Dairy

Dairy and Miscarriage

Milk and cheese lower risk of miscarriage while eating butter and oil double risk

The risk of miscarriage was inversely and significantly related to milk and cheese consumption. The multivariate odds ratio was 0.5 for cheese and 0.6 milk, comparing the highest with the lowest level of intake. The major type of seasoning fats have showed a direct association with risk of miscarriage. The odds ratio was 2.0 for butter. (Adjusted for age, BMI, marital status, education, number of previous miscarriages, coffee and alcohol intake before pregnancy)

http://www.mendeley.com/research/dietary-factors-risk-spontaneous-abortion/#page-1

Daily consumption of dairy products lower miscarriage risk by 33%

Eating dairy products such as milk, yogurt and cheese daily was associated with reduced odds of having a miscarriage (odds ratio = .67).

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1471-0528.2006.01193.x/pdf

Dairy and Infertility

Drinking whole milk daily lowers infertility risk by 50%, frequently eating ice cream lowers risk by 38%

Among the high-fat dairy foods, adding a daily serving of whole milk without increasing energy intake was associated with a reduction in the risk of anovulatory infertility of more than 50% after accounting for potential confounders. Likewise, the multivariate-adjusted RRs of anovulatory infertility for women in successively higher intakes of ice cream were 0.85 for women consuming ice cream once a week and 0.62 for women consuming ice cream twice or more each week, when compared with women consuming ice cream less than once weekly.

http://www.oxfordjournals.org/eshre/press-release/freepdf/dem019.pdf

High-fat dairy products are considered "fertility food" in large study

In a study of some 17,000 women conducted by the Harvard School of Public Health, researchers were able to define a group of "fertility foods" able to improve odds. Consuming moderate amounts of high-fat dairy products -- like ice cream, whole milk, and cheese was a key dietary tenet to increasing fertility.

http://www.webmd.com/baby/features/getting-pregnant-easy-ways-to-encourage-fertility

Consuming > 2 servings low fat dairy increases risk of ovulatory infertility by 85%; high fat dairy helps

We prospectively followed 18,555 married, premenopausal women without a history of infertility who attempted a pregnancy or became pregnant during an 8-year period. Diet was assessed twice during the study using food-frequency questionnaires. RESULTS: The multivariate-adjusted relative risks of anovulatory infertility comparing women consuming > or = 2 servings per day to women consuming < or = 1 serving per week was 1.85 for low-fat dairy foods. The risk ratio comparing women consuming > or = 1 serving per day of high-fat dairy foods to those consuming < or = 1 serving per week was 0.73. There was an inverse association between dairy fat intake and anovulatory infertility. Intakes of lactose, calcium, phosphorus and vitamin D were unrelated to anovulatory infertility. CONCLUSIONS: High intake of low-fat dairy foods may increase the risk of anovulatory infertility whereas intake of high-fat dairy foods may decrease this risk. Further, lactose (the main carbohydrate in milk and dairy products) may not affect fertility within the usual range of intake levels in humans.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17329264

Dairy and Homocysteine

Drinking milk daily causes homocysteine levels to drop, so does eating yogurt

Multivariate-adjusted total homocysteine concentrations were approximately 15.2% higher in subjects who never consumed milk than in those who consumed milk >30 times/mo, approximately 6.4% higher in subjects who never consumed yogurt than in those who consumed yogurt >15 times/mo.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15585761

Dairy and Insulin Resistance

Dairy increases insulin sensitivity

Dairy products, including full fat versions, lower risk for insulin resistance, an effect that might be mediated by intrinsic compounds in dairy (e.g calcium) or by displacement of less healthful foods (e.g soft drinks) from the diet.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15023589

Dairy and Immunomodulation

Dairy may reduce unwanted immune response towards fetus

The aim of the present study was to investigate whether opioid agonists (alpha(S1)-casomorphin (from milk)) may have a direct action on normal CD19+ B-lymphocytes. Our results show that opioids decrease antibody secretion by normal B-lymphocytes (B-lymphocytes are associated with the pathogenesis of recurrent miscarriages).

