Milk--a better drink? Relationships with total serum cholesterol in a cross-sectional survey. The Nordland Health Study.

Cross-sectional studies have not consistently shown a positive association between milk drinking and serum cholesterol. We studied this relationship in a cohort of 7506 men and women aged 40-42 years in the county of Nordland in northern Norway (72% of all subjects in the age-bracket living in the county). We found a positive relationship between the percentage of fat in the milk and total serum cholesterol, but no positive relationship between whole fat milk consumption (number of glasses per day) and serum cholesterol. The findings were, however, to some extent influenced by effects of present atherosclerotic disease, or perceived threat of this.