New research suggests that a higher intake of dairy fat could be linked to lower cardiovascular disease risk.
An international team of experts conducted the study and found that full-fat dairy products such as milk, cheese, and yoghurt should be avoided due to their high levels of saturated fat.
The blood concentrations of certain fatty acids found in dairy foods were measured by researchers to assess the dairy fat intake of 4,150 Swedish 60-year olds.
The participants were followed for 16.6 years on average, and they recorded how many had died, suffered strokes, or experienced other cardiovascular problems.
Participants who consumed high amounts of dairy fatty acids had the lowest risk of developing cardiovascular disease. Researchers also discovered that higher intakes dairy fat did not increase the risk of death.
Dr Kathy Trieu, a lead author at the George Institute for Global Health, said that fat intake and its relationship to heart health were more complicated than previously thought.
She said that there is increasing evidence that the type or source of dietary dietary fat is more important than the quantity of fat.
Trieu stated that it is less important to choose low-fat dairy products when choosing which ones to purchase. Instead, she recommends that customers avoid products with sodium or added sugar. This is evident in the following example: it's better to choose unflavoured yogurts than low-fat flavoured yogurts.
Researchers found that biomarkers were more reliable than relying on individual self-reports to determine dairy fat intake. However, the biomarkers were unable to distinguish between different types of dairy products and their effects.
For example, cheese consumption has been linked to lower cardiovascular disease risk. However, a large US study published April found that butter intake is linked to higher mortality rates.
Trieu stated that cheeses contain vitamin K and may have cardioprotective properties. However, more research is needed to determine the relationship between dairy foods, heart health, and other factors.
The researchers also conducted an analysis in Sweden, where milk consumption is high, and a meta-analysis that included 17 additional studies involving almost 43,000 people in the UK, USA, and Denmark.
This analysis found that consuming more dairy fat was associated with a lower chance of developing cardiovascular disease.
Trieu stated that the findings could be applied to any country with a western-style diet like Australia. However, the researchers cautioned against extrapolating the findings to other ethnicities as the vast majority (60%) of those they studied were either from Sweden or Finland.
In a large study conducted in 2018, 21 countries with low or middle income found that dairy products could help prevent stroke and heart disease.
The only problem with the Swedish study was the fact that blood biomarkers of participants were only measured once at the beginning and end of the research. This indicated their dietary fat intake at that time.
We expect our diets to remain the same, Trieu stated, while acknowledging that milk consumption habits may have changed during the study.
The journal Plos Medicine published the research.
