Think you can load up on ice cream and grilled cheese for stronger bones? (Hey, it’s dairy, right?) Unfortunately, that’s not how it works. Consuming more milk and yogurt can strengthen your bones, but you won’t get the same results from cheese and cream products, according to a new study published in the Archives of Osteoporosis.

Researchers surveyed over 3,000 people about their diets and compared their dairy intake with their bone mineral density and hip fracture risk down the line. They found that eating 2.5-3 servings of milk or yogurt per day was associated with higher bone density. But get this: A higher intake of cream products (like cream, sour cream, ice cream, etc.) was negatively associated with bone density. “Cream has lower levels of bone-specific nutrients, it’s high in fat, and for the same serving of milk it has lower calcium and vitamin D,” says lead study author Shivani Sahni, Ph.D., instructor at Harvard Medical School. Basically, that pint of chocolate chunk won’t increase anything in your body—except maybe your waistline.

Cheese didn’t seem to affect bone health on it’s own, but when taken together with milk and yogurt it actually had a positive association with bone density. “I would think that cheeses high in saturated fat and sodium may have negative effects, while other cheeses may be better,” says Sahni. The lesson: Your bones can’t thrive on cheese alone, but adding them to a diet high in milk and yogurt is still beneficial.

If you’re striving for stronger bones, load up on 2.5-3 servings of low-fat milk, low-fat yogurt and lower-sodium cheeses (like mozzarella, goat cheese, or Swiss). And just because ice cream, cream cheese, and sour cream are dairy products, don’t assume they’ll pack a huge punch of bone-strengthening nutrients.

photo: iStockPhoto/Thinkstock

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