Do you like milk, cheese and yogurt? Well, according to the conclusions reached by an international team of experts, these dairy products, even those far from the light versions – would not increase the risk of suffering a heart attack or stroke .
These scientists, based on a meta-analysis that has reviewed twenty-nine previous studies – with 938,465 participants from around the world and carried out in the last 35 years – on whether dairy products increase the risk of death from any cause as well as that of suffering from heart problems or strokes, thus refuting the widespread belief that this type of food could harm health due to its high content of saturated fat.
The analysis, published by the European Journal of Epidemiology , concluded that dairy products have a “neutral” impact on human health . This is explained by Ian Givens, professor specialized in Nutrition at the University of Reading (England) and one of the researchers who participated in the study: “There is a generalized but mistaken belief among the public that dairy products in general can be bad, but it is wrong. Although the belief is widespread, our research shows that they are wrong. ” “There has been a lot of publicity in the last 5-10 years about how saturated fats increase the risk of cardiovascular disease and the belief has grown that they increase the risk, but they do not,” he adds.
Not everyone thinks the same
Despite everything, according to the British press, not everyone agrees with these conclusions and they explain that other experts recommend that we continue to avoid consuming too many products high in saturated fat and urge us to give preference to light versions .
“Dairy products are important in a balanced and healthy diet, but many of them are high in saturated fat and salt . We are all consuming too much of both, thereby increasing our risk of heart disease,” he explained in statements to The Guardian a spokesman for the agency Public Health England .
For that reason, they recommend opting for lower-fat varieties of milk and dairy products or eating smaller amounts in order to reduce saturated fat and salt in our diet.
