Full-fat dairy cheese lowers risk of knee osteoarthritis, finds study

In a new study published in the journal Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, significant inverse associations were observed between the presence of clinical knee osteoarthritis(OA) and intake of full-fat dairy.

Denissen and associates conducted a study to explore the association between dairy consumption and presence of clinical knee OA in individuals aged 40–75 year participating in the Maastricht Study.

Read Also: Whole-fat dairy provides protection from cardiovascular disease and mortality : Lancet

Data on dairy consumption was appraised by a 253-item Food Frequency Questionnaire covering 47 dairy products with categorization on fat content, fermentation or dairy type. A total of 3010 participants were included in the study out of which 427 individuals (14%) were classified as having clinical knee OA.

Key study findings:

• Significant inverse associations were observed between the presence of clinical knee OA and intake of full-fat dairy and semi-hard Ditch cheese, with the odds ratio(OR) for the highest compared to the lowest tertile of intake of 0.68 for full-fat dairy, and 0.75 for cheese.


• No significant associations were found for other dairy product categories.

The study concluded that higher intake of full-fat dairy and Dutch cheese, but not milk, was cross-sectionally associated with the lower presence of clinical knee OA.

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a type of joint disease that results from the breakdown of joint cartilage and underlying bone. The most common symptoms are joint pain and stiffness. Earlier studies have found that frequent milk consumption may be associated with reduced OA progression in women.

Dairy contains many nutrients that are good for us, including:

• amino acids


• unsaturated fats


• vitamins K-1 and K-2


• calcium


• probiotics

For reference log on to https://ard.bmj.com/content/77/Suppl_2/1604.2