Drinking 3 glasses of milk daily ‘cuts heart disease risk by 18pc’

WASHINGTON - Drinking three glasses of milk per day decreases the risk of cardiovascular disease by 18 percent, says researchers.

Wageningen and Harvard University researchers examined 17 studies from Europe, USA and Japan, and found no link between the consumption of regular or low-fat dairy and any increased risk of heart disease, stroke or total mortality.

“Milk and dairy are the most nutritious and healthy foods available and loaded with naturally occurring nutrients, such as calcium, potassium and protein, to name a few,” said Cindy Schweitzer, Technical Director, Global Dairy Platform.

“It’s about going back to the basics; maintaining a healthy lifestyle doesn’t have to be a scientific equation,” she said.

An Israeli study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition showed that a higher dairy calcium intake is related to greater diet-induced weight loss.

The study, which sampled more than 300 overweight men and women during two years, revealed that those with the highest dairy calcium intake lost 38 percent more weight than those with the lowest dairy calcium intake.

Additionally, from dispelling the myth that dairy causes heart disease, to revealing dairy’s weight loss benefits, below is a 2010 roundup of select dairy research:

US researchers examined 21 studies that included data from nearly 350,000 and concluded that dietary intakes of saturated fats are not associated with increases in the risk of either coronary heart disease or cardiovascular disease. The study was published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

A study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology examined 23,366 Swedish men and revealed that intakes of calcium above the recommended daily levels may reduce the risk of mortality from heart disease and cancer by 25 percent. (ANI)