Milk Consumption and the Metabolic Syndrome in Menopausal Women

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) represents the first cause of mortality in industrialized countries such as Canada and the United States. In that regard, it is being increasingly recognized that a significant proportion of CVD events may be attributable to the presence of a cluster of metabolic and physiological perturbations defined as the metabolic syndrome (MetS). The National Cholesterol Education Program- Adult Treatment Panel III (NCEP-ATP III) has recently proposed a clinical definition to identify individuals with the MetS. This definition is based on the presence of at least three of the following five characteristics: 1- abdominal obesity, 2- hypertriglyceridemia, 3- reduced plasma HDL-C levels, 4- high blood pressure, 5- high fasting blood glucose levels. Recent data have suggested that the MetS based on this definition was associated with a 2 to 5 fold increase in the risk of CVD in men as well as in women. These are alarming figures since it has been suggested that as much as 35 to 45% of female aged \> 65 years in the US may have the MetS. It is therefore imperative to develop new preventive strategies that will be efficacious in attenuating the impact of the MetS on the progressing rates of CVD in women. In that context, there is accumulating evidence to suggest that milk and dairy products may beneficially modify several components of the MetS. However, most of the available data to date are based on observational studies or interventional studies with minimal nutritional control. Thus, metabolically controlled studies that document the impact of milk consumption on cardiovascular risk factors associated with the MetS in women defined a priori as having the MetS are utterly lacking. The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of milk consumption on features of the MetS in menopausal women presenting one or more features of the MetS.