Dear Motorist

Take a minute to watch.

Everyone should.

And just like that

It is over.

The season.

The last shred of hope that the knee would be healed up enough to race at NBX is gone.

The ride in today wasn't terrible, felt nice, knee was good.

But it isn't strong enough to attempt pedaling. The initial massive inflammation stretched out the tendons and ligaments and there's still enough swelling and residual fluid around the knee that stuff isn't back to normal and there is actually pain now with certain movements.

Driving the minivan around all day yesterday sort of put an odd torsional load on the knee and it didn't like that at all.

The season was pinned on NBX as the finale. Ice Weasels isn't happening for me because I'm flying to Seattle for the final big stretch of concerts. 35th year. Tacoma on Friday, Seattle on Saturday, Mt Vernon on Sunday and Bellevue on Monday. http://magicalstrings.com/YT_2013.html then I fly home.

Nationals aren't in the cards either...

Season is over.

Just like that.

I'd kind of secretly planned on transitioning from the end of cyclocross into doing some running. work on seeing how fast I could do a 5k with May/June as a targeted peak, maybe doing a 5k in March and April as leading re-learning. At this point, I have to rehab knee as priority. Running probably isn't the best idea. AKA the WORST idea.

So yeah. I don't even have CX to carry me through the holiday season. So much pressure, so many expectations to try and meet, I'll figure it out. I'll find a way to make it work. Have to right? No choice. It'll be okay. I just complain too much. Could be way worse I suppose in so many many different ways.

It was a good season. Best yet by many measures. Maybe I can build on it for next year, or at least focus and build to the start of next season in a similar way.  I know what I need to do, so there's that i suppose.

September isn't that far away, is it?

heddwch
G

SUPERCROSS CUP day two UCI men's race.

Elite Men's Race Day 2



so cold and a bit oops on the interviews but they sort of worked and was still fun. Can't really tell that both Tim and I were shaking like the tape the footage Dan got of the race. So cold.

good footage of the course elements though... Imaging that place if it was raining and 45 degrees instead of windy and 20.

memory lane with Post 4000

Milestones are one thing...

Russ posted this earlier today...

Good memories

Bandit Cross - Wrentham, MA 01.08.2011 from Russ Campbell on Vimeo.

again we should do that, it was fun...

how to have a really bad Monday

So Supercross Cup was in the books.

I was home. Brutally exhausted, and the weather hadn't warmed up an ounce on Monday morning.

Add to it I had to ride into a headwind. Headwinds are a thing, no big deal, but at 19-20 deg F any headwind makes it just that more brutal.  This isn't a CXy course where the headwindis only on part of it, no this is all the way in.

Into the wind.

I was slow to get out of the house. Unmotivated. But I got dressed, was ready to attack the day. And then...  well...

So I'm riding in. Legs actually feeling not terrible. Pushing a decent gear, going fastish.  Some of the time doing the speed skater with both hands behind my back to warm them up because I still haven't replaced my coldest weather hand gear aka the mittens.

Supercros Cup 2013 wrap up

Where to begin? with a fold of course

Supercross cup day 1 brief

Supercross Cup today was awesome. My race not so great but I had to keep my head from esssploding while calling the days races with the legend Joe Sailing. Ton of fun grabbing interviews with Tim from Gnarly Monkey.

Tomorrow's course? More superness. I helped Myles's crew set it up tonight and I like the change up. Can't wait to race it bright and early.

SUPERCROSS CUP

You know you want to go, you know you want to be there.

Is LVG not the best most awesome person in the world?

Winningest Female Cyclist ever. EVER! I kind of wonder if we can just remove the gender from that statement.

Myles, supercross promoter has for the last five years made sure that ever one of his races has equal payouts for men and women.

So you're going to go right? Yes I know. Fitchburg. I'm not the fastest, no chance for jersey, I had fun racing there when Sally and Catherine were in our race but it was super f'n cold and the course/venue leaves me less than enthused.  and legit? My season is winding down.

