Drinking Low-Fat Milk Lowers Risk of Heart Disease

Researchers from the University of Minnesota (Minneapolis, USA) and other institutions assessed cross-sectional associations between urinary albumin excretion and dietary patterns. A food-frequency questionnaire and the urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio (ACR) were measured in 5,042 participants aged 45-84 years participating in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis who were without clinical cardiovascular disease, diabetes, or macroalbuminuria. The researchers summed food groups to characterize plant food intake (fruit, fruit juice, vegetables, nuts, legumes, whole grains, and refined grains), animal food intake (red meat, processed meat, poultry, fish, high-fat dairy, and low-fat dairy), and nondairy animal food intake.

The researchers found that after adjustment for multiple demographic and lifestyle confounders, a dietary pattern characterized by high consumption of whole grains, fruit, vegetables, and low-fat dairy foods was associated with 20% lower ACR. Specifically, a greater low-fat dairy consumption was associated with 13% lower ACR across quartiles, a sign of healthier kidney function. However, while neither total animal nor total plant food intake was associated with ACR, total nondairy animal food consumption was associated with 11% higher ACR across quintiles. The study was published in June 2008 issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

"A high intake of low-fat dairy foods and a dietary pattern rich in whole grains, fruit, and low-fat dairy foods were both associated with lower ACR,” concluded lead author Jennifer Nettleton, Ph.D., of the division of epidemiology and community health, and colleagues at the school of public health. "In contrast, collectively, nondairy animal food intake was positively associated with ACR.”

Albumin is normally found in the blood and filtered by the kidneys; when the kidneys are damaged, small amounts of albumin leak into the urine, a condition known as microalbuminuria, most often caused by kidney damage from diabetes. However, many other conditions can lead to kidney damage, such as high blood pressure, heart failure, cirrhosis or, or systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). ACR, also known as urinemicroalbumin, is a measure that even when very low, can indicate poor kidney function and an extremely high risk for cardiovascular disease, according to the American Heart Association (AHA).

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