THE ESSENTIAL
- In women, consumption of unfermented milk is associated with an increased risk of myocardial infarction and ischemic heart disease.
- This risk decreases when milk is replaced by a fermented product, such as yogurt.
- These data come from an observational study, which does not make it possible to establish a causal relationship.
If you are a woman and you drink milk regularly, it would be better to change your habits. According to a study published in BMC Medicineconsuming unfermented milk increases the risk of heart disease in women. On the other hand, replacing this dairy with yogurt could reduce it.
What are the effects of milk consumption on heart risk?
In this study, researchers from Uppsala University in Sweden looked at the links between milk consumption and the risk of ischemic heart disease (IHD) and acute myocardial infarction (MI). “CCI is one of the leading contributors to mortality in adults globally, and there is uncertainty about the effects of dairy products on the risk of CCI.”they warn. Karl Michaëlsson, lead author of this study, and his team carried out their work using data from more than 100,000 people, including nearly 60,000 women. The follow-up period extended from 1987 to 2021: in total, 17,896 cases of ischemic heart disease, including 10,714 cases of myocardial infarction, were recorded. In addition to information on their state of health, the researchers controlled other factors such as alcohol and tobacco consumption or the presence of other pathologies, such as diabetes. Participants reported the number of dairy products they consumed each day, divided between fermented ones, such as yogurt and kefir, and non-fermented ones, such as milk.
Consumption of dairy products and heart disease: increased risks observed only in women
“In women, consumption of more than 300 milliliters per day of unfermented milk was associated with an increased risk of ischemic heart disease, with an increased risk of 5% at 400 milliliters, 12% at 600 milliliters, and 21% at 800 milliliters. milliliters, conclude the authors. A similar relationship was observed in women for the risk of acute myocardial infarction.” In men, no association between the risk of ischemic heart disease and the consumption of non-fermented milk was observed. “Replacing a daily intake of 200 milliliters of unfermented milk with fermented milk suggested that there was a 5% reduction in the risk of ischemic heart disease and a 4% reduction in the risk of myocardial infarction in women.continue the Swedish researchers.
Links between dairy products and heart disease to be confirmed
They speculate that consuming large amounts of unfermented milk could affect levels of angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) and fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21). However, these two cardiometabolic proteins have the role of regulating blood pressure and flow.
This study will need to be supplemented by other work, because several limitations remain. First, the authors recall that the participants were mainly Scandinavian, “which could limit the generalizability of the study results to other populations. Also, this is an observational study, which does not allow us to establish a cause and effect relationship between women’s consumption of non-fermented milk and ischemic heart disease.