I've got this weekend, 

Sterling,

NBX

done....

Sterling is close and is what I call the most fun unfun race.  I love how the Christo of cross makes that crazy school ground work for CX. How each day is different enough to be so different but still no easier. It is a brutal course, can be insanely cold or wet or neither. But it is kind of sort of in a very sick way fun.

NBX? Fuck. Goddard Park venue and the evil mad amazing genius of Matt B creates, without question, the best CX course/venue around. It doesn't have a massive expo area, it doesn't have a giant huge crowd, but the course is fantastic, weather is often epic and it is just Fun as hell.  

So yeah. Wrapping up this year in style, one more road trip. On my terms....

anyway

yeah...  now to see if i can bank enough sleep to offset a 4am drive through CT.

heddwch

G

what. the. seriously?

Not sure I was ever expecting this:

Specifically the points...  GeWilli under 300?

WHAT IN THE WORLD?

Won't last likely but then maybe it will.  Shed Park was raced with a completely locked up back/neck. Missing a fair bit of power and due to muscle constrictions and pain could only breath at about 75% lung capacity (fixed it today with a visit to my DO).

Lung capacity would have been nice with the really long pedally sections.  An untimely flat by Motram mean we were hanging out together for a good part of the race.  He'd pit, catch back up, we'd ride together he'd drop me, pitted, got his other bike back, caught back up to me and finished 18th/19th.  Was fun racing.

Kind of typical Shed park. But our race timing was probably a bit skewed due to the fact that they actually neutralized the race to get someone in our field off the course in a gurney.  I guess he crashed, or someone else crashed, a pile up and he had a bad enough broken leg that required emergency surgery and an ambulance trip.

Was fun.  Wasn't me at 100% so I'm pretty damn satisfied with the results...  only race this weekend though. Watched the indoor soccer game on saturday. man that is almost too much for me to take.  Two weeks in a row and I'm still calming down. So exciting.  No, i'm not competitive at all.

Heddwch
G

Pendulm is swinging over to Supercross Cup. Looks like a 4am departure Saturday morning though. I guess there isn't a better time to be driving in CT on a Saturday morning.

Supercup Cross

So you gonna be there? Right?

Can you handle the awesomeness?

http://www.supercrosscup.com/

Plymouth... two days of pain

Plymouth weekend.

For some reason this is the magic weekend.

Either is it because of the road trips for a couple years with Mark Nicholson, and the last year with him and Lindsey and all that.  He crushed it when he raced there.  CRUSHED IT.

I also met that G-ride dude, the Sachs kit poser who was either beating me or just beating me in the 3/4 masters races all year to that point on that fancy bike with carbon wheels and tubulars.

Slowly over the last pile of years it sort of marked a peak of my season. My super close friend Alfie came out one year, his wife surprised him for his 40th birthday with CX weekend with me. Was awesome.

Mark Introduced me to LPB there, met a few other very key people there to me.

The race is odd. Used to be just one day at Plymouth north, Tatar separated his collarbone the year i drove there with him.  Then they added North and South.  First time I beat Gary David was at Plymouth South.  May have been my first top 10 in the open race. there. The field gets diluted. People are tired from CSI-CX and for various other reasons the fields are thinner but still pretty stacked.

Last year i got in the money on day two.

This year day one had a pile of the Cyclocrossworld.com riders show up. On a road racey course with an annoying but non-selecting mud pit. WIDE OPEN WATTS.  AKA road race.

I had a nice terrible start, SLOW. swarmed by everyone. Suddenly i'm 10 riders behind CTodd!  C-TODD!!!  WTF? gap, sprint around dude, next guy gaps off, sprint around, next guy gaps, sprint around repeat until I get on Whitey's wheel.

