Dairy consumption and risk of metabolic syndrome: a meta-analysis

To conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis of epidemiological studies in order to assess quantitatively the effect of dairy consumption on risk of metabolic syndrome.

We searched for eligible studies published up to March 2015 through the PubMed and Embase databases and reviewed the references of relevant articles. Random-effects models were used to calculate the pooled relative risks with 95% CIs after adjusting for several confounders.

We identified nine prospective cohort studies including a total of 35 379 subjects and 7322 incident cases of metabolic syndrome, and 12 cross-sectional studies including 37 706 subjects. In the meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies, the pooled relative risk of incidence of metabolic syndrome for the highest vs. the lowest category of dairy consumption was 0.85 (95% CI 0.73-0.98), and for a 1-serving/day increment of dairy consumption, the pooled relative risk was 0.88 (95% CI 0.82-0.95). In the meta-analysis of cross-sectional studies, the pooled relative risk of prevalence of metabolic syndrome for the highest vs. the lowest category of dairy consumption was 0.73 (95% CI 0.63-0.86). The association was not significantly different by geographical region, follow-up time and adjustment factors.

Our findings indicate that dairy consumption is inversely associated with the incidence and prevalence of metabolic syndrome. Further well-designed cohort studies and randomized controlled trials are warranted to provide definitive evidence.