Dairy Consumption and Risk of Stroke: A Case-control Study

It remains controversial if dairy product intake is associated with risk of stroke. Limited information is available from Middle East countries in this regard. This case-control study was conducted to assess the relationship between dairy consumption and risk of stroke in Iranian adults.

In this study, 195 stroke patients (recognized based on clinical findings and computed tomography scan) hospitalized in neurology ward of Alzahra University Hospital were enrolled. Controls (n = 195) were selected with convenience nonrandom sampling procedure from other wards of this hospital. A validated food frequency questionnaire was used to assess participants' usual dietary intakes. Data on other variables were collected by the use of questionnaires.

Patients with stroke were older (P < 0.001), had lower weight and body mass index (P < 0.05) and were more likely to be male (P < 0.05) and less likely to be obese (P < 0.001). After adjustment for age, sex and total energy intake, Individuals with the highest consumption of low-fat dairy had a significantly decreased risk of stroke (odds ratio [OR]: 0.58; 95% of confidence interval [CI]: 0.34-0.99), while those with the highest intake of high-fat dairy had a 2-fold increased risk of stroke. The association between high-fat dairy consumption and stroke even persisted after additional adjustments for physical activity, smoking and dietary variables (OR: 2.02; 95% CI: 1.02-4.02); but the association between low-fat dairy intake and stroke disappeared after these adjustments (OR: 0.84; 95% CI: 0.44-1.58).

We found a significant positive association between high-fat dairy consumption and risk of stroke. Further prospective studies are required to confirm this finding.