Why milk consumption is associated with a higher mortality rate

Swedish scientists have found that high milk consumption may be associated with a higher level of mortality and risk of bone fractures and with a higher risk of death in men. These data were recently published in the journal BMJ.

In the scientific review, the results obtained from 2 large Swedish studies were included – one of them included 61,433 women aged 39 to 74 years, and in the second 45,339 men aged 45 to 79 years.

With the help of questionnaires assessing the frequency of consumption of certain food products, the researchers obtained information about the most frequently consumed foods and drinks from the participants.

The analysis of the participants was carried out for the period from their inclusion in the study /from 1987 to 1990 for women and from January 1998 for men/ to December 2010. During the observation period, which was a median of 22 years for women and 13 years for men, 15,541 women and 10,112 men died. Accordingly, 17,252 women and 5,379 men received fractures.

Researchers found that women who drank 3 or more glasses of milk /680 grams/ had a 3 times higher risk of death compared to women who drank less than 1 glass of milk per day.

Furthermore, women who drank more milk also had a high risk of bone fractures of any type, particularly hip fractures. Although the researchers also found a significantly higher risk in men who consumed 3 or more cups of milk per day compared to those who drank less than 1 cup, they did not, unlike women, have an increased risk of bone fractures.< /p>

When determining the size of the risk, the significant number of concomitant factors such as age, smoking, body mass index, height, educational qualification, additional intake of calcium and vitamin D, previous treatment with glucocorticoids, physical activity and other concomitants were taken into account. diseases.

In a sensitivity analysis that also included other nutrients associated with osteoporosis or an increased risk of bone fractures, an even stronger correlation was found between high milk consumption and the occurrence of death.

An association was also found between high milk intake and oxidative stress and inflammation.

Unlike fresh milk, no association was found between such adverse effects and the consumption of fermented milk foods, such as cheese and yogurt.

In the current study, no distinction was made between milk of different fat content – ​​for example between whole and skim, as the consumption of all types of milk was analyzed as one category.

According to the researchers, a possible explanation for the different results when using different types of dairy products is the unequal content of D-galactose in them, which is present in unfermented milk in a significantly larger amount than in other foods, such as cheese, yellow cheese and lactic acid foods.

D-galactose has been linked to premature aging in animal studies.

The authors of the study believe that their findings may raise doubts about the validity of the recommendations to consume large amounts of milk to prevent bone fractures as a result of the progression of osteoporosis.

However, these results should be interpreted with caution as they were obtained in an observational study.