Frequent milk intake tied to lower risk for gallstones

The researchers reported that milk intake reduced the risk of cholelithiasis, or gallstone disease, in both women and men. They concluded that milk consumption could be a low-cost, effective method for preventing it.

"Our study provides a basis for dietary interventions against gallstones, but there is a need for prospective studies to verify the results," Yahui Liu, the First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, Jilin, People’s Republic of China, and colleagues wrote.

Cholelithiasis is a common digestive system disease that imposes a major burden on society and patients. Investigating the relationship between dietary factors and the risk of cholelithiasis can provide a basis for disease prevention. There have been limited previous studies on milk intake and cholelithiasis incidence. Therefore, the researchers aimed to assess the association between milk consumption and cholelithiasis incidence in males and females.

For this purpose, the researchers selected 14,722 adults (≥ 18 years old; 7,147 men and 7,575 women) from NHANSE (National Center for Health Statistics) 2017–2020, and collected general characteristics of patients in the database, such as gender, age, body mass index (BMI), and race, as well as dietary information (milk intake).

The outcome event was the occurrence of cholelithiasis, and the group was divided into cholelithiasis and non-cholelithiasis groups according to the outcome event. Logistic regression models were used in generalized linear model (GLM) functions, controlling for lifestyle, demographic, and dietary factors, to estimate the association between milk consumption and cholelithiasis incidence in females and males.

The researchers reported the following findings:

• The overall weighted prevalence of cholelithiasis was 10.96%, with 15.18% and 6.48% prevalence in females and males, respectively.
• Compared to infrequent milk intake, frequent milk intake (once a week or more) in females was associated with reduced cholelithiasis risk (OR 0.74).
• Daily milk intake in males was also related to lower cholelithiasis risk (OR 0.69–0.82).
• As adjusted variables increased in the models, predictive performance was improved (AUC 0.711 in females, 0.730 in males).

For the first time, the researchers estimated the association between milk intake and cholelithiasis incidence using a nationally representative sample.

The study suggests that compared to infrequent milk intake, infrequent milk intake (once a week or more) in females was tied to reduced risk of cholelithiasis. In males also, the daily milk intake was related to a lower risk of cholelithiasis.

The investigators note that the main treatment for cholelithiasis is still surgery, but in the long run, disease prevention is more significant through a low-cost, simple and feasible method of dietary modification.

"More studies are required in the future to verify the findings and to understand the pathogenesis of cholelithiasis formation through diet to achieve better prevention," they concluded.

Reference:

Jia, F., Ma, Y. & Liu, Y. Association of milk consumption with the incidence of cholelithiasis disease in the US adult population. BMC Public Health 23, 1639 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-023-16615-6