Milk drinking, ischaemic heart disease and ischaemic stroke. I. Evidence from the Caerphilly cohort

• Published in: European journal of clinical nutrition 2004-05, Vol.58 (5), p.711-717
• Main Authors: Elwood, P.C, Pickering, J.E, Fehily, A.M, Hughes, J, Ness, A.R
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aged; Animals; Biological and medical sciences; Cardiovascular disease; Cardiovascular diseases; Clinical Nutrition; Cohort Studies; Coronary artery disease; disease incidence; Drinking; EKG; Epidemiology; Follow-Up Studies; food frequency questionnaires; food intake; Health risk assessment; Health risks; Heart diseases; Humans; Incidence; Internal Medicine; Ischemia; Ischemia - epidemiology; Male; Medical research; Medical sciences; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; men; Metabolic Diseases; Middle Aged; middle-aged adults; Milk; Milk - adverse effects; myocardial ischemia; Myocardial Ischemia - epidemiology; Neurology; original-communication; Proportional Hazards Models; Prospective Studies; Public Health; Risk; Risk Factors; Stroke; Vascular diseases; Vascular diseases and vascular malformations of the nervous system
• ISSN: 0954-3007; 1476-5640
• DOI: 10.1038/sj.ejcn.1601868

Objective: To test the hypothesis that milk drinking increases the risk of ischaemic heart disease (IHD) and ischaemic stroke in a prospective study. Design: In the Caerphilly Cohort Study dietary data, including milk consumption, were collected by a semiquantitative food frequency questionnaire in 1979-1983. The cohort has been followed for 20-24 y and incident IHD and stroke events identified. Subjects: A representative population sample in South Wales, of 2512 men, aged 45-59 y at recruitment. Main outcome measures: In total, 493 men had an IHD event and 185 an ischaemic stroke during follow-up. Results: After adjustment, the hazard ratio in men with a milk consumption of one pint (0.57 l) or more per day, relative to men who stated that they consumed no milk, is 0.71 (0.40-1.26) for IHD and 0.66 (0.24-1.81) for ischaemic stroke. At baseline, 606 men had had clinical or ECG evidence of vascular disease, and in these the vascular risk was even lower (0.37; 0.15-0.90). The hazard ratio for IHD and ischaemic stroke combined is 0.64 (0.39-1.06) in all men and 0.37 (0.15-0.90) in those who had had a prior vascular event. Conclusion: The data provide no convincing evidence that milk consumption is associated with an increase in vascular disease risk. Evidence from an overview of all published cohort studies on this topic should be informative.