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ISSUE 2176 Thursday 10 May 2001

Milk 'not linked to heart disease'

By Celia Hall, Medical Editor

DRINKING milk may not lead to an increased risk of heart disease and could even provide some protection against it, researchers say today.

The study of nearly 6,000 men found that those who drank more than a third of a pint of milk daily were eight per cent less likely to die from heart disease than those who drank less than that amount. The risk of death from all causes, including cancer and stroke, was 10 per cent lower.

Milk drinking was promoted in the Fifties, but 30 years ago the apparent risk of raised blood cholesterol levels from saturated fat brought a decrease in consumption. Dr Andy Ness and colleagues from the department of social medicine at the University of Bristol analysed the health details of 5,700 Scottish men aged 35 to 64.

After 25 years, 2,350 deaths had been recorded, of which 892 were attributed to coronary heart disease. Those who drank little milk were shorter, more likely to drink alcohol and smoke and were from lower social groups than the milk drinkers.

Dr Ness says in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health that the study took into account that milk drinkers might have had healthier lives. He said: "It seems unlikely that milk drinking is hazardous but there may be various reasons why this is so."

Other constituents of milk might act against the saturated fat and counter-balance the bad effects. "It may be that men who did not drink milk were replacing it with something else, such as butter or salty food. It is also possible that the men who drank more milk also drank more as children.

"Children who drink milk grow more, and taller people have less heart disease."

-- Anonymous, May 09, 2001