Dairy Consumption and Risk of Metabolic Syndrome: Results from Korean Population and Meta-Analysis

Dairy consumption has been associated with decreased risk of metabolic syndrome (MetS) in previous studies, but the association may be different according to each type of dairy products and its subgroups. Thus, we conducted an updated meta-analysis of observational studies to examine the association between various dairy products and risk of MetS. The PubMed and Web of Science databases were searched for eligible studies published up to February 2021. In addition, we included unpublished results from Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 2013-2018, including 23,319 Korean adults and the elderly. A total of 35 studies (12 cohort studies and 25 cross-sectional studies) with 398,877 subjects were included in the meta-analysis. The pooled relative risks (RR) of MetS for the highest versus lowest categories of dairy consumption was 0.80 [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.72-0.88]. For the type of dairy products, there were also significant inverse associations with milk (RR: 0.83; 95% CI: 0.78-0.89) and yogurt consumption (RR: 0.89; 95% CI: 0.83-0.95). For cheese consumption, however, no significant association was found (RR: 0.98; 95% CI: 0.86-1.11). Our findings suggest that milk and yogurt consumption is inversely associated with the risk of MetS, but not cheese consumption.