Adults who regularly consumer full-cream milk are significantly less likely to suffer from asthma than those who drink the less fatty dairy alternatives, according to new research.

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Dr Rosalie Woods, a research fellow at Monash University, conducted a study that looked at the effect of 25 nutrients and 120 foods on 1600 young adults.


The study found that adults who consume full-cream milk are 34% less likely to have asthma. People can meanwhile reduce their risk of asthma by around 17-18% by eating apples, pears or leafy green vegetables such as lettuce, endives and silverbeet.


Dr Woods admitted that the association between dairy products and asthma were unexpected: “They certainly haven’t been shown before.”


As a result of the study, Dr Woods said that people diagnosed with asthma were misguided if they switched their diet to include low fat or non-dairy rather than full-cream milk.

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“We know that over 50% of people with asthma do actually modify their diet and the most common product they end up avoiding is dairy products,” she told the Courier-Mail: “There isn’t any evidence to show that it would be beneficial.”


On the other hand, the study showed that adults regularly consuming soymilk and ricotta cheese were twice as likely to be asthmatics.

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