High cholesterol? You can still drink milk, research finds

Got milk? If you have high cholesterol, your answer might be no. A new study might change that for you, however.

The study, by researchers at the University of Reading, analyzed three large population studies and found that people who regularly drank high amounts of milk had lower levels of both good (HDL) and bad (LDL) cholesterol. Further analysis of other large studies also suggests that those who regularly consumed milk had a 14% lower risk of coronary heart disease.

Not all the news was good, though; body mass index levels were higher than for nonmilk drinkers.

For their study, the researchers examined a variation in the lactase gene associated with digestion of lactose. Having the genetic variation where people can digest lactose was a good way for identifying those who drink a lot of milk, the scientists wrote.

“We found that among participants with a genetic variation that we associated with higher milk intake, they had higher BMI, body fat, but importantly had lower levels of good and bad cholesterol,” said Vimal Karani, professor of nutrigenetics and nutrigenomics at the University of Reading. “We also found that those with the genetic variation had a significantly lower risk of coronary heart disease. All of this suggests that reducing the intake of milk might not be necessary for preventing cardiovascular diseases.”

According to a release published to Science Daily, the new research followed “several contradictory studies that have previously investigated the causal link between higher dairy intake and cardiometabolic diseases such as obesity and diabetes.”

The Reading researchers conducted a meta-analysis of data for nearly 2 million people and used the genetic approach to avoid confounding.

“The study certainly shows that milk consumption is not a significant issue for cardiovascular disease risk even though there was a small rise in BMI and body fat among milk drinkers,” Karan said. “What we do note in the study is that it remains unclear whether it is the fat content in dairy products that is contributing to the lower cholesterol levels or it is due to an unknown ‘milk factor.’”

The study was published Monday in the journal International Journal of Obesity.

For more content like this, sign up for the Pulse newsletter here.