Tuesday Dec 9, 2008 (foodconsumer.org) -- Consuming certain types of dairy foods may increase the risk of stroke, a new epidemiologic study in the Dec 2008 issue of Epidemiology suggests.

The study showed that men in the quintile of highest intake of whole milk were 41 percent more likely to have intracerebral hemorrhage than those in the quintile of lowest intake.

Early studies have found that consumption of milk and other dairy foods were associated with reduced risk of stroke, but not all studies came to the same conclusion.

The current study of 26,556 Finnish male smokers aged 50 to 69 years was meant to examine the effect of dairy foods on subtypes of stroke.

Participants had no history of stroke at the beginning of the study.   Their dietary habits were surveyed using a food frequency questionnaire between 1985 and 1988 and participants were followed for an average of 13.6 years.

During the follow-up, 2702 cerebral infarctions, 383 intracerebral hemorrhages, and 196 subarachnoid hemorrhages were recorded.

Larsson SC and colleagues from Karolinska Institutet found men in the quintile of highest yogurt intake were 83 percent more likely to have subarachnoid hemorrhage than those in the lowest quintile.

However, men who had highest intake of cream were 19 percent less likely to have cerebral infarction and 28 percent less likely to have intracerebral hemorrhage.

Overall, there were no strong associations between intakes of total dairy, low-fat milk, sour milk, cheese, ice cream, or butter and the risk of any subtype of stroke, the study found.