The authors of this paper aimed to investigate the contention that consumption of whole-fat dairy products adversely affects blood lipids, and hence increases risk of cardiovascular disease and mortality. Their study enrolled 136,384 individuals aged 35–70 years from 21 countries in five continents. Consumption of milk, yoghurt and cheese was recorded using country-specific validated food frequency questionnaires, and grouped into whole-fat and low-fat dairy.
The study collected data for 15 years, and found that 2-plus servings per day compared with no dairy intake was associated with a lower risk of death from cardiovascular causes, non-fatal myocardial infarction, stroke, or heart failure.
The full paper is available at https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(18)31812-9/fulltext