A major Swedish study has debunked previous assertions that the consumption of dairy products increases the chances of heart disease.

The study comprised over 4,000 people with a mean age of 61. Of those involved, 51% were female, with males making up 49%.

The researchers looked for the presence of markers that indicated a high-dairy diet. The 4,150 adults were tracked over an on-average period of 16 years.

Those with the markers of a high-dairy diet were found to have a lower incidence of cardiovascular (heart) disease.

The research was printed in the international health science magazine Plos Medicine, which describes itself as “a peer-reviewed open-access journal”.

Consumption

The paper notes: “Many dietary guidelines recommend limiting dairy fat consumption in order to lower saturated fat intake and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk.

“However, increasing evidence suggests that the health impact of dairy foods is more dependent on the type (eg, cheese, yoghurt, milk, and butter) rather than the fat content, which has raised doubts if avoidance of dairy fats is beneficial for cardiovascular health.”

Conclusions

It also states that: “Dairy foods are a major source of nutrients, and their consumption is increasing worldwide; thus, it is important to advance our understanding of the impact of dairy fat on CVD risk.

“When we accounted for known risk factors, including demographics, lifestyle, and disease prevalence, the CVD risk was lowest for those with high levels of the dairy fat biomarker 15:0, while those with biomarker levels around the median had the lowest risk of all-cause mortality,” the report concludes.