Con

“Claim: Dairy products increase the risk of heart disease.

Facts: If you consume lots of whole milk and cheese, you’re likely to raise your blood cholesterol levels. That’s true, however, of any foods rich in saturated fat and cholesterol. Milk’s opponents talk as if all milk is still whole milk. But more and more dairy products these days are nonfat or low-fat, and thus do not raise cholesterol levels significantly. In fact, there’s some evidence that certain substances in milk may help lower cholesterol somewhat…

Milk opponents often quote a paper in Alternative Medicine Review [1998 study by William Grant] that indicted milk, even nonfat milk, as a cause of heart disease. But that article was simplistic and misleading. It found an association between milk consumption and heart disease in population studies from 32 countries, but the data did not allow the researcher to take into consideration many of the other factors that can affect the risk of heart disease.”

Sep. 13, 2007