Milk and dairy consumption and incidence of cardiovascular diseases and all-cause mortality: dose-response meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies.
BACKGROUND
The consumption of dairy products may influence the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and total mortality, but conflicting findings have been reported.


OBJECTIVE
The objective was to examine the associations of milk, total dairy products, and high- and low-fat dairy intakes with the risk of CVD [including coronary heart disease (CHD) and stroke] and total mortality.


METHODS
PubMed, EMBASE, and SCOPUS were searched for articles published up to February 2010. Of > 5000 titles evaluated, 17 met the inclusion criteria, all of which were original prospective cohort studies. Random-effects meta-analyses were performed with summarized dose-response data. Milk as the main dairy product was pooled in these analyses.


RESULTS
In 17 prospective studies, there were 2283 CVD, 4391 CHD, 15,554 stroke, and 23,949 mortality cases. A modest inverse association was found between milk intake and risk of overall CVD [4 studies; relative risk (RR): 0.94 per 200 mL/d; 95% CI: 0.89, 0.99]. Milk intake was not associated with risk of CHD (6 studies; RR: 1.00; 95% CI: 0.96, 1.04), stroke (6 studies; RR: 0.87; 95% CI: 0.72, 1.05), or total mortality (8 studies; RR per 200 mL/d: 0.99; 95% CI: 0.95, 1.03). Limited studies of the association of total dairy products and of total high-fat and total low-fat dairy products (per 200 g/d) with CHD showed no significant associations.


CONCLUSIONS
This dose-response meta-analysis of prospective studies indicates that milk intake is not associated with total mortality but may be inversely associated with overall CVD risk; however, these findings are based on limited numbers.
Division of Human Nutrition, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands. sabita.soedamah-muthu@wur.nl
Sabita S
SS
Soedamah-Muthu
Eric L
EL
Ding
Wael K
WK
Al-Delaimy
Frank B
FB
Hu
Marielle F
MF
Engberink
Walter C
WC
Willett
Johanna M
JM
Geleijnse
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000818:Animals; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000453:epidemiology; D003611:Dairy Products; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008892:Milk; D009026:Mortality; D011446:Prospective Studies; D017594:Publication Bias; D020521:Stroke / Q000453:epidemiology