Nutrition Corner
A glass of milk a day keeps heart diseases and stroke away
Dr Minati Adhikary
Milk is the considered as an ideal balanced diet. It is a fine blend of all the nutrients necessary for growth and development of human being. Milk is a good source of protein, fat, carbohydrate, vitamins and minerals. Milk proteins contain all the essential amino acids and animal milks contain nearly three times as much protein as human milk. Milk fat is also a good source of all vitamins except vitamin C. Milk contains almost all known minerals needed by the body such as calcium, phosphorus, sodium, potassium, magnesium, copper, cobalt and iodine.Thus milk is an ideal food but it also helps prevent heart attack and strokes. A glass of milk a day could stave off heart diseases and strokes, a study shows in England. The new findings contradict fears in recent years that a daily pinta worsens health by increasing cholesterol. Now researchers say, milk should be returned to its place in the nation's hearts. Their study on 665 men showed that those who drank most milk suffered less heart disease or stroke than those who drank least and in the case of stroke the danger was significantly lower. Although the study was carried out on men, expert says milk is just as good for women. The new findings, published in the American journal of epidemiology and community health, held true even for those men who had started out drinking full fat milk. The researchers said milk has had something of a bad press in recent years in respect of its impact on cholesterol. Dr. Andy Ness said, "The present perception of milk as harmful in increasing cardiovascular risk should be challenged and every effort should be made to restore it to its rightful place in healthy diet." Dr. Ness of Bristol University, said, "Explanations of these results other than a beneficial effect of milk would seem to be unlikely." The men studied in England aged between 45 and 59 and taking part in the Care Philly Cohort Study set up between 1979 and 1983 - weighed and recorded every item of food and drink they consumed for seven consecutive days. They were given comprehensive health check-ups, including a heart tracing, at the start of the study and then every five years for 20 years. Hospital and family doctors' records were also checked. During the study period 54 men had a stroke, 139 suffered heart attacks or angina, and 225 died. At the start of the study virtually all milk consumption was whole full fat milk but a random sample of the surviving men in 2000 showed almost all of them had switched to skimmed or semi- skimmed milk within the preceding eight years. Men who consumed the most milk every day - a pint or more had a higher energy intake, suggesting they were more active. The men who drank the least milk tended to drink the most alcohol. Cholesterol levels and blood pressure readings were similar in high and low milk consumers less than half a pint. Dr. Ness said, "These results give no convincing evidence of an increased risk of vascular disease from milk drinking". "Rather the subjects who drank more than the median amount of milk had a reduced risk of a stroke and possibly a reduced risk of heart attack." Dr. Ness carried out the study with colleagues at Ulster University and the University of Wales College of medicine. The writer is an Assistant Professor of Department of Community Medicine of Comilla Medical College.
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