The findings, published online Tuesday in BMJ Open Diabetes Research & Care, showed that eating at least two servings of dairy each day is linked to an 11 to 12% lower risk of diabetes and high blood pressure, while three servings of total dairy each day are linked to a 13 to 14%t lower risk. The associations were also stronger for full-fat dairy than they were for low-fat dairy.
Two daily servings of total dairy were also linked to a 24% lower risk of metabolic syndrome, which is a collection of conditions that includes a higher waist circumference, high triglyceride levels, low levels of “good” cholesterol, hypertension and high fasting blood sugar, which together can increase the risk of cardiovascular disease.
The researchers point out that the study is an observational one, and so they cannot establish a cause and effect relationship. However, they add that, “If our findings are confirmed in sufficiently large and long term trials, then increasing dairy consumption may represent a feasible and low-cost approach to reducing [metabolic syndrome], hypertension, diabetes and ultimately cardiovascular disease events worldwide.