Association of dairy intake with all-cause, cancer, and cardiovascular disease mortality in Japanese adults: a 25-year population-based cohort

PURPOSE: The association between dairy intake and mortality remains uncertain, and evidence for the Japanese population is scarce. We aimed to investigate the association between dairy intake and all-cause, cancer, and cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality in Japanese adults. METHODS: A total of 34,161 participants (16,565 men and 17,596 women) aged 40–64 years without a history of cancer, myocardial infarction, or stroke at baseline were included in the analysis, using data from the Miyagi Cohort Study initiated in 1990. Milk, yogurt, and cheese intake were obtained using a validated food frequency questionnaire. Total dairy intake was calculated as the sum of milk, yogurt, and cheese intake and then categorized by quartile. The outcomes were all-cause, cancer, and CVD mortality. Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to estimate multivariable hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for mortality risks. RESULTS: During 750,016 person-years of follow-up, the total number of deaths was 6498, including 2552 deaths due to cancer and 1693 deaths due to CVD. There was no association between total dairy intake and all-cause, cancer, and CVD mortality for both men and women. We also examined the associations between subgroup dairy products and mortality. For milk and yogurt intake, our results suggest null associations. However, cheese intake was modestly associated with lower all-cause mortality in women; compared with non-consumers, the multivariable HRs (95%CIs) were 0.89 (0.81–0.98) for 1–2 times/month, 0.88 (0.78–1.00) for 1–2 times/week, and 0.89 (0.74–1.07) for 3 times/week or almost daily (p trend = 0.016). CONCLUSION: Dairy intake was not associated with mortality in Japanese adults, except for limited evidence showing a modest association between cheese intake and a lower all-cause mortality risk in women. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00394-021-02734-6.