of days. Those who took it were completely recovered in a couple of hours!
Interesting! We usually get a bug in Feb, so I am holding my breath. So far we have been great and I wonder if it’s because we bought a family cow last spring. We are drinking fat, raw milk every day along with fresh butter. My husband works as a provider in the ER and we have 7 kids, so lots of ways we could be picking a bug up:-)
Thank you for sharing this. I have a fear of throwing up, so this brings me much comfort and motivates me to get more broth and kefir into our bodies. Interesting enough, we started consuming raw cows milk last October and have only had 1 mild cold and 1 mild stomach bug since. We’re a family of 6. I contribute that to the raw milk ( and raw milk products ), bone broth and eliminating all sugar from our diet for over a year now. God is so good!
Could be bad news for us since we are a dairy free family! My oldest can’t have it at all and fatty dairy has been giving me horrible reflux when I sneak it!
So true. Haven’t had anything other than real butter & 2% to whole milk in our house for years. Just got a bad bug, but it only lasted 24 hours. So far our kids have not gotten it.
A lot of my friends and family who are dieting are getting this. They joke that it is a quick weight loss method, although not much fun. My family is dealing with a little gassiness, but no flu. Thanks for explaining why! We only eat full fat around here, and lots of it.
Angela Perkins Florian xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ,3