I mean go figure there is HORSEPOWER at the front. Like MOTORING. Fuck. So finally go on Whitey's wheel and then there's a gap. This big watty looking dude in a spinarts gets gapped off and i catch up to him eventually and Whitey gets on his wheel and they chase me around.  Vince passed me when i fuck up a corner and Aumiller says "nice job, you did that on purpose to make him work" No. I just fucked up the corner.

But there was one money corner. The sven line. HOLY SHIT. Ask whitey. we'd come into it and i'd gain a pile of bike lengths just from line choice.. FUCKING ZOOOOOOM.  Was fun. Except for all the pedaling.

But that wasn't too bad.  The 55+ guys on the course at the same time made it very interesting but not a big deal on Saturday as it was COMPLETELY wide open except for the drop into the woods over to the two track.

Wound up 11th. Check the times on the crossresults. Fuuuuck.  I was the fastest of the slowest. 1:20 or so gap to 10th. No chance of making that group for me. but man it was fun racing bikes.

FUN

distracted a bit there that day and my two goals were very selfless and I met them.

The 6:30 am soccer game in the morning wasn't even too bad.  Didn't get there as early as I wanted but I got there early enough.  And L didn't totally kill my phone while i was pre-riding and racing.

And then that was day 1....

11th, stacked field. Beat Whitey (sorry chris, you've been going GOOD this year and it felt awesome to stay in front of you despite my fuck ups).

racing bikes.

FUCK YEAH

was fun

even solo dad for a couple days leading up to it and being totally blown out after NoHo...  i seemed to be able to pedal okay. Shitty start but was fun. And I was racing the whole time.

which is the point. racing the whole time.

fuck yeah bike racing

heddwch
G

realized something just now

That strava stuff? Whats the point when you have crossresults.

Worrying about chasing a KOM/QOMs...  climbing more riding more... social competition is a solid motivator for many people.  And if it gets them riding more? Great. That's a good thing.

But once the racing starts, my racing, cyclocross season...  Strava loses all interest. I am totally out of the habit of tracking every ride. Because all that matters is the actual race. The competition. Lap times between races are nice to see but race conditions change sometimes and the 8am race might have different traction than the noon race than the 3pm race. Those you race with also dictate pace.  But. Bottom line.

You get a result. Sometimes a time, but always a place.  You don't get to go back and do it again because you screwed up the start. Or slowed down before the segment ended.

You have one chance for that one race.

Will you have a good day? Will it be one of those magical days that happens so rarely?

Maybe you start off the day feeling like shit, but habit and routine and going through the well rehearsed checklist sets you up unconsciously to erase the feeling and lets you perform at your best.

Sometimes it just isn't there and sometimes you know it going in, sometimes you get a few laps in and that's all there is and it is over.
The results tell you that.

Sure the phenom that is Resultsboy created something cool and new. What did we used to do before it? Checked bikereg, before that some series had their own online results, sometimes you got them in the mail, sometimes you saw them in the back of a magazine.  But usually you just waited for them to be posted and that was enough. A record of you being there. Competing.

Stepping up.

Yes it is a participation award to see your name there. but this is cross, it isn't about having a PR. there's no way to race yourself event after event, year to year. You're racing the people in front and behind you on that sheet. And there is only ever one winner in each race.

No, everyone is not a winner.  Strava is cool to see where my friends are riding who aren't racing. I don't usually look at the times or the trophies just where, the routes, where they went. That is the cool part to me.

why this now? 'cause i'm not racing Eco-Cross today and have a minute to think i suppose and this was a thought that popped in my head to write about.

heddwch
G

CSI-CX report of sorts

or maybe it is relief for some, no blabbing here for too long. Busy, too much going on in some ways, writing time has gone poof.

the CSI race was already a while ago. Ah the saga of that. The busted cat on Meatball, fixing it with can, spokes and hardware cloth. Driving it up, hanging out, racing, pitting in both the UCI races...  hanging with Jerry and Noah, racing sunday pitting in one of the races got my photo in the pits in VeloNews online.

