The dietary cholesterol and saturated fatty acid theory of cardiovascular disease does not stand up to scientific scrutiny. Avoiding dairy products to reduce saturated fatty acid and cholesterol intakes is therefore not justified based on the scientific literature. In fact, recent evidence suggests that those consuming high intakes of dairy have a reduced risk of vascular disease induced mortality (here). This protective effect from dairy may result from the high calcium content of milk. Calcium and dairy intakes have been shown in epidemiological studies to be inversely associated with obesity and weight gain, and clinical studies show weight loss with calcium and dairy supplementation. The weight loss effects of dairy may therefore be due in part to its calcium content, and avoidance of dairy may increase risk of weight gain and vascular disease. In addition, milk is also a rich source of other essential nutrients.
Researchers1 have assessed the contribution made by dairy to the dietary intake of various macro- and micronutrients in people living in the Netherlands. Dairy consumption included cheese and milk products and data was taken from the third Dutch National Food Consumption Survey. Figure 1 highlights the substantial contribution that dairy makes to daily intakes of calcium (69%), riboflavin (49%), cobalamins (37%), protein (26%), zinc (25%), magnesium (18%), pyridoxal phosphate, 10%), thiamine (11%), folic acid (9%), retinol (16%), vitamin D (9%) and selenium (17%). Results were similar between elderly and young subjects, suggesting that milk consumption makes a significant contribution in supplying essential dietary components in all age groups. Recent surveys show that skimmed milk now contributes 85% of the milk consumed in the Netherlands, with average cheese consumption as 27g/d mainly in the form of full-fat Gouda cheese.
Figure 1. Contribution in % of dairy products to macro- and micronutrient intakes of people living in the Netherlands.
These data are interesting because they suggest that advice to avoid milk and dairy products because of the saturated fat and cholesterol content may have potentially deleterious effects to health. In addition to calcium, dairy products supply a large percentage of the required vitamin D, magnesium, zinc and selenium, nutrients that have shown to be deficient in many dietary studies of Western populations. In particular, recent research suggests that during winter months, vitamin D levels in populations living at high latitude become deficient and dairy may therefore play an important role in supplying dietary vitamin D to prevent deficiency. The lack of suitable food sources of vitamin D suggest that dairy may play an particularly important role in this regard. Because vitamin D deficiency is associated with insulin resistance and diabetes, this may also partly explain the inverse association between dairy consumption and obesity.
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