Cow’s milk includes a complex combination of
macronutrients, micronutrients, and growth-
promoting factors that can contribute to human
nutrition; however, all these nutrients can be
obtained from other sources (as has been the
case in many traditional societies with histori-
cally low intakes of dairy products). For adults,
the overall evidence does not support high dairy
consumption for reduction of fractures, which
has been a primary justification for current U.S.
recommendations. Moreover, total dairy con-
sumption has not been clearly related to weight
control or to risks of diabetes and cardiovascular
disease. High consumption of dairy foods is
likely to increase the risks of prostate cancer and
possibly endometrial cancer but reduce the risk
of colorectal cancer. It is important to note that
the reported health effects of dairy foods de-
pend strongly on the specific foods or beverages
to which they are compared; for many outcomes,
dairy foods compare favorably with processed
red meat or sugar-sweetened beverages but less
favorably with plant-protein sources such as nuts.
Furthermore, no clear benefit of consuming re-
duced-fat dairy over whole dairy products has been established.
