A minimum of three servings of milk daily can increase mortality among women Cheese, yogurt and other fermented dairy products do not count, but it has been proven that having at least three servings (250 milliliters per serving) of milk daily increases the mortality rates among women. According to the study under consideration here, women who drink three or more glasses of milk every day are twice as likely to die within the next twenty years as compared to the women who drink less than one glass daily. These researchers in Sweden say that the women‘s bone fracture risk increased with the increased intake of milk. They believe that the culprit behind this problem is a specific sugar compound known as galactose, i.e. found in the milk. Karl Michaelsson, a professor from the University Uppsala in Sweden says that this compound could be the reason behind the low-grade inflammation and the increased oxidative stress. This type of inflammation can highly affect fractures and mortality. The United States Agriculture Department recommends that adults should only intake the equivalent of three cups of milk per day, considering that milk is good for bones and it reduces the risk of heart diseases. However, there is very poor scientific evidence behind this. The current study sampled around 61,433 women who were within the age brackets of 39 and 74 and 45,339 men between the ages of 45 and 79. All these participants had initially reported their estimated diet plans at the beginning of the study. The women were further studied for twenty years during which 15,541 died while 17,252 suffered from fractures which included 4,259 hip fractures. After the researchers considered more demographical and biological factors such as body mass, age and alcohol intake, they found that the women who had more than three glasses per day were 1.93 times more prone to dying. The men whereas, were further studied for 11 years. However, in their case there were no associations of milk consumption against fractures and death. But these women need not despair because it was found that the consumption of fermented dairy products did not pose any similar threats. Michaelsson believes that people should still not change their dietary habits based on this single study, but he did agree that he had quit drinking milk since two years now and had switched to yogurt. This was because increased milk consumption did effect inflammation among men to some extent. In future research, Michaelsson plans to see the effect of milk on mortality based on an additional intake of antioxidants.
Related Article: http://www.researchomatic.com/New-Research/A-Glass-of-Milk-60395.html