Milk and Your Health: What Drinking It May Mean for Heart and Cancer Risk

Milk provides protein, calcium, phosphorus, potassium and several vitamins that support the body.

But scientists are still studying how regularly drinking milk may affect long-term health, including the risks of heart disease and cancer.

A study from Sun Yat-sen University examined this question in more than 18,000 adults aged 50 and older in China. The research, led by Xiang Jun Wang and colleagues, was published in the journal Clinical Nutrition.

The researchers used information from the Guangzhou Biobank Cohort Study. None of the participants had cardiovascular disease when they entered the study between 2003 and 2006, and they were followed for an average of about 11.5 years.

Milk intake was relatively low in this population. Nearly 70% of participants did not drink milk, about 15% drank one to three 250-milliliter servings a week, and about 16% drank more than three servings a week.

During the follow-up period, 2,697 participants died. Of these deaths, 917 were linked to cardiovascular disease and 1,029 were linked to cancer.

Compared with people who did not drink milk, those who drank one to three servings a week had lower risks of death from cardiovascular disease, stroke and all causes combined. This suggests moderate milk intake may be linked to health benefits in populations where milk consumption is generally low.

However, people who drank milk more than three times a week had a higher risk of dying from cancer overall. The association was particularly noticeable for esophageal cancer, which affects the tube connecting the mouth to the stomach.

The researchers did not find evidence of a higher risk of death from several other cancers, including lung, liver and colorectal cancers. This means the relationship between milk and cancer may differ depending on the type of cancer.

Importantly, the study cannot prove that milk directly prevented heart disease or caused cancer. Other differences between people who drink different amounts of milk could have influenced the results, even though researchers try to account for such factors.

More research is needed to understand these findings and whether they apply to populations that drink more milk. For now, the study suggests that moderate milk consumption may be linked to some heart benefits, while higher intake deserves further investigation.