The racing was racing, and was good. Battled a bit on Saturday, back and forth, blew up on lap 4, recovered a bit. Was fun. Got a bit too far foward i think on the first lap even with a bad start. Pretty much because i was able to pass a dozen people on the first two times up the run up.

Kind of made up for a junior who decided to make a super dumb pass going into Pit 2 the first time. He takes the dumb line. Me and some other old master guy were hitting the turn just right, no brakes and kid blasts around us, then totally washes out and we chain reaction pile into him. Shit Show. Dumb move. And at least I was fortunate enough not to have anything seriously fucked up. Massive bruised on my bicept, smashed my left hand a bit at the index knuckle. bike and tire smashed across my quads, but worst and most critical bit was the shifter. Right shifter was bend in 45 degrees. I pushed it back out but it was loose.  I ride in the hoods pretty much 99% of the time. Sometimes i even sprint in the hoods (and win the sprint for whatever place). So it was loose, and the last two times through that new woods section well I was basically trying to steer with left hand and brake with right but not steer. Was kind of dumb, almost ate it, was slow, no good. Last time through there though AFTER riding through and with the shifter SUPER loose, i kind of realized. Why not go into the drops?????  duh. Shit. Well i did and passed M. Kelly back (he caught and passed me through that woods section).

Nothing was broken, just needed to tighten it back up. But it was kind of interesting. more interesting was Resultsboy's comment "you are looking respectable" while i was racing. or something like that.  But yes. Day one. I was racing. Abysmal start but I worked past and through people until i blew and a pile of them all dropped me hard. oops. Weather was great though. Course was fun. Becca stepped up and raced the UCI race.  Righi helped calm her down with solid advice about the move. It was the right move to move up and not race the 3/4 race. Then I wandered around saying hey to people eventually made it back to the pits to hold the Honey Squirrel's bike.   Left Meatball and my bikes in the park and got in the TRUCK and headed to the hotel. I might have even slept a little. Still wide awake at 2am for an hour or so, then dozed off until 4:30 which my body said HEY TIME CHANGE? FUCK YOU WE WAKE UP NOW. I tried to keep dozing until it was time to head down for the hotel breakfast, stuffed face full of food. and coffee. and more food.

Got to the venue, rode a lap. signed in, did some stuff, rode another lap, some more stuff, rode a lap or something eventually getting to the start. Skinny Craig was less than boisterous but still said he'd see me later. I had a better start but not a great one, more relaxed though and w/o the run up there was a bit different race feel. Shorter laps. Day one in the ball field start I bounced off of Motram in the traffic, maybe more we just kind of kept each other up as people jostled for position. Sunday? Same place a junior tried to stuff his bike in traffic under Shawn into the tape and crash himself and shawn landed on top of him.  That little irish dude was PISSED.  But I got through cleanly and just watted my way up to a good wheel or two and pedaled my butt off. Stayed in line, passed a few here and there that were opening gaps.  Eventually winding up on Kyle's wheel.  Until it felt really slow in some sections. So i passed him. And dropped him and rode up to the next group. and through the next group. one of the groups had skinny craig, going backwards because i saw him and then he was gone. Caught up to Jerry too. He was going backwards but then I dragged him around on the fast pedally sections until he felt better and then dropped me on the turny stuff bridging up to the next group. Was a blast racing though. Good stuff.  Pitted again for the UCI women's race, and then hung out moved things around out of meatball into Becca's car (ride home) and got ready to go. But then there were no keys to be found. Lost. Her. Keys. ho boy.... eventually (after i was dark and only the JAMfun/CSI crew were there) they showed up at the registration and we were able to leave.

I got points, MORE verge points, on day two. ME?!!! WHAT? yup. Bumped up my start position by probably NOTHING but still more points is more points and if i manage to have a good start and hold that position maybe i can not blow up and get more points next time.  Granted Al has 420 points and I have a massive 12.  It is seeming to be undeniable, i'm going better this year than i have ever.

