Past studies show conflicting ties between dairy intake and cardiometabolic diseases. Some find lower risk, others no link or higher risk. An analysis published in the Journal of Nutrition looked at these associations in China. Dairy use is low there, and disease patterns differ from the West.
The China Kadoorie Biobank enrolled 512,000 adults from 10 China areas in 2004-08. Food intake came from validated laptop questionnaires at baseline and resurveys. Follow-up totaled 5.4 million person-years. Outcomes included 18,306 diabetes cases, 33,946 ischemic heart diseases (IHD) (3888 acute myocardial infarction), 33,670 ischemic stroke, 7191 intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), and 13,241 CV deaths. Cox regression yielded adjusted HRs for regular dairy consumers (≥4 days/week, 10.7%) vs non-consumers (70%).
Higher dairy intake tied to more IHD risk (HR 1.09; 95% CI 1.06-1.12). It linked to lower acute myocardial infarction (MI) (HR 0.88; 0.80-0.98), ICH (HR 0.69; 0.62-0.76), and CV death (HR 0.82; 0.77-0.87) risks. No links appeared with diabetes or ischemic stroke. Ties held after BMI and blood pressure adjustments.
In this large prospective cohort, regular dairy consumption associated with higher IHD but lower acute MI, ICH, and CV death risks. Findings highlight context-specific patterns in low-dairy settings. Further research is needed to explore mechanisms and causality.