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18387505

Probiotic yogurt lowers one marker of inflammation by 29%

Subjects consumed daily 200 g probiotic yoghurt containing Lactobacillus acidophilus La5 and Bifidobacterium animalis BB12 (10(7) CFU g(-1) for each) or 200 g conventional yoghurt for 9 weeks. The results showed that the probiotic yogurt brought about a decrease in the serum hs-CRP level, from 10.44 to 7.44 microg mL(-1). There was no significant change in the conventional yogurt group in the serum hs-CRP level (12.55 to 14.51 microg mL(-1). The probiotic yogurt had no effect on TNF-alpha (from 73.75 to 77.91 pg mL(-1). Serum TNF-alpha did not change in the conventional yogurt group. In conclusion probiotic yogurt significantly decreased hs-CRP in pregnant women but had no effect on TNF-alpha.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21936251

Probiotics may raise Th1 cytokines

Lactobacillus plantarum No. 14 strongly induced the gene expression of Th1-type cytokines.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20834165

Dairy lowers inflammatory markers by 16%, 5% and 12%

The ATTICA study is a cross-sectional survey that enrolled 1514 men (18-87 years old) and 1528 women (18-89 years old) from the Attica region in Greece. RESULTS: We observed that C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) levels of individuals consuming between 11 and 14 servings of dairy products per week were almost 16%, 5%, and 12% lower, respectively, than in those consuming fewer than 8 servings, while those consuming more than 14 servings per week had 29%, 9%, and 20% lower levels of CRP, IL-6, and TNF-α, respectively, even after adjustments were made for age, gender, smoking, physical activity, body mass, dietary habits, and other potential confounders. CONCLUSION: We identified an inverse association between dairy products consumption and levels of various inflammatory markers among healthy adults.

http://www.jacn.org/content/29/4/357.long

Calcium and dairy consumption reduce inflammatory stress

We have recently shown 1alpha,25-dihydroxycholecalciferol increased oxidative stress and inflammatory stress in vitro, whereas suppression of 1alpha,25-dihydroxycholecalciferol with dietary calcium decreased oxidative and inflammatory stress in vivo. However, dairy products contains additional factors, such as angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, which may further suppress oxidative and inflammatory stress. Accordingly, this study was designed to study the effects of the short-term (3 wk) basal suboptimal calcium, high-calcium, and high-dairy diets on oxidative and inflammatory stress in mice. Adipose tissue reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and NADPH oxidase mRNA and plasma malondialdehyde (MDA) were reduced by the high-calcium diet compared with the basal diet and ROS and MDA were further decreased by the high-dairy diet. The high-calcium and -dairy diets also resulted in suppression of adipose tissue tumor necrosis factor alpha and interleukin (IL)-6 mRNA compared with the basal diet, whereas an inverse pattern was noted for adiponectin and IL-15 mRNA. Consequently, we conducted a follow-up evaluation of adiponectin and C-reactive protein in archival samples from 2 previous clinical trials conducted in obese men and women. Twenty-four weeks of feeding a high-dairy eucaloric diet and hypocaloric diet resulted in an 11 and 29% decrease in CRP, respectively (post-test vs. pre-test), whereas there was no significant change in the low-dairy groups. Adiponectin decreased by 8% in subjects fed the eucaloric high-dairy diet and 18% in those fed the hypocaloric high-dairy diet. These data demonstrate that dietary calcium suppresses adipose tissue oxidative and inflammatory stress.

http://jn.nutrition.org/content/138/6/1047.long

Dairy and Hormones

Women who ate the most dairy had 15% higher estrogen levels

Positive associations were observed between dairy product consumption and total and free estradiol concentrations. Mean concentrations of total and free estradiol were 15 and 14% higher for women in the highest quartile of dairy product consumption than for those in the lowest quartile, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Our study suggests that greater consumption of dairy products might influence circulating concentrations of estradiol. Confirmation and further investigation is required.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19904296

Other topics covered under Diet and Miscarriage:

Alcohol, Chocolate, Dietary Fat, Eggs, Fiber, Fruit, L-Arginine, Meat, Methionine, Soy, Vegetables

For a concise list of qualities found to affect one's risk of miscarriage, see: Causes of Miscarriage