Arterial stiffness is an independent predictor of cardiovascular disease events and mortality⁽ Reference Vlachopoulos, Aznaouridis and Stefanadis ^{1 )}, and like blood pressure⁽ Reference Ralston, Lee and Truby ^{2 )}, may be influenced by dairy food intake⁽ Reference Crichton, Elias and Dore ^{3 )}. Few studies have investigated the effects of consumption of these foods on prospective measures of arterial stiffness. The present analysis aimed to investigate the prospective relationship between milk, cheese, cream and butter consumption with aortic pulse wave velocity, augmentation index, systolic (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) and pulse pressure as well as cross-sectional relationships between these foods and SBP, DBP, pulse pressure and metabolic markers using data from the Caerphilly Prospective Study. Included in this cohort were 2,512 men, aged 45–59 years, who were followed up at 5-year intervals for a mean of 22.8 years (n follow-up 787).

Data show coefficient and sd for the highest quartile of intake; LDL; low-density lipoprotein; SBP; systolic blood pressure; DP; milk, cheese and cream; 1, association between average phase 1 to phase 3 dairy intake and outcomes; 2, association between average phase 1 to phase 3 dairy intake and phase 5 outcome; significant trends across quartiles/groups were at *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001.

Augmentation index was 1.8% lower in subjects in the highest quartiles of dairy product intake compared to the lowest (P-trend = 0.021), whilst in the highest group of milk consumption SBP was 10.4 mmHg lower (P-trend = 0.033) than the lowest group after a 22.8-year follow-up – as indicated in the table above. Milk and dairy product intake was not significantly associated with aortic pulse wave velocity. Across increasing quartiles of butter intake, insulin (P-trend = 0.011), triacylglycerol (P-trend = 0.023), total cholesterol (P-trend = 0.002) and LDL-cholesterol concentrations (P-trend = 0.010) were higher, as was DBP (P-trend = 0.027). Across increasing groups of milk intake glucose concentrations were lower (P-trend = 0.032) and across increasing quartiles of dairy products triglyceride concentrations were lower (P-trend = 0.031). Across increasing quartiles of cheese intake HDL-cholesterol concentrations were higher (P-trend = 0.025), whilst LDL-cholesterol concentrations were lower (P-trend = 0.015). The present results confirm that consumption of milk predicts prospective blood pressure, while milk, cheese and cream consumption is not detrimental to arterial stiffness and metabolic markers.