I was super tired though on monday, all week last week. oof. exhausted. stressed. everything. super bad emotional day on tuesday on top of everything and then i tried to do the Union Velo training race. Had a good two laps and then... nothing. Couldn't go fast. Couldn't get out of my own way. so i just rolled around, chilled. turned the bike. hung out on the bike...  felt good but was odd to be so dead. Monday was off the bike, tuesday i did ride in and ride home before the training race. then wed on the bike but thursday was off the bike. I did manage to get legit openers in on Friday, wisely or not i book ended the openers with a commute into work and back. But at the start of the opener workout my legs were horrible. By the time we rolled back they felt much better.  Plymouth weekend though. that was last couple days. and will be a separate entry.  Hopefully soon....

heddwch
G

Slow is Smooth, Smooth is Fast

Repeated over and over again.

For everything. Applicable from music to military.

Usually the start of the season finds me helping a few people who need to clean up their technique on the bike.  Kind of has been like that since I needed the help cleaning my shit up.

I was inconsistent for a while. Christine Vardaros helped a pile, Skinny White Dude did too. And watching footage and thinking about it. Probably Cronoman and Solobreak provided some good tips.

But.

I was inconsistent.  Until.

I slowed it down. A lot.

To the point it felt sill, stupid and a waste.

But you know what?

it works.

Specifically talking about the application of getting on and off the bike in cyclocross I am.

I spent a bit of lunch re-reading some old posts, trying to find where I got it from. Maybe Solobreak's steel trap brain hasn't rusted enough and he remembers but I can't find the original source of the 1000s of dismounts/remounts before racing. I want to say it was old Mud and Cowbells or something. I've since given up looking.

Like scales on a violin, you start slowly. Warm up slowly, then as you hit every note perfectly you can start speeding up. But if you speed up before you're ready intonation goes to hell and you're going to fuck up.

Why bother?

hard to say really. mostly because it seems to be just elegant to do it right, and doing it right allows you to not be limited by speed, no top end, just your top end.

it is faster. you save valuable seconds doing it smoothly. if you can get on and off effortlessly and the person you are racing is wasting energy, that might be a place in the race, just because you were smoother.

Or it saves you the embarrassment of landing on your wheel or something. Sure that happens even to the best, an ill timed rock bounce of the back wheel when you're tired at the end of the race can be a disaster even with perfect skills.

Is there real value to it? I think so. I believe there is.

If you want to succeed, or just do your best, Cyclocross gives you the opportunity to focus not just on pedaling fast, but on this whole side of minutia, bike, tires, pressure, shouldering bike, running, barriers, stairs, remounts, turns, sand...  mud...  Not just going as fast as you can pedal.

It is still a bike racing competition and honestly if you've got the legs and the technical nature of the course doesn't totally baffle you, you can fuck up the remounts and everything else and still win. Might not be pretty but, the results still count.

Slow is smooth smooth is fast...

100-200/session. Walking pace, just fast enough that you can sit on the saddle w/o pedaling and not fall over.

This is when having someone help with how you do get on is key. Visual feedback, hand position head, arms, all that.

For me counting 1, 2, 3 then getting on was the key element. CV helped with that tip. Left foot, right foot, left foot, swing knee over and slip forward on saddle keeping moment going forward and then pedaling. not up and down. you're moving forward. Not deflecting energy or wasting it or smashing your leg/thigh/junk on the saddle. Not getting air. just moving foward just high enough to clear the saddle and get on.

Slowly.

Walking pace. On, swing leg over, drop off, 1 2 3 on, pedal, off, on...

slowly.  Let the neurons figure it out, not training muscles, you're training a neural network, teaching the proper firing sequence. Ingraining it. Learning it.

after 200 slowly, speed it up a touch. go faster. not much faster.

get that 200 done...  speed it up a little more...  200...

speed it up even more... 200...

final 200 should feel super smooth and super fast.

