When it comes to bolstering cardiovascular health, dairy products aren’t necessarily the first food group that comes to mind, but a new study by researchers at the University of Eastern Finland has shown that consuming fermented dairy products may be protective against heart disease. “In our study, the main finding was that fermented dairy products, especially low-fat products, may be beneficial for cardiovascular health,” says researcher Jyrki Virtanen, an adjunct professor of nutritional epidemiology at the university.
The researchers analyzed a group of nearly 2,000 men aged 42–60 years who joined the Kuopio Ischaemic Heart Disease Risk Factor Study between 1984 and 1989, did not have coronary heart disease at the start of the study, and had high dairy product intake. Over an average follow-up time span of 20 years, participants experienced 472 cardiovascular events.
After adjusting for confounding factors, the researchers found that those in the highest quartile of fermented dairy product consumption had a 27% lower risk of coronary heart disease. Meanwhile, those with the highest intake of nonfermented dairy products had a 52% higher risk of coronary heart disease.
Virtanen says the researchers are planning to conduct randomized clinical trials, where the health effects of fermented and nonfermented dairy products will be compared. “Besides investigating the effects on traditional disease risk factors (like serum cholesterol, glucose metabolism, and inflammation), these studies will use modern research methods, such as metabolomics,” he says. “These kinds of methods would give a more comprehensive picture of the physiological effects of different dairy products.” He’s also interested in investigating the impact of dairy products on gut microbiota, he adds.
Source: IFT
