WASHINGTON — Say cheese! Say it loud; say it proud.

A 16-year study of 120,000 adults published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition finds that milk fat doesn’t make any real difference in gaining or losing weight. In fact, full-fat cheese (and milk and cream, too) might be better for your waistline than the low-fat variety.

Tufts University researchers found that people who deprive themselves of milk fat often turn to carbohydrates to compensate — and that does stick to your middle.

As The Huffington Post says, don’t go wild on the cheese — it still contributes to problems such as heart disease and stroke, and lots of cheeses are heavy on sodium. But it won’t add to your waistline.