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. 2025 Aug 30;64(6):267.
doi: 10.1007/s00394-025-03763-1.

Saturated fat from dairy sources and cardio-metabolic health: insights from the STANISLAS cohort

Sandra Wagner  1 , Nicolas Girerd  2 , Claire Lemonnier  3 , Kofivi Yena #  1 , Zohra Lamiral  1 , Kevin Duarte  1 , Thomas Merkling  1 , Ludovic Merckle  1 , Erwan Bozec  1 , Anestis Dougkas  3   4 , Axelle Hoge  5 , Michèle Guillaume  5 , Patrick Rossignol  1   6 , Julie-Anne Nazare  3   7 , Cécile Vors  3   7 , Jean-Marc Boivin  1   8 , Marie-Caroline Michalski  9   10
Affiliations

Saturated fat from dairy sources and cardio-metabolic health: insights from the STANISLAS cohort

Sandra Wagner et al. Eur J Nutr. .

Abstract

Purpose: The health impact of dairy products is debated due to their high saturated fatty acid (SFA) content. Emerging evidence suggests that dairy products intake may reduce cardiovascular disease risk, despite their SFA-rich lipids, leading to the "dairy food matrix" concept. Nevertheless, the impact of lipid and SFA intake from whole dairy sources on cardio-metabolic health remains poorly understood. This study investigated the cross-sectional association of SFA intake from various types of dairy products and dairy fat sources with cardio-metabolic outcomes.

Methods: Data from 1619 participants of the STANISLAS cohort, who underwent extensive metabolic and cardiovascular phenotyping and completed a 133-item food frequency questionnaire covering dairy products and other dairy fat sources, were used. Associations of total dietary lipid, total dietary SFA, and SFA intakes from dairy products and dairy fat sources with metabolic outcomes (metabolic syndrome, hyperlipidemia, type 2 diabetes, prediabetes) and subclinical cardiovascular damages (i.e., arterial stiffness, atherosclerosis, left ventricular mass, diastolic dysfunction) were assessed using mixed models.

Results: Median [interquartile range] lipid consumption via dairy products and dairy fat sources was 23 [15, 34] g/day. Higher total dietary lipid intake was associated with lower arterial stiffness (exp(β) [95%CI]: 0.96 [0.92-0.99]). Total dietary SFA and SFA from dairy products were both inversely associated with left ventricular mass (exp(β) [95%CI]: 0.85 [0.74-0.98], and 0.99 [0.99-0.99], respectively). SFA from dairy fat sources, particularly from Butter, were inversely associated with hyperlipidemia (OR [95%CI]: 0.96 [0.93-0.99] for hypertriglyceridemia, 0.96 (0.93-0.99) for elevated LDLc, 0.95 (0.92-0.98) for elevated non-HDLc, 0.93 (0.89-0.96) for elevated Apolipoprotein B). SFA from Yogurt was inversely associated with Apolipoprotein B (OR [95%CI]: 0.92 [0.86-0.98]).

Conclusion: Examining the specific diary matrix subtypes, our results suggest altogether neutral to beneficial associations of SFA from dairy products and dairy fat sources with cardio-metabolic health.

Keywords: Cardiovascular damages; Dairy matrix; Epidemiology; Food matrix; Metabolism; Saturated fatty acid.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Competing interests: M.-C. M. received research funding from CNIEL, Sodiaal-Candia R&I, and Danone Nutricia Research, congress travel funding from CNIEL and symposium honorarium from IMGC, which are not related to the present epidemiological study. PR received grants and personal fees from Vifor Fresenius Medical Care Renal Pharma, personal fees from Idorsia, personal fees from KBP, Sanofi, NovoNordisk, personal fees from Ablative Solutions, non-financial support from G3P, personal fees from Corvidia, grants, personal fees from Relypsa, a Vifor company, and Vifor, personal fees from CardioRenal, grants and personal fees from AstraZeneca, grants and personal fees from Bayer, grants and personal fees from CVRx, personal fees from Fresenius, grants and personal fees from Novartis, personal fees from Grunenthal, personal fees from Servier, personal fees from Stealth Peptides, all outside the submitted work. NG received honoraria from AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer, Echosens, Lilly, Roche diagnostics, Novartis. PR: reports consulting for Idorsia, G3P, honoraria from AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer-Ingelheim, Cincor, CVRx, Fresenius, KBP biosciences, Novartis, NovoNordisk, Relypsa, Servier, and Vifor Fresenius Medical Care Renal Pharma; and travel grants from AstraZeneca, Bayer, CVRx, Novartis, and Vifor Fresenius Medical Care Renal Pharma; Cofounder: CardioRenal, all outside the submitted work. The other co-authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose related to the submitted work, and declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. Ethics approval and consent to participate: The research protocols were all approved by the local Ethics Committee (Comité de Protection des Personnes Est III— Nancy—France), and all study participants gave informed written consent. The informed written consent was previously approved by the local Ethics Committee.

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