More milk, less metabolic syndrome

CAERPHILLY, Wales, July 12 (UPI) -- The more milk and dairy products consumed by Welsh men in the Caerphilly Prospective Study the less likely they were to have metabolic syndrome.

The findings, published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Hearth, showed those who regularly drank milk and ate dairy products, such as yogurt and cheese, were significantly less likely to have the metabolic syndrome -- a cluster of high risk factors linked to diabetes, heart disease and premature death.

The Caerphilly Prospective Study is a long-term health survey based on a representative sample of 2,375 men aged between 45 and 59 who have been tracked for over 20 years. During the study, data from food questionnaires and weekly food diaries were used to determine how much milk and dairy foods each man consumed.

Men who drank a pint or more of milk every day were 62 percent less likely to have metabolic syndrome and those who regularly ate some other dairy product were 56 percent less likely to have it.

About one in seven men had metabolic syndrome at entry into the study.