Nutrients (Feb 2021)

Influence of Habitual Dairy Food Intake on LDL Cholesterol in a Population-Based Cohort

  • Silvio Buscemi,
  • Davide Corleo,
  • Carola Buscemi,
  • Cristiana Randazzo,
  • Antonio Maria Borzì,
  • Anna Maria Barile,
  • Giuseppe Rosafio,
  • Marcello Ciaccio,
  • Rosalia Caldarella,
  • Francesco Meli,
  • Salvatore Maestri,
  • Walter Currenti,
  • Raffaele Ivan Cincione,
  • Paolo Murabito,
  • Fabio Galvano

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13020593
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 13, no. 2
p. 593

Abstract

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Background: Cholesterol has a pivotal role in human physiology, exerting both structural and functional activity. However, higher blood cholesterol levels, especially low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), are a major cardiovascular risk factor. Therefore, special attention has been given to the effect of dietary factors in influencing LDL-C blood levels. In particular, much research has focused on dairy products, since they are a main component of different dietary patterns worldwide. A large body of evidence did not support the hypothesis that dairy products significantly increase circulating LDL-C, but no definitive data are available. Hence, we aimed to assess the relationships among LDL-C, habitual dairy food intake and anthropometric variables in a cohort representative of the general population in a Mediterranean area. Methods: We evaluated 802 healthy adults included in the ABCD_2 (Alimentazione, Benessere Cardiovascolare e Diabete) study (ISRCTN15840340), a longitudinal observational single-center study of a cohort representative of the general population of Palermo, Sicily. The habitual intake of dairy products was assessed with a validated food frequency questionnaire, and LDL-C serum levels and several anthropometric parameters were measured. Results: The group with high LDL-C serum concentrations (≥130 vs. 2 = 0.94) showed that LDL-C blood levels were significantly associated with the habitual intake of milk (p p p < 0.001). Conclusion: Our study reported that total dairy food consumption was not correlated with LDL-C blood levels. However, multivariate analyses showed an inverse association between serum LDL-C and milk intake as well as a positive association between ricotta cheese intake and LDL-C concentrations. More studies are needed to better characterize the relationship between dairy products and circulating LDL-C.

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