The Study
Dairy Consumption, Lactase Persistence, and Mortality Risk in a Cohort From Southern Sweden
This study watched what people ate for many years and saw that those who drank a lot of milk tended to die sooner, while those who ate cheese or yogurt tended to live longer. But it didn’t make people change their diets — it just watched. So we can’t say milk definitely causes death — maybe people who drink a lot of milk also do other unhealthy things.
Analysis score
Maximum 72 for a cohort study.
Where the score came from
This study looked at what kinds of dairy people ate and whether they lived longer or shorter lives over 19 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.
- 1For most people, drinking milk in normal amounts isn't harmful, but drinking huge amounts (over 1 liter/day) might be risky.
- 2Cheese and yogurt seem safer or even helpful.
- 3People who drank more than 5 glasses of plain milk a day had a 34% higher chance of dying.
- 4People who ate cheese or yogurt had a 17% lower chance of dying.
- 5Cream helped men live longer, but not women.
- 6Butter didn't matter.
- 7People who could digest milk better didn't die more.
Score breakdown, methodology, conflicts of interest, evidence analysis & raw study data
Publication
Journal
Frontiers in Nutrition
Year
2021
Authors
E. Sonestedt, Y. Borné, E. Wirfält, U. Ericson
Related Content
Claims (10)
Eating cheese in moderate amounts is linked to health benefits, but eating more than that does not lead to greater benefits.
Eating cheese, regardless of how much, does not increase the risk of dying from any cause.
People who eat cheese have the same or lower risk of dying from any cause compared to those who eat less cheese.
People who eat cheese have a lower incidence of dementia compared to those who do not.
Eating moderate amounts of cheese is associated with lower risk of death from any cause, but eating more than moderate amounts does not lower risk further.
People who eat cheese do not have lower rates of death from cancer compared to those who eat less cheese.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making health decisions.