Study Shows Milk Does
Not Increase Heart Risk
Excerpt By Suzanne Rostler, Reuters Health

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Men who consume milk daily have no greater risk of dying from heart disease than those who drink little or no milk, researchers report.

In fact, milk drinkers were slightly less likely to die of any cause--including cancer--compared with nondrinkers, possibly because they are also less likely to smoke, drink or have other unhealthy habits.

In a study, those men who consumed roughly one pint (between 2/3 of a cup and 2-2/3 cups) of milk a day were less likely to die from any cause over a 25-year period than those who drank little or no milk.

``In the past, milk consumption was encouraged. More recently it has been discouraged because of concerns about its fat content,'' according to the report. ``We found no evidence that milk consumption was associated with increased risk of coronary death or death from all causes,'' the investigators note.

However, study author Dr. Andy Ness, of the University of Bristol, UK, recommended that people substitute whole milk with reduced fat or skim milk varieties to lower their intake of saturated fat.

Ness and colleagues followed more than 5,700 Scottish men aged 35 to 64 over a 25-year period, assessing their diet, lifestyle, health, social and economic factors. Nearly 3% of men drank more than 1.3 pints of milk each day, about 52% drank between one third of a pint to 1.3 pints, and 46% drank less than one third of a pint.

After taking into account many factors such as socioeconomic status and other lifestyle factors, the milk drinkers were slightly less likely--about 8% to 10%--to die of heart disease or other ailments during the study period.

The study did not investigate why milk might be protective, but the researchers speculate that calcium might counteract the effects of artery-clogging saturated fat. Calcium, explained Ness in an interview, has been shown to keep blood pressure in check.

On the other hand, people who drink milk also appeared to have a healthier lifestyle overall, the authors report in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. Regular milk drinkers tended to smoke less, drink less alcohol and to have better lung function overall, the report indicates.

They were also taller on the whole than men who did not drink milk, which indicates that drinking milk was a habit that probably began in childhood.

``No evidence was found that men who consumed milk each day, at a time when most milk consumed was full-fat milk, were at increased risk of death from all causes or death from coronary heart disease,'' Ness and colleagues write.

SOURCE: Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 2001;55:379-382.

Reference Source 89

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