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Dairy and Cardiometabolic Outcomes
A systematic review by Canadian researchers concludes that dairy may reduce the risk of cardiometabolic-related outcomes.
Highlights
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About the systematic review
The study aimed to determine:
- If the consumption of dairy products is detrimental, neutral or beneficial to cardiometabolic health;
- If the recommendation to consume reduced-fat as opposed to regular-fat dairy is evidence-based.
The review included 21 meta-analyses of prospective cohort studies on the association between dairy consumption and cardiometabolic-related outcomes.
Results
Summary of the associations between dairy consumption and cardiometabolic-related outcomes:
CVD | CHD | Stroke | Hypertension | MetS | T2D | |
All dairy | Neutral | Neutral | Favourable | Favourable | Favourable | Favourable |
Regular/high-fat dairy | Uncertain | Neutral | Neutral | Neutral | Uncertain | Neutral |
Low-fat dairy | Uncertain | Neutral | Favourable | Favourable | Uncertain | Favourable |
Milk | Uncertain | Neutral | Neutral | Favourable | Favourable | Neutral |
Cheese | Neutral | Neutral | Favourable | Neutral | Uncertain | Favourable |
Yogurt | Neutral | Neutral | Neutral | Neutral | Uncertain | Favourable |
Fermented dairy | Uncertain | Uncertain | Favourable | Neutral | Uncertain | Neutral |
CVD = cardiovascular disease; CHD = coronary heart disease; MetS = metabolic syndrome; T2D = type 2 diabetes; Uncertain = very low quality of evidence
There is high-quality evidence for the association between:
- All dairy and reduced hypertension risk;
- Low-fat dairy and reduced type 2 diabetes risk;
- Yogurt and reduced type 2 diabetes risk.
There is moderate to high evidence that:
- Cheese has a neutral effect on cardiovascular disease risk;
- Cheese is associated with reduced stroke and type 2 diabetes risk;
- Regular/high-fat dairy is neutral in terms of coronary heart disease, stroke, hypertension and type 2 diabetes.
The recommendation to focus on low-fat in place of regular/high-fat dairy is currently not evidence-based.
Conclusion
There is no evidence to suggest that any type of dairy product, as well as dairy fat, is unfavourably associated with cardiometabolic-related outcomes, including cardiovascular disease, hypertension, metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes.
In addition, there is evidence that dairy products may be beneficial to cardiovascular health. In particular, the complex matrix of dairy foods may play a role. However, further research is needed to understand the potential underlying mechanisms. For more information, click here.
References
- Drouin-Chartier JP et al. Systematic review of the association between dairy product consumption and risk of cardiovascular-related clinical outcomes. Adv Nutr 2016;7:1026-1040.
Keywords: type 2 diabetes , cardiovascular disease , coronary heart disease , stroke , hypertension , metabolic syndrome