Dairy’s re-birth as a natural functional

The natural strengths of dairy are backed by science, Julian Mellentin reports

Over the last year a lot of attention has been focused – understandably – on high-protein dairy products, with a wealth of brands trying to emulate the success of Greek yogurt in America. But potentially even more important is the rising tide of science that underscores dairy’s natural and intrinsic health benefits.
From the late 1970s onwards the dairy industry was put in a reactive position, resulting from the negative image promoted by health professionals who attempted to demonise dairy on the grounds of alleged harm from its saturated fat content – producing a consumer obsession with low-fat dairy products in some countries, such as the US.
Companies – responding to this pressure – took out the “bad” ingredient (fat) and focused on creating low-fat and even no-fat products, almost always with disastrous effects on the taste of the finished product.

Dairy still wins
However, despite constant attacks by sections of the dietetics profession, dairy has retained its strong “naturally healthy” image in the minds of consumers in most countries. This, coupled with the relatively low cost of dairy ingredients, the huge flexibility of dairy in terms of product formats and its tremendous flexibility in terms of flavours and tastes that can be added, has helped dairy to become the most active segment of the nutrition and health market.
And now science is beginning to show that dairy has some very real health benefits. And even more importantly, researchers are rolling back the negatives about dairy fat.
The dietary recommendations that told people to limit consumption of dairy foods and only consume low-fat dairy had their foundations in inadequate science. A rising tide of significant studies is showing how baseless this advice is.
Take just one example from the many peer-reviewed studies available – a study called “Association between Dairy Food Consumption and Risk of Myocardial Infarction in Women Differs by Type of Dairy Food”; researchers Patterson, Larsson, Wolk, Akesson, Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institut, Stockholm, published in the Journal of Nutrition, November 2012.
The researchers looked at the association between total, as well as specific, dairy food intakes and incidence of myocardial infarction (MI) – heart attacks in very simple terms – in the 33,636 women (aged 48–83), in the so-called Swedish Mammography Cohort. Over 11.6 years of follow-up, they found that:
• Total dairy food intake was inversely associated with MI risk.
• Among specific dairy food products, total cheese was inversely associated.
• Other specific dairy food products were not significantly associated with MI risk.
• No differences were observed between consumption of specific low-fat and high-fat dairy foods and MI risk.
In a similar vein, the findings of a meta-analysis of 26 prospective observational studies (O’Sullivan TA et al, Am J Public Health, July 2013) indicate that the role of saturated fat and health may depend on the source and type of saturated fat consumed — and were consistent with previous research showing that a higher intake of dairy saturated fat was associated with lower cardiovascular disease risk:
• High versus low intakes of milk, cheese, butter and all dairy were not associated with an increased risk of all-cause mortality — while high intakes of meat and processed meat were.
• There were no statistically significant associations between high intakes of meat, milk, cheese or all dairy products and CVD mortality — while high intakes of processed meat were associated with CVD mortality.
• A high consumption of milk was not associated with increased risk of cancer death, although high intakes of meat and processed meat were.
Still on heart health, when researchers used biomarkers of dairy fat intake, which is probably a more accurate measure than self-reported intake, they found that: “Plasma phospholipid 15:0, a biomarker of dairy fat, was inversely associated with incident CVD and CHD, while no association was found with phospholipid 14:0 and trans-16:1n-7. These findings support the need for further investigation of CVD effects of dairy fat, dairy-specific fatty acids, and dairy products in general.” (de Oliviera Otto M et al, Journal of the American Heart Association, July 2013).

Diabetes and dairy
Dairy may also offer diabetes benefits. A recent meta-analysis of 17 studies found a significant inverse association between intakes of dairy products, low-fat dairy products, and cheese and risk of type 2 diabetes (Aune D et al, American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, October 2013).
And among 2,091 middle-aged and older Chinese men and women followed for six years, dairy consumption was associated with a significantly lower risk of type 2 diabetes and favourable changes of cardiometabolic traits (Zong G et al, Diabetes Care, September 2013).
Gao D et al (PLoS One, September 2013) found that a modest increase in daily intake of dairy products such as low fat dairy, cheese and yogurt may contribute to the prevention of T2DM.
In their review of the evidence for milk protein for improved metabolic health, Robin McGregor and Sally Poppitt write that: “Epidemiological evidence shows that consumption of dairy products is associated with decreased prevalence of metabolic related disorders, whilst evidence from experimental studies points towards dairy protein as a dietary component which may aid prevention of type 2 diabetes (T2DM)” (Nutrition and Metabolism, 3 July 2013).

Better performance
Beyond diabetes and heart health, new research is beginning to point to other dairy benefits. Simone Radavelli-Bagatini and colleagues looked at dairy consumption and physical performance in 1,456 older women aged 70 to 85 years and found an association of higher dairy intake with greater whole body lean mass and better physical performance in older women (Journal of  the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, August 2013).
Findings like these add to the ever-increasing body of science that suggests that dairy foods have a neutral or even beneficial effect on the risk of heart disease and diabetes.
The biggest shift that might come in the next 10 years could be the realisation that the obsession in some countries with low-fat or no-fat dairy products has been a huge mistake and far from improving health may have contributed to some of the growing health problems of the last two decades. Dairy is set to regain its place as one of nature’s functional foods.