The Study
Associations of dairy intake with risk of mortality in women and men: three prospective cohort studies
This study watched what people ate for many years and saw that those who ate a lot of whole milk tended to die a bit more often, but it didn’t make them eat it — so we can’t say milk caused it. It’s like noticing people who play video games a lot also have more headaches — maybe the games cause headaches, or maybe they’re just tired from playing too much.
Analysis score
Maximum 72 for a cohort study.
Where the score came from
This study looked at what happens to people who drink a lot of milk and eat lots of cheese over many years.
Where does this study sit?
Reviews of RCTs (Meta-analyses)
Max 100Randomized Trials
Max 90Reviews of Cohort Studies
Max 85Cohort Studies
Max 72Reviews of Case-Control Studies
Max 63Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional & Case Series
Max 50Expert Opinion
Max 560 / 100
Quality score
Groups of people are followed over time to see who develops an outcome. Strong for identifying risk factors and associations, but cannot prove causation as firmly as RCTs.
Key takeaways
Summary
Based on the study abstract and findings.
- 1Yes — while the risks are small for individuals, they add up in large populations and suggest that very high dairy intake, especially whole milk, may not be the healthiest choice.
- 2People who ate about 4 servings of dairy a day had a 7% higher chance of dying early than those who ate less than 1 serving.
- 3Drinking extra half a glass of whole milk a day raised death risk by 11%.
- 4Eating 2 servings a day was linked to the lowest heart disease death risk.
- 5Swapping dairy for nuts or whole grains lowered death risk by 11–14%; swapping for bacon or sausage raised it by 5%.
Score breakdown, methodology, conflicts of interest, evidence analysis & raw study data
Publication
Journal
The BMJ
Year
2019
Authors
M. Ding, Jun Li, L. Qi, C. Ellervik, Xuehong Zhang, J. Manson, M. Stampfer, J. Chavarro, K. Rexrode, P. Kraft, D. Chasman, W. Willett, F. Hu
Related Content
Claims (6)
People who eat cheese have the same or lower risk of dying from any cause compared to those who eat less cheese.
People who consume whole milk have higher rates of death from lung, ovarian, and prostate cancer.
Adults who consume an average of 4.2 servings of dairy per day have a 7% higher risk of dying from any cause over 32 years compared to those who consume 0.8 servings per day.
People who drink an extra half serving of whole milk each day have a higher risk of dying from any cause, heart disease, or cancer compared to those who do not.
When one serving of dairy is replaced daily with nuts, legumes, or whole grains, the risk of dying from any cause is 11–14% lower. When dairy is replaced with red or processed meat, the risk of dying from any cause is 5% higher.
People who consume about two servings of dairy per day have the lowest risk of dying from heart disease. Those who eat much less or much more dairy have a higher risk.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making health decisions.