Dairy Defends Against Stroke

In that high blood pressure (hypertension) is a strong predictor of stroke, a number of previous studies have suggested that proteins in milk products help to lower blood pressure, and that Vitamin D present in dairy products may do the same.  Susanna C. Larsson, from the Karolinska Institute (Sweden), and colleagues analyzed data collected on subjects enrolled in the Swedish Mammography Cohort and Cohort of Swedish Men, which both included detailed dietary questionnaire data and long-term follow-up through national healthcare records.  Among the nearly 75,000 men and women free of cardiovascular disease and cancer at baseline in those studies, just over 4,000 had a stroke during the mean 10.2 years of follow-up. In the dairy-loving Swedish population they examined, Full-fat milk, cream, and cheese neither helped nor hindered as a prevailing factor.  Whereas total dairy consumption didn't correlate with total risk of stroke or cerebral infarction specifically, nor did full-fat dairy or milk overall, intake of low-fat dairy showed inverse associations with risk of total stroke and cerebral infarction  The team found that the highest consumers of low-fat dairy -- with a median four servings a day, along with more than five full-fat portions -- were 12% less likely to have a stroke, after adjustment for a full range of other factors, as compared to those with no consumption. The study authors conclude that: “These results suggest that low-fat dairy consumption is inversely associated with the risk of stroke.”