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MONDAY, June 26 (HealthDay News) -- Eating dairy products, especially low-fat ones, could help lower your blood pressure, a new study suggests.
Scientists aren't clear where the beneficial effect comes from, but they said low-fat dairy might be a crucial component of a healthy diet.
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"If you like to eat dairy products, you may be better off watching the fat content," said Dr. Luc Djousse, lead author of the study and associate epidemiologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital, in Boston. "Low-fat dairy products may be better than full dairy products, where the saturated fat especially is high," Djousse said.
For the new study, the investigators looked at a possible link between dairy consumption and blood pressure among 4,797 participants of the Family Heart Study, sponsored by the U.S. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.
The researchers divided participants into four groups based on the amount of dairy consumed. Those consuming the most dairy said they ate more than three servings per day, while those consuming the least averaged less than half a serving per day. Dairy included, cheese, yogurt and milk.
Systolic blood pressure was 2.6 millimeters of mercury (mm Hg) lower, on average, for people eating the highest amount of dairy, compared with those eating the least amount of dairy. Systolic blood pressure is the first (higher) number in a blood-pressure reading, and it indicates the pressure in the arteries when the heart beats.
But when saturated fat content was taken into account, the beneficial effect on blood pressure was only seen among those who ate lower amounts of saturated fat. In this group, participants who ate the most dairy had a systolic blood pressure that was 3.5 mm Hg lower than those who ate the least dairy.
Among participants who ate lower amounts of saturated fat, those who also ate the most dairy had 54 percent lower odds of high blood pressure than those eating the least amount of dairy.
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