As always do these on soft grass, no need to bruise feet trying to dismount and run on hard pack in cycling shoes.

I have had a few extra thoughts about it this year. One after watching Lars VDH at the top of the stairs. He gets on and pauses before beginning to pedal.  not pauses momentum, but he just gets on and coasts, before pedaling.

Would be a great drill to watch or build forward skills after remount. get on and coast, no pedaling. no smashing pedals to cover for poor technique or loss of momentum.

I know pretty much the readership either doesn't give a shit, or already is as smooth or smoother than me getting on and off the bike.

but, this has been sort of brewing in my brain for a month or two. Finally getting it out.
Maybe it was triggered by the #likeavos video:
http://www.cxhairs.com/2013/10/30/likeavos-1-0/

either way it is a sputtering burst of non-cranky writing...

deal with it

heddwch
G

Chain talk time

have you exhausted your bottle of chain lube?

Need some more? Out of Pro Gold samples?

Want something that works as well or better?

Pick up some of that EVerLube. Make a gallon of your own for $10-$15. Then fill all your old bottles you have saved and share and convert your friends to this stuff. Sure it doesn't have some big fancy label or decal or brand name behind it but if an OBRA and NECX racer can agree on a lube then, it has to be good.

Dave Moulton put a post up on Friday about how to lube a chain.

I'm not a huge fan of using the gasoline, but it would work too. Mineral spirits work better for me but then again Gasoline is cheaper and may work even better. Fumes though, ugh. At least the odor-less mineral spirits are really actually almost odor-less compared to gasoline.

I mix my chain/lube in a 1:3 ratio of 0W20 synthetic motor oil to mineral spirits (the nasty kind, not the 'green' kind) following the tried and true and well vetted ErikV recipe.

I also actually use a Park chain cleaner thing (fill the chain cleaner with the lube, recycle in screw top jar after cleaning chain, top up with fresh stuff now and then and let junk settle and create sediment layer on the bottom of the jar). Followed by wiping down followed by fresh clean lube.

Or if after a cyclocross race I will hit the chain with the park chain cleaner full of my chain lube mix, then wash the bike down with water and soap. Chain is then brand new clean and silent.

Once the bike and chain are wiped down and dry I hit it with a good soaking of the lube, and if the next race is going to be a dry one I'll wipe the excess off very thoroughly, if wet and muddy I will just let it dry with the excess and sometimes add a second coating to double up the lube going into mud and stuff.

Big key to the post that caught my eye more than the lube similarity is the quick link removal trick. Many people have a problem removing quick links without the special tool. that's the other beauty of Dave's post.

And also.

GeWilli recommends running a Shimano Chain with a SRAM/KMC whatever quick link that is the right width for the chain. I've been doing it for ever even though I don't remove my chain to clean it.

have fun, get dirty, clean up and stay lubed...

heddwch
G

canton...

Another dry and dusty  race. Just the 12th annual Canton cup. Definitely smaller turnout this year but th pointy end of the field was strong in most of the races. At least in mine. 

I totally blew the start. Rolled the dice on which side and rolled wrong, then let caution tap my brakes in self preservation rather than push it. And wound up in pretty close to last, 35th-40th maybe. not many behind me at the turn into the field.

But it was a pass fest after that.  Pickingoff big groups on the first two laps, then one at a time. 

Finally had a solid sprint to take 10th place. 

Legs were great the whole time, felt like puking at the end.
It was good. But holy crap was it dusty. billows of dust in the mown grass path. the run up was a disaster. Rain. 

We haven't had much, nice for bike commuting but not so much for the soil and the cyclocross conditions.

Anyway. Next weekend is the big daddy of the CX races. I call it NoHo, some call it CSI... official title is long:
23rd Annual Cycle-Smart International /Shimano New England Professional Cyclocross Series Rounds 5 and 6/ Verge Series Round 7 and 8 

if you can at all make it, as a spectator or a competitor this is the race to go to. Sausage tent, Beer, kick ass course, great venue, solid intense racing. F'n legendary.

