Myth-busting: Dairy and heart health

There’s a long-standing perception that dairy foods are bad for heart health.

This belief is largely based on outdated thinking that focuses on individual nutrients rather than whole foods. The current evidence, reflected in the Australian Dietary Guidelines, tells a different story.

The myth: Dairy foods increase the risk of heart disease.

The evidence: The Australian Dietary Guidelines highlight the importance of including milk, cheese and yoghurt in a balanced diet and recognise that these foods can help:

protect against heart disease and stroke, and
reduce the risk of high blood pressure.

Dairy and cardiovascular risk

Evidence consistently shows dairy foods play a positive role in heart health:

a meta-analysis found dairy consumption reduced the risk of cardiovascular disease by 12 per cent and stroke by 13 per cent
regular consumption of milk, cheese and yoghurt is linked to a lower risk of hypertension, and
the DASH diet, widely recommended for blood pressure management, includes dairy.

Importantly, recent evidence shows that both regular-fat and reduced-fat dairy can deliver similar benefits for blood pressure, and the National Heart Foundation of Australia no longer restricts regular-fat dairy for healthy Australians, recognising its neutral effect on heart disease and stroke risk.

Cheese, cholesterol and the dairy matrix

Cheese is often singled out due to its fat content, yet research shows it is not associated with increased cholesterol levels.

Studies comparing cheese and butter – even at high intakes – found cheese did not increase low-density lipoprotein or total cholesterol. In fact, hard cheese has been shown to lower total cholesterol by five per cent.

This is explained by the dairy food matrix, the way nutrients interact within whole foods. Milk, cheese and yoghurt contain a unique combination of minerals, proteins and bioactive components that work together to support cardiovascular health.

Calcium and potassium from dairy, in particular, appear to play a beneficial role in blood pressure regulation.

Why this matters?

Despite strong evidence, dairy remains one of the most under-consumed food groups in Australia. About nine in ten adults do not meet recommended intakes of milk, cheese and yoghurt, meaning many Australians are missing out on proven heart-health benefits.

Supporting heart health doesn’t require extreme diets or cutting food groups. It starts with simple, achievable habits like: