Posted on 05/23/2005 6:08:11 PM PDT by blam
Milk 'can combat heart disease'
By Nic Fleming, Health Correspondent
(Filed: 24/05/2005)
A diet rich in milk may protect people from heart disease and strokes, says a study published today.
Researchers who studied the diets and health of men over a 20-year period found that those who drank a lot of milk were 12 per cent less likely to have a heart attack and almost half as likely to suffer a stroke.
The authors of the study - published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health - suggest that the widespread perception that milk increases the risk of heart disease is inaccurate.
Prof Peter Elwood, from the University of Wales, says: "Many cross-sectional studies have shown that milk intake is positively related to blood cholesterol levels and an increase in milk consumption is followed by an increase in cholesterol level.
"This paper challenges the belief that because milk drinking raises blood cholesterol level it increases the risk of vascular disease."
"The present perception of milk as harmful, in increasing cardiovascular risk, should be challenged, and every effort should be made to restore it to its rightful place in a healthy diet."
In the group of 665 men aged between 45 and 59 cholesterol levels and blood pressure readings were similar in those who consumed a pint or more of milk a day and those who had less than half a pint.
The risk of a stroke among those in the high milk intake group was 88 per cent of that of the whole group.
I just wonder if I can go back to eating a pint of Blue Bell 'Homemade Vanilla' ice cream daily?
If 1% is good for you, think how much better "whole" milk must be. Of course, whole milk used to be 4-4.5%, and now they water it down to 3.25%. The Blue Bell does sound like the safest course of action.
2% here. An occasional small dish of Cherry Garcia. The only thing from VT allowed in my home.
price fixing and putting small farms out of business
feeding herbivorous cattle a diet of cheap junk animal products. and
high volume, low quality at the expense of human health
falsifying study results about early puberty, hormone imbalances, obesity and other preventable side effects of their abominable product
A pint of Bluebell could be insufficient. I suggest that you consume at least two pints per day.
This is not the Frist caved thread. Keep looking though.
fresh whole goats milk here, it's the best!
Buying milk darn near gives me a heart attach.
Our (18 yo) son drinks a 1/2 gallon a day.
I lived on a dairy between the ages of 5-11. We would take 100% cream, add any berries and sugar, mmmmm!
How about cheese and moose?
Paging PETA, paging PETA!
Calcium is important for coronary health
Thanks for posting an article that brings reason back into view.
Nothing wrong with milk; something wrong with what WE do to the cows that produce it. Answer, look for real milk produced from grass-fed cows and support the farmer who does it right.
Sooner or later the greedy who feed animal products to herbavores and shoot them full of growth hormones and anti-biotics will change their ways.
I hate headlines that mangle the truth. Way to go, MSM.
I actually read the journal article it talks about, and nowhere in it does it suggest that milk might 'combat' heart disease and stroke.
All they're pointing out is that it seems that in the long run, milk has no particular effect on those diseases. So drink up!
Beware though, if you already have high cholesterol, increasing your intake of saturated fats is just not a good idea. :)
I'll also point out that what steenkeenbadges says may have some merit; from my understanding growth-hormone treating cows increases the amount of IGF-1 (a human growth hormone) in the milk, and the full physiology of the action of excess IGF-1 in the blood is not yet well understood (but there's certainly concern that it is one of the reasons we're seeing trends of a younger average age of puberty.)
True but, I've read that calcium is worthless without the proper levels of vitamin D.
There is also a new study out that says sunshine prevents skin cancer. (I'm not kidding.) So there.
Yep, there's really no absolutes in the world.
Some sunshine = better chance of adequate vitamin D intake = reduced cancer risk.
Too much sunshine = increased skin cancer risk.
It's like riding a unicycle... :)
What's the average difference here between the two groups? How much more than a cup? Given the fat/cholesterol content of the Western diet, an extra cup of milk may not alter the bp/cholesterol readings appreciably. An extra bag of potato chips might not, either. That is not to say that either one contributes to good vascular health.
Also, what does "similar" mean? I gather it means that the average bp and cholesterol readings in the milk-drinking group were higher, but the differences were not statistically significant. It's a big leap from that to say that milk "combats" heart disease.
The risk of a stroke among those in the high milk intake group was 88 per cent of that of the whole group.
What other differences might one note between milk-drinkers and non milk drinkers that might account for the difference? More health-minded? Inclined to exercise? Lower salt consumption? I wonder how many factors the study controlled for: the article doesn't say.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.