I will be there.  Hopefully with the rest of the ENGVT team.

is there a quintessential CX short video?

I asked the twitters, maybe the blogosphere friends have more links to add?

The thought behind the question was if you could pick just one video to show to someone so they would understand the sport, what would it be.

the verbatim question:
If you could only pick one short video to explain CX what would it be?
what came up?
so... there was the big pile of funny snarky smart ass comments and the completely unhelpful ones.

But mixed in with comments were a pile of great links.

Before that though, this often is my choice. Wish I had gotten my hands on a copy of this DVD:

And there are of course the gold mine of resources that Henry has curated and filmed, but linkage over to the left is kind not right it seems but most of his stuff is over on his youtube account: http://www.youtube.com/user/henryj49

now on to the results of the informal poll

Too nice of a day

Thought about driving. I'm taking about some of my art this afternoon so I have three prints in the box. Zipp 303 spokes came in to the shop yesterday. Gotta get that squared away.

It is just too nice if a day to sit in the car.

Check the SVENNESS 2.3

Over here: http://www.cxhairs.com/2013/10/18/svenness-2-3/ awesome breakdown and analysis

Tips and stuff for everyone who is a student of CX racing.

here's the embedded bit though.

#SVENNESS 2.3 from In The Crosshairs on Vimeo.

quick food comment

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22810464

it isn't that new, but the data sort of supports a very loooooooong held position of mine.

NO SKIM/FAT FREE DAIRY PRODUCTS. It is just so not smart. Agree or not, science seems to
The publication certainly may not be totally conclusive but it makes sense, a lot of sense.

I'm not saying dairy should ever be a big part of your diet, or even a part of the diet, but when/if you choose a dairy product, go with one that is not a reduced fat/fat free option. it will make a difference.

Eur J Nutr. 2013 Feb;52(1):1-24. doi: 10.1007/s00394-012-0418-1. Epub 2012 Jul 19.

The relationship between high-fat dairy consumption and obesity, cardiovascular, and metabolic disease.

Kratz M, Baars T, Guyenet S.

Source

Division of Public Health Sciences, Cancer Prevention Program, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, 1100 Fairview Avenue N, Mail Stop M4-B402, Seattle, WA, 98109, USA. mkratz@fhcrc.org

Abstract

PURPOSE:

To comprehensively review the data on the relationship between the consumption of dairy fat and high-fat dairy foods, obesity, and cardiometabolic disease.

METHODS:

We have conducted a systematic literature review of observational studies on the relationship between dairy fat and high-fat dairy foods, obesity, and cardiometabolic disease. We have integrated these findings with data from controlled studies showing effects of several minor dairy fatty acids on adiposity and cardiometabolic risk factors, and data on how bovine feeding practices influence the composition of dairy fat.

RESULTS:

In 11 of 16 studies, high-fat dairy intake was inversely associated with measures of adiposity. Studies examining the relationship between high-fat dairy consumption and metabolic health reported either an inverse or no association. Studies investigating the connection between high-fat dairy intake and diabetes or cardiovascular disease incidence were inconsistent. We discuss factors that may have contributed to the variability between studies, including differences in (1) the potential for residual confounding; (2) the types of high-fat dairy foods consumed; and (3) bovine feeding practices (pasture- vs. grain-based) known to influence the composition of dairy fat.

CONCLUSIONS:

The observational evidence does not support the hypothesis that dairy fat or high-fat dairy foods contribute to obesity or cardiometabolic risk, and suggests that high-fat dairy consumption within typical dietary patterns is inversely associated with obesity risk. Although not conclusive, these findings may provide a rationale for future research into the bioactive properties of dairy fat and the impact of bovine feeding practices on the health effects of dairy fat.

PMID:

 

22810464

 

[PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE] 

PMCID:

 

PMC3597284