UPPSALA, Sweden—Eating dairy foods was linked to a lower risk of heart disease in a recent Swedish study (Am J Clin Nutr. 2010 May 19). Researchers at the Uppsala University found milk fat biomarkers were associated with a lower risk of developing a first myocardial infarction, especially in women. This was partly confirmed in analysis of fermented milk and cheese intake.
While the researchers noted high intakes of saturated fat have been associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD), and milk fat is rich in saturated fat, they investigated the association between the serum milk fat biomarkers pentadecanoic acid (15:0), heptadecanoic acid (17:0), and their sum (15:0+17:0) and a first myocardial infarction.
The prospective case-control study, nested within a large population-based cohort in Sweden, included 444 cases (307 men) and 556 controls (308 men) matched on sex, age, date of examination and geographic region. Clinical, anthropometric, biomarker fatty acid, physical activity and dietary data were collected. The odds of a first myocardial infarction were investigated by using conditional logistic regression.
In women, proportions of milk fat biomarkers in plasma phospholipids were significantly higher (P < 0.05) in controls than in cases and were, in general, negatively, albeit weakly, correlated with risk factors for metabolic syndrome. After multivariable adjustment for confounders, the inverse association remained in both sexes, and was significant in women. In agreement with biomarker data, quartiles of reported intake of cheese (men and women) and fermented milk products (men) were inversely related to a first myocardial infarction (P for trend < 0.05 for all).
The study was supported by grants from the National Dairy Council/Dairy Management Inc, the Joint Committee of the Northern Sweden Health Care Region, the Västerbotten County Council, the Swedish Research Council, and the Swedish Council for Working Life and Social Research.