New research has found that this beverage benefits your cardiovascular health.
Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). But it's not always easy to tell if your heart is in danger. That's why it's so important to do what you can to prevent heart disease through small lifestyle changes you can put into action starting today. And we're not talking about habits that overhaul your daily life, either. If you're not quite ready to go to the gym every day or cut out your favorite fried foods, a new study has found that doing something as simple as drinking just one glass of a certain beverage every day can slash your risk of heart disease. Read on to find out which drink you may want to add to your daily routine.
Drinking a glass of milk each day can lower your heart disease risk.
A new study published on May 24 in the International Journal of Obesity found that drinking milk on a daily basis is very good for your heart. The researchers behind the new report—which consisted of a team from the University of Reading, University of South Australia, Southern Australian Health and Medical Research Institute, University College London, and University of Auckland—observed nearly two million participants from the U.K. and U.S. through other large population studies and singled out people who consumed higher levels of milk. They found that regular milk drinkers who gulped down at least one glass of milk a day had a 14 percent lower risk of coronary heart disease.
Regular milk consumption also won't increase your cholesterol.
Milk has often been criticized for its high levels of dietary cholesterol—and, according to the Mayo Clinic, high levels of cholesterol in your blood can increase your risk of heart disease. But the new study also found that people who regularly drank milk had lower levels of both good and bad cholesterol."This suggests that reducing the intake of milk might not be necessary for preventing cardiovascular diseases," study author Vimal Karani, PhD, professor of Nutrigenetics and Nutrigenomics at the University of Reading, said in a statement. "The study certainly shows that milk consumption is not a significant issue for cardiovascular disease risk even though there was a small rise in BMI and body fat among milk drinkers."
Other dairy products may be good for your heart health as well.
A 2018 landmark study published in the journal The Lancet looked at data from 136,000 adults from 21 countries for more than nine years and found that dairy consumption overall was good for your heart health. According to the study, more than two servings of dairy per day was associated with a 22 percent lower risk of cardiovascular disease compared to no dairy consumption. For example, eating more than one serving of yogurt each day was linked to a 10 percent lower risk of heart disease compared to no yogurt consumption.
You should have three servings of dairy every day.
Currently, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) recommends that adults have three servings of dairy per day. That's equivalent to about three cups of milk, and ideally, you should consume fat-free or low-fat varieties, which provide key nutrients without the added fat.However, if you're lactose intolerant or choose not to consume dairy, the USDA says to fill your diet with "foods that provide the range of nutrients generally obtained from dairy, including protein, calcium, potassium, magnesium, vitamin D, and vitamin A."
