# Dairy intake and cardiovascular diseases risk factors: a cross-sectional study on Iranian obese and overweight women

## TL;DR

This study found that higher dairy intake in Iranian overweight and obese women is linked to lower risk of cardiovascular disease and related risk factors.

## Contribution

The study provides new evidence on the association between dairy consumption and cardiovascular risk factors in a specific demographic group.

## Key findings

- Higher dairy intake was associated with lower odds of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease.
- Dairy consumption showed inverse relationships with adiposity markers, blood pressure, and TyG-BMI.
- The observed associations were reduced after adjusting for confounding factors.

## Abstract

Atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. Dietary interventions can directly affect several ASCVD risk factors. This study aimed to assess an association between dairy consumption and the odds of ASCVD and its risk factors in women with overweight and obesity.

The present cross-sectional study was conducted on 390 Iranian women aged 18–48 years and body mass index (BMI) ≥ 25 kg/m². Dairy consumption was assessed using a 147-item food frequency questionnaire. Participants were divided into tertiles based on their dairy consumption with 130 (33.3%) women in each category.

The participants had an average age of 36.73 ± 9.18 years, and the mean BMI was 31.28 ± 4.30 kg/m2. In the unadjusted model, individuals in the third tertile of dairy consumption had 0.79 times lower odds of ASCVD compared to those in the first tertile (OR: 0.21; 95% Confidence Interval (CI): 0.11, 0.41; P-value = 0.001). Additionally, we observed a significant inverse relationship between higher dairy intake and adiposity markers, blood pressure, and Triglyceride glucose-body mass index (TyG-BMI).

The study revealed a negative association between dairy intake and the risk of ASCVD but this association diminished after adjusting for confounding factors. It also found a negative association between dairy consumption with BMI, fat mass index, body fat, blood pressure, and TyG-BMI.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12889-024-19232-z.