Drinking large lattes made with cow’s milk can increase the risk of cardiovascular disease in women by as much as 12 percent, a study suggests.
Scientists have discovered that women who drink at least 400 ml of the drink every day throughout their lives are more likely to have a heart attack or stroke than women who guzzle less.
The findings held true regardless of the fat content of the milk women drank, with low-fat versions being just as risky.
The researchers behind the study, out Uppsala University Sweden theorized that milk sugars called lactose could cause inflammation in the body’s cells over time, putting extra strain on the heart.
They added that the increased risk may only affect women, as 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 almost 60,000 women and about 40,000 men.
Participants were asked to complete a questionnaire about their lifestyle and diet, and were followed 33 years later.
Specifically, those who consumed the equivalent of a large milk latte every day during the entire study had a five percent higher risk of coronary heart disease, including heart failure, heart attacks and stroke.
Milk is thought to be a danger because the sugar, lactose, causes harmful inflammation and cell damage, which causes the heart to age faster, according to researchers from Uppsala University in Sweden.
It turned out that the more milk women drank, the more their heart risk increased.
Women who drank 600 ml of the white stuff per day increased their risk by 12 percent and by 21 percent if they drank 800 ml.
Large cups of coffee in high street coffee shops often contain half a liter of liquid (560ml) and most of that is milk in a latte or cappuccino.
Researchers said the findings were similar for whole, semi-skimmed and skimmed milk.
They recommended that replacing some milk in the diet with fermented milk products such as yogurt could mitigate some of the risk.
These fermented milk products contain less lactose than milk, because the fermentation process breaks down some of the lactose in the milk.
Study author Professor Karl Michaëlsson wrote in the journal BMC Medicine: ‘A healthy diet is essential for the prevention of cardiovascular disease.
‘Our analysis supports an association between milk intake of more than 300 ml per day and higher rates of ischemic heart disease, and specifically myocardial infarction (heart attack), in women, but not in men.
‘The higher risk in women was clear regardless of the fat content of the milk.
‘Replacing non-fermented milk with a moderate intake of fermented milk could reduce the risks.’
Cardiovascular disease, including heart attacks and strokes, affects around 2.3 million people in Britain.
It is usually associated with a buildup of fatty deposits in the blood vessels and increases the risk of blood clots.
Milk and dairy products are an excellent source of calcium phosphorus, protein and other nutrients essential for bone health.
The International Osteoporosis Foundation explained that calcium is an important building block of our skeleton.
Not getting enough calcium can cause bones to weaken over time, increasing the risk of osteoporosis, which makes bones brittle and more likely to break.