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Milk Fat Compounds May Modestly Lower LDL Cholesterol

    Two bottles of milk on a wooden tray to portray a new review of clinical trials that examines the evidence on whether components of milk fat might be beneficial in reducing heart disease risk.

    Written by: Alla Katsnelson, Ph.D | Issue # 135 | 2026

    • Dietary guidelines have long steered people away from full-fat dairy, but some research is now challenging this idea.
    • Only a handful of clinical trials have rigorously explored whether milk fat compounds can affect heart disease risk and cognition. 
    • Pooling these studies suggests that milk fat compounds may slightly lower LDL “bad” cholesterol.
    • Most studies looked at supplements, so it’s not clear how the results extend to consuming dairy foods.

    Compounds found in milk fat may modestly lower “bad” LDL cholesterol, according to a new systematic review of 10 clinical trials. [1] But the studies mostly used supplements containing much more of these compounds than normally found in foods like milk or buttermilk – so it’s unclear whether just consuming dairy foods would have the same effect. 

    “Our findings add to growing evidence that naturally occurring compounds in dairy foods may have beneficial effects on cardiovascular health,” said Oonagh Markey, senior lecturer in nutrition sciences at Loughborough University, in a statement. “At the same time, the review highlights several areas where more research is needed.”

    For decades, dietary guidelines have recommended avoiding full fat dairy products because they contain saturated fats, which are bad for heart health – and instead choosing low or nonfat dairy products. [2,3] But a growing body of research suggests this may not be the case (except for butter) [4], due to potentially beneficial components in full fat dairy such as milk fat globule membrane, which is rich in bioactive milk polar lipids. 

    The researchers screened hundreds of records in scientific databases, identifying 13 clinical trials that tested the effects of those substances on markers of heart health and, in some cases, thinking and memory. They pooled the results of 10 of the trials that tested these milk compounds against a similar dairy product with few of them. Combining the trials gives a clearer picture of what the evidence shows so far about the compounds’ effects on cholesterol and other heart-health markers.

    The analysis showed no clear effect on “good” cholesterol but a small reduction in “bad” cholesterol. Still, the researchers argued, on a population level, this effect could be valuable. There are some biologically plausible ways that these compounds – especially sphingomyelin, a fat found in the membrane around milk fat droplets – might lower cholesterol.  Animal studies and a few small human experiments suggest that sphingomyelin appears to bind cholesterol, leaving less of it to be absorbed into the blood. 

    The researchers say the findings point to the value of further research on whether and how these milk fat compounds could reduce heart disease risk factors. Most of the trials in the analysis were just 2-8 weeks long, which limits what they reveal about these compounds’ long-term effects. The authors call for longer, larger studies with more detailed measures of heart disease risk.

    Also, nearly all the studies in the analysis measured cholesterol while people were fasting, and only one tested what happens after a meal – yet people spend much of the day in the after-meal state. Further studies could explore how the compounds change how the body handles fat after eating.

    Four of the 13 trials tested whether these compounds affected memory and thinking. A few reported improvements in specific tasks, but none showed an overall benefit, and the studies used different tests that were not straightforward to compare. The researchers found that the evidence was too limited to draw firm conclusions, though they noted that effects on cognition also merited further exploration in larger, better-designed studies that use standardized measures of cognition. 

    References

    1. Borkar AS, Todorova Y, Markey O. Impact of milk fat globule membrane and its associated polar lipids on markers of cardiometabolic disease and cognitive function: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials in adults. Adv Nutr. 2026 Sep;17(9):100694.
    2. Lichtenstein AH, Appel LJ, Vadiveloo M, Hu FB, Kris-Etherton PM, Rebholz CM, et al. 2021 Dietary guidance to improve cardiovascular health: a scientific statement from the American Heart Association. Circulation. 2021 Dec 7;144(23):e472-e487. 
    3. Marques-Vidal P, Tsampasian V, Cassidy A, Biondi-Zoccai G, Chrysohoou C, Koskinas K, et al. Diet and nutrition in cardiovascular disease prevention: a scientific statement of the European Association of Preventive Cardiology and the Association of Cardiovascular Nursing & Allied Professions of the European Society of Cardiology. Eur J Prev Cardiol. 2025 Nov 11;32(16):1540-52. 
    4. Dehghan M, Mente A, Rangarajan S, Sheridan P, Mohan V, Iqbal R,et al.; Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiology (PURE) study investigators. Association of dairy intake with cardiovascular disease and mortality in 21 countries from five continents (PURE): a prospective cohort study. Lancet. 2018 Nov 24;392(10161):2288-97.