Drinking cow’s milk could increase women’s risk of deadly condition – even low fat is a danger, experts warn

Drinking large lattes made with cow’s milk could raise a woman’s risk of heart disease by up to 12 per cent, a study suggests. 

Scientists have found that women who drink at least 400ml of the drink daily over a lifetime are more likely to suffer a heart attack or stroke than those who guzzle less.

The findings held true regardless of the fat content of the milk women drank, with skimmed versions just as risky.

The researchers behind the study, from Uppsala University in Sweden, theorised that milk sugars, called lactose, may trigger inflammation in the body’s cells over time,  putting extra strain on the heart.

They added that the increased risk might only affect women because they are known to digest lactose better than men. 

The study, published in the journal BMC Medicine, looked at two large population-based studies involving 101,000 people, including nearly 60,000 women and some 40,000 men.

Participants were asked to fill out a questionnaire about their lifestyle and diet, and were followed up 33 years later.

Specifically, those who consumed the equivalent to a large latte in milk everyday for the entirety of the study were at a five per cent higher risk of coronary heart disease — including heart failure, heart attacks and stroke.

It found that the more milk women drank, the more their heart risk increased. 

Women that drank 600ml of the white stuff a day increased their risk by 12 per cent and by 21 per cent when they drank 800ml. 

Large cups of coffee at high street coffee shops often contain a pint of liquid (560ml) and most of it is milk in a latte or cappuccino. 

Researchers said the findings were similar for whole, medium-fat, and low-fat milk. 

They advised that swapping some milk in the diet with fermented milk products such as yoghurt could mitigate some of the risk. 

These fermented milk products contain less lactose than milk because the fermentation process breaks down some of the milk’s lactose.

Writing in the journal BMC Medicine, study author Professor Karl Michaelsson said: ‘A healthy diet is essential for the prevention of cardiovascular diseases.

‘Our analysis supports an association between milk intake higher than 300ml per day and higher rates of ischaemic heart disease, and myocardial infarction [heart attack] specifically, in women, but not in men.

‘The higher risk in women was evident irrespective of the fat content of the milk.

‘Replacing non-fermented milk with moderate fermented milk intake could lower the risks.’

Cardiovascular disease, which includes heart attacks and strokes, affects about 2.3 million people in the UK. 

It’s usually associated with a build-up of fatty deposits inside the arteries and increases the risk of blood clots.

Milk and dairy products are an excellent source of calcium phosphorus, protein and other nutrients which are vital for bone health. 

The International Osteoporosis Foundation explained that calcium is a major building block of our skeleton. 

If you don’t get enough calcium it can cause bones to become weaker over time, increasing the risk of osteoporosis — causing bones to become brittle and more likely to break.