Are dairy products bad for your health?

The American Medical Association and American Dietetic Association have both stated that saturated fat consumption leads to increased cholesterol levels and heart disease. Based on this, consumption of dairy products predisposes us to coronary heart disease.

Premature death from cardiovascular disease has fallen since the mid-1970s in the US and UK. However, saturated fatty acid intake has not changed. How can this be? We’ve been told that saturated fat consumption predisposes us to coronary heart disease (CHD).

The recommendations to reduce the amount of saturated fat consumptions are based on the relationship between dietary intake of saturated fat and their potential to increase cholesterol levels. But does saturated fat increase cholesterol? In a meta-analysis of 60 trials,saturated fat increased total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol (the “bad” cholesterol) and HDL-cholesterol (the “good” cholesterol). However, the ratio of total cholesterol to HDL-cholesterol has been suggested to be one o f the best indicators of CHD risk; and this ratio was slightly elevated with saturated fat consumption. Thus, consumption of saturated fats increases the good cholesterol, which counteracts the bad cholesterol, resulting in no overall negative effect.


What about dairy products though?
Cow’s milk is 3 to 4% fat, which is 60% saturated fat, 25% cis-monounsaturated fat, 2% trans-monounsaturated fat, and the remainder is poly-unsaturated fat. The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) looked at the effect of dairy consumption on blood lipids in adults. There was no effect of the number of servings of dairy products consumed per day (ranging from less than 1 to greater than 4.5) on total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol (the “bad” cholesterol), HDL-cholesterol (the “good” cholesterol) or triglycerides. Additionally, in the meta-analysis mentioned above, cis-monounsaturated fat significantly decreased the ratio of total cholesterol to HDL-cholesterol, suggesting decreased CHD risk. All of the evidence shows that dairy products do not predispose us to heart disease.

Myth: Consumption of dairy products predisposes us to coronary heart disease. BUSTED!

By Robin R. Rastani

References: Mensink et al., 2003. Am. J. Clin. Nutr.; NHANES, 1999-2002.

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