By David Liu, PHD

Thursday Nov 2012 (foodconsumer.org) -- High intake of dairy fat may increase risk of death from all causes and ischemic heart disease (IHD) in women, but the impact is not as significant in men, according to a study in Americna Journal  of Clinical Nutrition.

Sandra Bausch at TNO Quality of Life, Department of Prevention and Health Care in Leiden, the Netherlands and colleagues conducted the study and found an increase in the intake of butter or dairy fat in the dose of 10 grams per day was associated with 4 percent increased risks of all cause death and ischemic heart disease death in women.

The consumption of dairy products including milk, cheese and butter has been positively correlated with risk of ischemic heart disease, stroke, and total mortality due to the saturated fat in these products, according to the study report.

The researchers conducted the study to determine if there is an association between consumption of dairy products and the risk of death from all causes, stroke and ischemic heart disease in subjects participating in the Netherlands Cohort Study.

Enrolled in the study were 120,852 men and women aged 55 to 69 years at baseline in 1986.  During a 10-year follow-up, 16,136 subjects whose dietary information was available died.

Intake of both butter and dairy fat was associated with increased risk for all cause death and death from ischemic heart disease in women, but not in men.

However, fermented full fat milk was inversely associated with the risk of death from all causes and slightly with the risk of death from stroke in both men and women.

The researchers concluded "The role of dairy product consumption in mortality generally appeared to be neutral in men. In women, dairy fat intake was associated with slightly increased all-cause and IHD mortality. More research is warranted on a possible protective effect of fermented milk on stroke mortality."

This study alone does not provide evidence to rule out the potential effect of butter and dairy fat intakes on the risk of death from all causes and ischemic heart disease.  The death risk for men may not be influenced by consumption of butter and dairy fat maybe due to the possibility that men have to face other bigger risk factors which makes the effect of these dairy products insignificant.

The association between dairy products and risk of ischemic heart disease or stroke is likely due to the fact that dairy fat contains naturally occurring trans fat.  Trans fat is linked to more than 100,000 deaths from heart disease each year in the United States, according to Harvard University nutritionists and epidemiologists.

The trans fat is naturally intended for cows that have the capability of digesting and using such trans fat, but not for humans.    Trans fat can also increase risk of diabetes in addition to ischemic heart disease. 

Ischemic heart disease risk can be increased by exposure to medical radiation through the chest such as mammogram screening for breast cancer.